FInally got the levels up. I poked a couple of holes in the bromine tablet bottle and tossed it in. After two days it came up to where it should be. Don't matter though. I drained it last night and I'll be tearing off the old skirting and frame this weekend.

Charliez - You answered both of my questions but you didn't understand one of them. I mentioned test kits and didn't mean test strips. You stated that your test strip kits are Bromine. If I were you, I would forgo the strips and buy a real titration test kit for Bromine (don't buy a titration kit for Chlorine, it must be for Bromine). The effort is greater but once you have balanced water and it's manageable, you go on auto pilot. I do a full test once per week (or after a night of friends and neighbors) and simple pH and CL every few days.

If the tub is set up for an Ozonator, as a bromine user, you should definately invest in one if you can afford it. Ozone and Bromine are a match made in heaven. Once consumed, the bromamines can be converted back to hypobromous acid sanitizer by mixing with an oxidizer like ozone (automatically). So you get more sanitizing from your initial bromine. Only caution is to watch your pH from getting too low.

Since you mentioned that one strip indicated bromine and another off the charts... it proves the sentiment that strips are unreliable. The chemistry can't lie. Get a real Taylor kit.

Good luck with your rebuild.
AGE

Well, the outside structure is now rebuilt. I made a quick set of access panels out of the old access panels, just to close it in. It's refilled and now using chlorine instead of the bromine. Levels are right on and it was real nice Sunday morning to go out at 6:30 am before anyone else got up and give it a run as the sun was coming up.