Pool Questions

[splasher84]

I was wondering what the bromine equivalent of a chlorine shock is and where can I get it. Also will bromine breakdown chlorine in a pool? What is the start up kit for bromine also and if there is a site I would like the link.

thanks for any answers

[duraleigh]

Hi, Splasher,

I'm afraid virtually everyone here is a Chlorine user and few, if any of us, have any knowledge of Bromine. I can offer you nothing useful other than to explain probably why you have gotten no response.

Dave S.

[KurtV]

Ben has a tip on the PoolSolutions site that may answer your question: http://www.poolsolutions.com/tips/tip10.html

[DavidD]

splasher84,

I will do my best to help with my extremely limited experience with bromine. I don't think there is a "shock" per say but you can increase the amount of bromine that is made in the water using a granular product. There are also liquids but the general census is the granular is best. A quick search confirmed this and you want a product containing the oxidizing agent potassium peroxymonosulfate (aka potassium monopersulfate or monopersulfate compound). The liquid product is usually added monthly and adding more does not produce more bromine. The granular product is usually added on a daily basis or, as needed, and it is this product that results in bromine being produced. The potassium peroxymonosulfate reacts with the sodium bromide, already in the water, and forms bromine. Add more potassium peroxymonosulfate and more bromine is produced. After, the bromine has been consumed in the sanitizing process, it reverts back to sodium bromide, allowing for the cycle to be repeated. The sodium bromide product is added monthly to assure that there is always an excess amount of bromide, available to be converted into bromine. Now let me caution you that I obtained this info from old manufacturers sites. I helped a friend with a Bromine/Ozone generator spa for a while until I convinced him to turn off the "ozonator" and switch to chlorine. I must tell you he is much happier due not only to the money he has saved but also the results. He spends much less time dealing with cloudy/bubbly water now. I'm sure any pool store can fill you in and sell you all the products you can afford. Bromine will breakdown chlorine so to speak. As far as a link to a web site, I can't recomend any of them as they all are trashing chlorine for reasons that I know are bogus. I can however recomend yo go to the link below. It is the sister site to this forum and has nothing but the facts.....
http://www.poolsolutions.com/tips/10things.html

[waterbear]

Before I built my pool/spa I had a 10'x10' portable spa (480 gal) that I ran year round (S. FL) on chlorine for the first two years and then switched to bromine for the next 4 so I have some experiece. As DavidD stated you need to have a "bromine reserve" in the water and then activate it by shocking. You can use a monopersulfate shock to do so or you can use bleach since chlorine will also activate the bromine. The spa dealer that I got my spa from is the one who origially told me to use bleach to shock it. That would usually get my bromine to proper levels (around 6ppm). I had also used monopersulfate shock at times becuause, supposedly, you only need to wait about 15 minutes before going in. He told me to put about 8 oz of regular (5.25%) bleach in for each 300 gal of water and then wait for about 1 hour before going in. Many (possibly all, not sure of that) of the bromine tablets on the market that are meant to be used in 'floaters' actually have chlorine in them to activate the bromine. The main reason I switched from chlorine to bromine was that I was having a hard time keeping a proper FC level in the spa and was having some algae problems, probably due to the high temp and the fact that the dealer had me using bleach but did not tell me about using CYA! (the spa was outdoors and I tended to leave the hard cover off for days at a time becuase it was a 2 person job to put it back on) This is before I found this site. If I knew then what I know now I probably would have stayed with chlorine. I did find that once I switched to bromine it was harder for some reason to control my ALK and pH...don't know if it was the bromine or not but suspect it was. My current pool/spa is on chlorine with a swg and I have had no problems. Bromine is more costly than chlorine and, IMHO, for an outdoor pool is not my first choice for a sanitizer. For an indoor pool or heated spa it MIGHT have some advantages but also has disadvantages.