How much is the TDS increased if Borax is added to 50 ppm

[smallpooldad]

Thank you for your reply.

In the last message above I should have typed "is it possible the bromide", sorry for the confusion.

Until Wal-Mart sells "Marmite", Britain's gift to the culinary world (Vegemite in Australia) I will not be going back, except for chlorine.

But I did put Yellow Treat 4.5 oz (Sodium Bromide) in the pool. Will this, or has this gone away, due to the large amount of chlorine I used? Or do I have to drain it? Please say no.

Lastly I will not add any more Borax (Borate) to the pool until it shows 50 ppm. Now have the AqauCheck test strips, they arrived two days ago.

Aloha from a hot and humid Hawaii that only the mosquitos could love today.

[chem geek]

But I did put Yellow Treat 4.5 oz (Sodium Bromide) in the pool. Will this, or has this gone away, due to the large amount of chlorine I used? Or do I have to drain it? Please say no.

Well, I'm sorry to tell you this, but the Sodium Bromide indeed adds Bromide to the pool and the disinfecting chlorine (HOCl) in your pool will "reactivate" the bromide (Br-) to hydrobromous acid (HOBr) converting the disinfecting chlorine (HOCl) into chloride (Cl-). And unfortunately there isn't much you can do to get rid of it. It's not horrible having the bromide in your pool, it just means that you've got a secondary sanitizer that is less effective than chlorine and that whenever that sanitizer gets used, the chlorine will get used up to regenerate it. Not terrible, but not great either.

Perhaps someone else can tell you more and maybe find a way to get rid of the bromide/hypobromous acid or give you better news than I just did.

Richard

[waterbear]

If my understanding of the chemistry involved is correct then inorgainic sodium bromide will eventually form bromates (which do not 'reactivate' into hypobromous acid) and then you will have a chorine pool again. It is the organic form of bromine found in bromime tabs that contain dimethylhydaytoin that sticks around forever.
Ben (PoolDoc) summed it up on this PoolSolutions page
http://www.poolsolutions.com/tips/tip10.html

Hope this helps.

[chem geek]

Thanks Evan. OK, according to Ben's post it sounds like the bromide can be removed with shocking on a sunny day, perhaps repeatedly. The organic form would have the organic part stick around and be hard to get rid of, but the Yellow Treat was just sodium bromide so didn't have the organic part. So that's good news.

So, smallpooldad, the fact that you were at high shock values after adding Yellow Treat probably means you got rid of most or all of your bromide, especially if your pool had exposure to sunlight. Wheh! That was a close call!

Richard

[smallpooldad]

Gentlemen,

Yes that was a close call and I thank you both for the detailed follow up.

This morning the chlorine is down to 10 ppm. Would agree with you that the bromide most probably got used up by those previous high levels of chlorine, thank goodness.

Aloha, and the weather is sunny with a few clouds at 78 F, relatively low humidity thanks to the trades at 10-15 MPH.