CountThis Posted September 24, 2009 Report Share Posted September 24, 2009 I have been using chlorine for the last 6 months or so in my hot tube. It works great when I actually add chlorine, but I have been having allot of trouble remembering to add the chlorine every few days. I decided to switch over to bromine since it sounds like weekly or bi-weekly maintenance is all that is needed. Can someone give me a run down on how to start and care for a bromine hot tub (kind of like Nitro's water maintenance post)? My hot tub is 350 gallons. Also, I have a Taylor K2006 kit. What do I need to get to be able to test bromine levels (and whatever else I need to maintain a bromine system)? Thanks!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chem geek Posted September 25, 2009 Report Share Posted September 25, 2009 You can read about how to use bromine here. I think the K-2006 would still work for bromine, but instead of each drop for a 10 ml sample meaning 0.5 ppm Free Chlorine, it would mean 1.1 ppm Bromine. Also, you would want to use the R-0003 and count that amount to get Total Bromine (i.e. Combined Bromine is still an effective sanitizer). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shovelhd Posted September 25, 2009 Report Share Posted September 25, 2009 If you switch from chlorine to bromine, you will have to drain completely and fill. This means that the residual in the filter area, hoses, and pumps has to go, which can mean draining, partially filling, and draining again. Residual chlorine will eat your bromine starter up very quickly. I just switched the other way, and I don't think bromine saves you any work at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chem geek Posted September 25, 2009 Report Share Posted September 25, 2009 Going from bromine to chlorine requires a complete refill because one must remove any bromide in the water, but going from chlorine to bromine does not require a refill. Any chlorine in the water will simply convert bromide to bromine -- the chlorine will get used up and the result will be bromine. The leftover chloride doesn't do anything. When one goes from bromine to chlorine, one has bromide in the water and whenever you add chlorine to water with bromide, the chlorine will convert the bromide to bromine. If there is an excess of bromide in the water, as there usually is when using bromine tablets or having a sufficient bromide reserve, then one cannot convert to chlorine because any added chlorine converts the bromide to bromine. Essentially once a bromine pool/spa you are stuck with a bromine pool/spa until you do a water change. The other way around is not a problem. Converting from chlorine to bromine is easy and does not require a water change. Some of the bromide that is added gets converted to bromine from whatever remaining chlorine is in the water, but then that's it -- you've now got bromine. From that point forward, you may add more chlorine to reactivate bromide to bromine or you can use non-chlorine shock (MPS) to do that. Going from chlorine to bromine is just like starting out with some oxidizer already in the spa water, but that's no problem at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shovelhd Posted September 25, 2009 Report Share Posted September 25, 2009 My mistake. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CountThis Posted September 25, 2009 Author Report Share Posted September 25, 2009 Thanks for the info!! My biggest attraction to bromine is that I can use a floater in the spa to keep the bromine up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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