Do I need both bromine tablets and bromine sanitizer in my hottub?

[YPCC2012]

Hi,

I am getting ready for a refill and also running out of bromine tablets. So far, I've used what the dealer has provided me, so after doing some research online, I feel like I technically only need one or the other to create and maintain my bromine bank and could switch one of the products to chlorine which would save me money and have zero disadvantages.

I was thinking of getting Chlorine tablets instead and just continue using my 85% dichlor 15% sodium bromine sanitizer or perhaps keep the bromine tablets and just use the dichlor\bromide sanitizer to create the bromide bank and get some CYA in there, then switch to bleach.

Am I missing something, if my assumptions are correct, I assume it just comes down to personal preference?

Thanks,

[waterbear]

20 hours ago, YPCC2012 said:

I was thinking of getting Chlorine tablets instead

NO!

20 hours ago, YPCC2012 said:

Am I missing something,

Yes, chlorine tabs (trichlor) are EXTREMELY acidic and can cause a dangerous pH crash in the small amount of water in a tub. Your one step product already contains chlorine (dichlor) which is only mildly acidic and much safer for hot tub use. Bleach is also safe for hot tub use.

A bromide bank or reserve is created by adding 100% sodium bromide (NOT available in Canada, btw). If you are using a one step product (mixture of dichlor and sodium bromide) or just bromine tabs it can take several weeks before there isenough bromide in the water to create your 'bank'. However, since chlorine is also being added your tub does have a fast acting residual sanitizer present (chlorine) so the water is sanitized until enough bromide is present for all the chlorine to oxidize the bromide to hypobromous acid.

20 hours ago, YPCC2012 said:

and get some CYA in there, then switch to bleach

If you are using bromine then you do not need to worry about CYA since CYA does NOT stabilize bromine. You can continue using dichlor or you can use bleach. You are over-complicating things. Bromine chemistry is not the same as chlorine chemistry.  Don't read about chlorine procedures if you are using bromine. They are NOT the same!

[YPCC2012]

Perfect, thanks for the info Waterbear. I wasn't sure how different the bromine tablets were compare to chlorine tablets. I thought I was perhaps wasting money as they are more expensive and I was mainly building up my sodium bromide bank via my dichlor\bromide sanitizer.

The rest you mentioned I was already aware so I will just keep doing what I have been doing so far since it works great.

Last fill, I noticed that it took around 130grams give or take 10grams until I felt like I could get a consistent bromine reading. I am sure there is a way to calculate exactly how much I need based on my 350 gallon tub. Perhaps I'll look it up out of curiosity.

Yves