Jump to content

For a bromine spa do you really only need to add pure Sodium Bromide at startup?


BroMean

Recommended Posts

As the 3 part system: A bromine bank, floater and oxidizer I find that my spa often drops close to 0 total bromine requireing me to add more "pure" bromide. Reading the labels of the sodium bromide bank product (which is 99% sodium bromide) it says that you may need to add it more than once at start up, are bromine tabs not enough to keep total bromine in check even when using a bank at startup? I don't recall seeing anywhere during my spa maintenance research spree saying a frequent top up of sodium bromide is needed when using floaters. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Define frequent. We recommend water changes every 3-4 months, and a sufficient bank at start up will last that long in most cases. But, like any sanitizer, the rate of decay is related to levels of contaminants. And bromine cannot be stabilized so will deplete significantly from sunlight/uv.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, RDspaguy said:

Define frequent. We recommend water changes every 3-4 months, and a sufficient bank at start up will last that long in most cases. But, like any sanitizer, the rate of decay is related to levels of contaminants. And bromine cannot be stabilized so will deplete significantly from sunlight/uv.

The levels will drop close to 0 after about 2 weeks. This is a smaller spa ~220 gallons but its just a tad overfilled right now so it could be a bit more gallons than that and I am using 2 one inch tabs. The directions say to use 1 per 100 gallons. Is it possible that by not using the extra half a tab the levels are always low? I tried opening the float dispenser more to compensate but that did not seem to work. I am thinking maybe the tabs are expired or my testing strips are inaccurate? I ordered a Taylor kit and I will cross check with that later this week. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 hours ago, BroMean said:

testing strips are inaccurate?

Ding! Ding! Ding! We have a winner!😉

The other thing to remenber is that oxidizers bleach stuff out. Too much sanitizer will often read as too little because it bleaches out the the test.

Tabs are mostly chlorine, and have a low ph. 

2 weeks is pretty extreme. How much bromide are you adding to begin with? You may have a biofilm issue depleting your sanitizer. Have you ever tried ahhsome spa purge? If not, it is way past due. Search ahhsome or biofilm on this forum for numerous threads on the subject.

Maybe our chemical guru, @waterbear, has some suggestions.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've had my CalSpa since 1988, and I only add sodium bromide with a new water change.  I use 1" bromine tablets in a floater, and shock with a little monopersulfate every 2 weeks or so - if I remember.

I adjust pH when necessary, don't use other chemicals.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

If the bromine level is low and you have a bromide bank then all you need to do is oxidize. I prefer using bleach or liquid chlorine but you can use dichlor or MPS. The floater is only to maintain bromine levels but if they drop you need to reactivate the bromine into hypobromous acid (active bromine sanitizer by oxidizing it (most refer to this as 'shocking the tub')

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 year later...

 

On 7/25/2021 at 7:35 PM, RDspaguy said:

And bromine cannot be stabilized so will deplete significantly from sunlight/uv.

not quite true. If you are doing 2 step bromine it cannot be stabilized but bromine tabs, because of the dimethylhydantoin, are somewhat stabilized, just not to the extent that chlorine can be stabilized.

1 hour ago, Jigstick said:

 I’m confused as to why you need a bromine floater if you have a bank built up. 

It maintains the bromine levels once the floater is adjusted and the it also helps maintain the bromide reserve because of the dimtehylhydantion added by the tabs, Shocking is not needed daily to maintain the bromine level. 2 step and 1 step bromine products usually require daily additions to keep the water from going south. 3 step (with a floater) is basically "set and forget" and really only needs shocking after heavy use or if the water is cloudy or has other issues.

This might help:

https://www.poolspaforum.com/forum/index.php?/topic/53410-how-to-use-bromine-3-step-method/

 

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Unfortunately, your content contains terms that we do not allow. Please edit your content to remove the highlighted words below.
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...