Pool salt or dead sea salt?

[Tinkers]

So I have read until I am cross eyed and can't find a straight answer here or anywhere on the web.

Question is:

If I decide to use dead sea salt in place of regular pool salt in my tub will I be creating a bromine tub or a chlorine tub since dead sea salt has bromides as well as other minerals in it? I have read about the increased conductivity of dead sea salt and salt water generators. I have a Master Spa Balance 7 which is a 390 gallon tub, and use a Controlomatic Smart Spa SWG. I also use the https://www.masterspapartsonline.com/products/eco-pur-charge-filter.html#:~:text=Next-,X268532 - Master Spa - Eco Pur Charge Filter-PMA-EPR,-Master Spas Copper and Zinc oxide mineral insert in my filter which can't be used in a bromine tub. I use this in order to keep chlorine levels low as possible due to my wife's HIGH sensitivity to chlorine and bromine. We have also learned she can't have boric acid in the tub or pool as well due to skin issues. The tub also has an ozonator. I don't have any issues with water balance or chemistry thanks to the wealth of knowledge that I have gained from reading this forum. I am really interested in trying the dead sea salts from all the benefits I have read online in regard to skin issues. I keep my tub at Alk 50, pH 7.6, CL .5, Salt @ 1600ppm. I have ALWAYS purged my tub with Ahhsome every 4 months at water change time and have nothing growing in it. Thanks in advance to any and all that could shed some light.

[waterbear]

6 hours ago, Tinkers said:

If I decide to use dead sea salt in place of regular pool salt in my tub will I be creating a bromine tub or a chlorine tub since dead sea salt has bromides a

s well as other minerals in it?

Bromine. If you decide to try it make sure your salt water generator can use dead sea salts or run bromine. Not all can.

6 hours ago, Tinkers said:

keep chlorine levels low as possible due to my wife's HIGH sensitivity to chlorine and bromine.

Do you MPS for shocking the tub? MPS is a KNOWN sensitizer and eliminating it from your tub maintenance can solve many sensitivity issues. Bromine is a known sanitizer, chlorine is not and ,in fact, bleach baths are often prescribed for babies and young children to treat eczema. The recommended dosing workes out to between 25 and 50 ppm. https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/atopic-dermatitis-eczema/expert-answers/eczema-bleach-bath/faq-20058413

6 hours ago, Tinkers said:

she can't have boric acid in the tub or pool as well due to skin issues.

What type of skin issues? My concern is that you are depending on slow acting copper and zinc to sanitize the water and have a very low reserve of a quick acting sanitizer in the water.

 

6 hours ago, Tinkers said:

The tub also has an ozonator.

Ozone depletes chlorine and if there is residual ozone in the water that is also a known sensitizer.

From what you have said you I would say that have an undersanitized tub that will allow the growth of pseudomonas and other pathogens in the water. Pseudomonas is the pathogen that causes hot tub itch.

Exactly what type of reaction does your wife have from chlorine and boric acid?

Also be aware that copper is what causes green hair in pools and spas, particularly if the hair is porous ,bleached, tinted, permed or straightened, or damaged.

[Tinkers]

Thank you for the reply. The tub is extremely clean. I have done numerous (6) Ahhsome purges and is just 1 year old. No gunk of any color or kind is coming out of the tub. I started putting boric acid in the tub last October and that is when the "poison ivy" looking rash started to appear. I put boric acid in our pool for the first time 1 month after opening it for the season this summer. She was staying out of the tub and getting into the pool only and the rash was not clearing up. Drained, purged, emptied, filled and rinsed, emptied again then refilled tub. No boric acid this time. Went with the 3 step bromine set up. We do not use MPS because we know she is sensitive to that from a previous use of it last fall. Shock only with sodium hypochlorite. She got in it 3 nights ago after the drain and refil. Chlorine was showing 2 ppm and bromine 4-5 ppm. Alk 50 ppm, ph 7.6, and she broke out again but it was different in that it looked like a sunburn but was better in 24 hours. Got into tub last night (alk 50, ph 7.6, Cl .5, Br not registering) for an hour and she was fine this morning with no rash. She is sensitive and allergic to EVERYTHING which makes it tough. 

5 hours ago, waterbear said:

Bromine is a known sanitizer, chlorine is not

 Were you meaning to say Bromine is a known SENSITIZER and chlorine is not?

[waterbear]

4 hours ago, Tinkers said:

Went with the 3 step bromine set up.

Are you using 3 step bromine or a salt water generator? I'm confused. If you are using 3 step bromine you can't be suing the mineral cartridge in your filter and your reading of .5 ppm FC is bogus.

 

4 hours ago, Tinkers said:

Chlorine was showing 2 ppm and bromine 4-5 ppm.

If you are using bromine the chlorine is non existent since chlorine is converted to bromine by the bromine bank in the water. The same reagents measure chlorine, bromine and MPS but the scale is different. to convert a chlorine reading to bromine multiply by 2.25 so your reading of 2 ppm FC will be 4.5 ppm bromine,which is in line with what your posted for the bromine.

 

4 hours ago, Tinkers said:

Were you meaning to say Bromine is a known SENSITIZER and chlorine is not?

Autocorrect strikes again! yes, I meant sensitizer

 

4 hours ago, Tinkers said:

The tub is extremely clean. I have done numerous (6) Ahhsome purges and is just 1 year old. No gunk of any color or kind is coming out of the tub.

Clean looking water has NOTHING to do with whether there are pathogens growing in the water because there is not enough FAST ACTING residual sanitizer in the water (chlorine, bromine, biguinide, or silver/MPS) Copper is basically an algaecide with slow acting bacteriostatic prop[erties, as is zinc. The fallacy that they allow running a low FC level causes many problems. Ozone is a non residual oxidizer and there should be non in the actual tub since it is a sensitizer and lung irritant. Bottom line, ozone is toxic. The downside is that only a small amount of water in the reaction chamber interacts with the ozone so you still need a residual fast acting sanitizer/oxidizer in the water.

The average bather involuntarily releases 5–10 mL of urine in the pool or spa and 10–25 mg of fecal material every time they enter the water. (these numbers

courtesy of Taylor Technologies). Once again, this highlghts the need for a FAST ACTING residual sanitizer at a high enough level to deal with these. .5 ppm FC is quickly depeleted, leaving you no sanitizer in the water. Also, everyone sweats in the water (particualrly with a spa) and sweat and urine have a very similar chemical composition, depleting residual sanitizer even faster.

 

4 hours ago, Tinkers said:

"poison ivy" looking rash

Did it look anything like this? This is a picture of hot tub Folliculitis (Hot tub itch) usually caused by pseudomonas or other pathogens growing in undersantized water.

 

[PatrickPhimr]

On 8/31/2023 at 3:46 PM, Tinkers said:

Thank you for the reply. The tub is extremely clean. I have done numerous (6) Ahhsome purges and is just 1 year old. No gunk of any color or kind is coming out of the tub. I started putting boric acid in the tub last October and that is when the "poison ivy" looking rash started to appear. I put boric acid in our pool for the first time 1 month after opening it for the season this summer. She was staying out of the tub and getting into the pool only and the rash was not clearing up. Drained, purged, emptied, filled and rinsed, emptied again then refilled tub. No boric acid this time. Went with the 3 step bromine set up. We do not use MPS because we know she is sensitive to that from a previous use of it last fall. Shock only with sodium hypochlorite. She got in it 3 nights ago after the drain and refil. Chlorine was showing 2 ppm and bromine 4-5 ppm. Alk 50 ppm, ph 7.6, and she broke out again but it was different in that it looked like a sunburn but was better in 24 hours. Got into tub last night (alk 50, ph 7.6, Cl .5, Br not registering) for an hour and she was fine this morning with no rash with dead sea salt supplier. She is sensitive and allergic to EVERYTHING which makes it tough. 

 Were you meaning to say Bromine is a known SENSITIZER and chlorine is not?

I’m about to run out of the PDV salt I bought last year. Had a quick check on eBay prices for 25KG bag - PDV feeder grade £18.5; PDV food grade £21; Himalayan pure rock salt £22; Dead Sea pure salt £23. So I’m thinking of buying Himalayan or Dead Sea salt instead given the marginal cost and unlikely they contain caking agent. But are they koi safe? All the ‘extra minerals’… anyone tried them before? Thanks in advance

[waterbear]

15 minutes ago, PatrickPhimr said:

But are they koi safe?

This is a pool and spa forum, not a pond and aquarium forum. This is the second post you have made that was about fish keeping.

If you had taken a few minutes to actually read this thread you would have known that your post has absolutely nothing to do with the topics being discussed.