Green water in Bromine pool

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cheesehead

cheesehead

0
May 17, 2011
30
West Michigan
I opened my pool 2 weeks ago only to find my pump motor seized up. Fast forward through all the hassles of getting the new pump and installation and that brings us to yesterday. Yesterday was the first day I was able to have the pump running.

After opening the pool I added bleach (the largest bottle available) approximately every other day until I got the pump up and running. I vacuumed as much debris as I could see from the pool as well as scrubbed all the walls and floor. I have been back washing the filter at least twice a day which results in a milky water in the discharge. The water has cleared up well in the spa as well as the shallow end and is starting to clear up in the deep end starting around the sides.

I have yet to test the water but plan on doing so today. I purchased the TF100 for testing purposes.

So the question begin. :)

1. With the fact that I am using Bromine should I still follow the recommended chemical levels?

FC 3-7
pH 7.5-7.8
TA 70-90+
CH 250-350
CYA 30-50

If not what needs to be different?

2. I planned on adding the Borax/Muriatic Acid combo but should I wait until the pool is clear? Or will this help clear up the algae?

3. With the bleach/chlorine reactivating the dormant bromine in the pool should I be adding more bromine?

4. Any other advice appreciated!!

I am still a green horn pool owner (2nd year) so please bear with me! :cool:
 
The bromine level should be 3 to 6, and there is no need for CYA. Other than that, the usual recommended levels still apply.

I would put off adding borates until everything has settled down.

First, you need to establish a bromine bank, a suitable bromide level, and then you add just a little more now and then to replace any bromine lost to splash out and backwashing.
 
JasonLion said:
The bromine level should be 3 to 6, and there is no need for CYA. Other than that, the usual recommended levels still apply.

I would put off adding borates until everything has settled down.

First, you need to establish a bromine bank, a suitable bromide level, and then you add just a little more now and then to replace any bromine lost to splash out and backwashing.
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When saying a bromine bank are you talking about levels of 3-6 or should the bank start out higher? I used bromine all of last season so if I understand bromine it should still be in the pool at some level. Correct?

If I hold of from doing the borates should I do the chlorine shock or just keep the bromine levels @ 3-6. I realize the chlorine is used up to activate the bromine but just not clear on how much chlorine I should use.

I will test the water shortly to get an idea of where I stand.

Thanks for the help!
 
Bromine/bromide has two forms, bromine which is the active sanitizer, and bromide which is inactive. You want there to be a bromide level of about 30 to start with, which is called the bromide bank. Then you use chlorine to activate between 3 and 6 ppm of bromide into bromine. As the bromine gets used up, it turns back into bromide and goes back "into the bank" waiting to be reactivated again.

If you have algae in the pool you need to shock. Shocking means maintaining a higher than normal bromine level until all of the algae is dead. It is impossible to predict exactly how long that will take. You add enough chlorine to raise the bromine level to about 12 (or more), give that a while to work, test the level again and repeat until you aren't losing any bromine overnight.
 
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JasonLion said:
Bromine/bromide has two forms, bromine which is the active sanitizer, and bromide which is inactive. You want there to be a bromide level of about 30 to start with, which is called the bromide bank. Then you use chlorine to activate between 3 and 6 ppm of bromide into bromine. As the bromine gets used up, it turns back into bromide and goes back "into the bank" waiting to be reactivated again.

If you have algae in the pool you need to shock. Shocking means maintaining a higher than normal bromine level until all of the algae is dead. It is impossible to predict exactly how long that will take. You add enough chlorine to raise the bromine level to about 12 (or more), give that a while to work, test the level again and repeat until you aren't losing any bromine overnight.
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Is there a way to test for bromide levels?
 
There are test strips for measuring the bromide level. You can also add a lot of non-chlorine shock when the water is clean, wait a while, and then test the bromine level on the assumption that the non-chlorine shock will have activated all of the bromide to bromine and that any excess will have gone away after a few hours (neither of which is every completely true).
 
JasonLion said:
There are test strips for measuring the bromide level. You can also add a lot of non-chlorine shock when the water is clean, wait a while, and then test the bromine level on the assumption that the non-chlorine shock will have activated all of the bromide to bromine and that any excess will have gone away after a few hours (neither of which is every completely true).
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You say the bromide bank should be at 30. The test strips for bromide that I found (online) measure in 1,000, 1,500, 2,000, 2,500 and 3,000 ppm. How does this compare to the 30 you suggested? Is there other strips in different calibrations? I will be checking at the local pool store today and see if they have any bromide test strips. In the mean time I put a couple floaters filled with bromine in the pool.
 
The bromide test strips are for checking the higher bromide levels when using a bromine generator system. They are essentially salt checks and cannot readily distinguish between chloride and bromide. There is no easy way to test your bromide bank (there is a complicated way involving ammonia and measuring CC). It's just easy enough to add more sodium bromide to ensure you have enough since overdosing is not an issue.
 
chem geek said:
The bromide test strips are for checking the higher bromide levels when using a bromine generator system. They are essentially salt checks and cannot readily distinguish between chloride and bromide. There is no easy way to test your bromide bank (there is a complicated way involving ammonia and measuring CC). It's just easy enough to add more sodium bromide to ensure you have enough since overdosing is not an issue.
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Thanks chem geek!

How much sodium bromide should I look to add to be safe my "bank" is sufficient?
 

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chem geek said:
As Jason wrote, 30 ppm is a minimum. If you have a container of sodium bromide, it should give you dosing instructions.
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Well I will have to stop by the pool store and look at a label. I was just wondering if we are talking oz.s or lbs. that will be needed. The pool store sells the sodium bromide in either 2oz. or 4lb. containers.
 
Today's updated test results -

Bromine - 3.4
pH - 7.6
Alkalinity - 130
Hardness - 200

So the added bromide and bleach yesterday seemed to help bring my bromine levels up to normal range. Should I assume my bromide "bank" is up to where it needs to be?

Now that my levels are in the normal range should I be able to maintain my levels with a bromine floater and chlorine when needed?

Thanks again to all who have helped! I can see this season will be much more successful than last season! :party:
 
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