Bromine is always high

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S

snuggler

Active member
Dec 6, 2021
31
Newark, New Jersey
Hi all,

I maintain a spa that is about 300-350 gallons. The water always looks clear after treating for metals when I do my quarterly/biannual emptying and refilling.

But, my bromine levels ALWAYS test super high. Even when my pH is fully balanced.

We don't use the spa much at all (it came with our house and although we like it, we are super busy and hardly ever have time to use it).

Even if I have my bromine floater at the lowest level, the bromine levels remain super high. In fact, when I go to perform maintenance on it and turn the jets on, the smell from the high bromine makes me or others who are on our deck cough. There is never much foam or discoloration when I do my Ahhsome biofilm cleanings, so I don't think any biofilm or other contamination is causing the cough--I think it is from the bromine.

I do shock, but probably shock less frequently than most because we just never use the spa.

Could that be the cause of having consistently high bromine readings? Should I be shocking more often? I can do that, but my thought was that it would just make my bromine levels even higher. But maybe I'm not giving the spa enough oxidizer and so I have too much inactive sanitizer and too little active sanitation? Or should I just take out my tab floater altogether for a while?

If it matters, I believe all of my bromine tabs are of the 1-bromo-3-chloro variety.

Thanks.
 
What is “high”? Can you post your actual bromine levels?

I’d suggest either turning the floater down or even just removing it for a couple days at a a time. You could also just open the lid during the daytime. UV will breakdown bromine as well.
 
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Once you have built your “bank” you can just reactivate manually it as needed to keep total br in the 4-6 range with liquid chlorine. (Or the oxidizer of your choice).
This is the 2 step system.

Total Br is high because the tabs activate themselves continuously (they contain bromide & dichlor - dichlor is chlorine)
So without use it gets higher & higher
see👇👇👇

How do I use Bromine in my spa (or pool)?

Originally Posted by waterbear There is a lot of misinformation on the proper way to use Bromine so I hope this primer is helpful. First, you need to establish a bromide reserve in the water. Bromine tablets can do it by themselves but it can take literally weeks until enough dissolves. Some...
www.troublefreepool.com www.troublefreepool.com
 
Mdragger88 said:
Once you have built your “bank” you can just reactivate manually it as needed to keep total br in the 4-6 range with liquid chlorine. (Or the oxidizer of your choice).
This is the 2 step system.

Total Br is high because the tabs activate themselves continuously (they contain bromide & dichlor - dichlor is chlorine)
So without use it gets higher & higher
see👇👇👇

How do I use Bromine in my spa (or pool)?

Originally Posted by waterbear There is a lot of misinformation on the proper way to use Bromine so I hope this primer is helpful. First, you need to establish a bromide reserve in the water. Bromine tablets can do it by themselves but it can take literally weeks until enough dissolves. Some...
www.troublefreepool.com www.troublefreepool.com
Click to expand...
Thanks. This is what I've been following; specifically, the 3 step approach.

But if I shock weekly--or even once every other week or every few weeks--my bromine levels are always through the roof. And we hardly ever use (or open) the spa.

Given that, can I skip the shocks entirely as long as I'm maintaining a bromine level of 4-6?

Someone else asked my specific bromine levels. It ranges, but it is almost never lower than 15, and sometimes is in the 20+ range. I sometimes stop adding titrating drops after I know I'm well above where I'm supposed to be, so sometimes readings that would be above 18-20+ aren't completed to titration.
 
Biggen said:
If you aren't using the spa then shocks are not necessary. Just keep your Br level above 4. It’s odd that tabs alone with a closed floater are keeping your Br levels this high.

What test kit are your using?
Click to expand...
I use the Taylor chlorine test that came in my 2006--I think it is called FAS-DPD.

That said, I do probably need to buy a new kit for this season as I think mine recently expired, so maybe that is playing a role in the measured levels? I do think the levels are high, because when I turn the jets on the air starts smelling a bit like chemicals and it causes coughing, and high bromine seems to be the most likely cause of that. (Ahh-some doesn't produce anything but white foam, no debris in the spa, pH levels are good, etc.).

Thanks for the reply. I'll stop shocking so long as the Br level is above 4, and I'll pull the tabs out until the level gets much closer to 4.
 
You don’t have to buy a whole new kit- you can just buy the refills
Tftestkits.net sells them as a whole kit refill or individually
 
Its been a while… When you’re shocking how many ppm fc are you adding?
You shouldn’t be adding more than will raise total br past 10ppm
If you’re using the chlorine fas/dpd reagents remember to double your results. Aka- 2ppm fc = roughly 4ppm total br.
That means an addition of 2ppm worth of liquid chlorine/dichlor will yield an increase of approximately 4ppm total br. (if the bank is available)
I think you may just be using too much chlorine when shocking. You can actually go a little easier with the dosage as the conversion is actually 2.25 x’s but using x’s 2 is simpler to calculate on the fly.
 

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