Ozonator - bromine or chlorine?

[Armor77]

@JoyfulNoise

I am curious and a newbie, but i recently bought a hottub with an ozonator add on, is it advisable to use bromine as my sanitizer as compared to chlorine.? I added the ozonator as an option and figure it would help with water sanitization as well. Would like to hear your take on this thanks.

 

[YippeeSkippy]

I would go with chlorine. Cheaper, easier to test and treat and something we deal with here at TFP.
The ozone device will chew up chlorine a bit but thats easily managed.
Have you considered a salt system to add the chlorine? This is what I use:

Amazon.com

How do I use Chlorine in my Spa (or pool)?

If you have a question about any information within this Sticky, please start a new thread for yourself where you will receive very quick responses to your specific questions. Thank you! Introduction There are two main things to consider when maintaining your hot tub water, Water Balance and...

www.troublefreepool.com

Maddie

 

[RDspaguy]

Definitely chlorine.
What brand of spa? Does it have a 24/7 circulation pump? How old is the ozonator?

 

[Armor77]

Definitely chlorine.
What brand of spa? Does it have a 24/7 circulation pump? How old is the ozonator?

Arctic, yes it does have 24/7 circulation and brand new ozonator, talked with my sister and she uses bromine and likes it better than chlorine for skin sensitivity reasons. Had chlorine in the old spa really wreaked havoc on the cover and skin for me, so i am going bromine this time. Salt system is way out $$ wise and repeatedly costs north of 175$ for the salt cell every 3 months and also just wanted to keep things somewhat simple without adding a whole lot of extra parts/features. No heavy bather loads either mostly just us 2, i don't mind a little extra maitainence plan on using this year around. TIA

 

[RDspaguy]

It's your choice, but I can tell you that these issues you describe are not the result of chlorine use, nor will they be alleviated by using bromine. I personally get itchy in bromine.
Chlorine allows for more accurate testing, and therefore better control, and your system will function best using chlorine.
Cover damage is mostly avoidable by simply leaving it open for 15 minutes after adding chemicals. Your biggest cover-killer is a floater, chlorine or bromine (bromine tabs are mostly chlorine anyway).
Older spas with ozone were often not plumbed adequately to utilize the ozone and would rapidly destroy covers as a result. I don't think Arctic was even around then.
I have detailed the use and argued the advantages of ozone with chlorine in numerous threads on this forum. I encourage you to look one up and learn a little before you decide. It's too late and I'm too tired to look it up for you or explain it again tonight. Maybe tomorrow.