Spa and Pool Owner - Mix Bromine and Chlorine?

[coletjd]

I have not checked in for awhile and that is because of the helpful advice and guidance I have received from this forum. I literally have had no issues with my pool for about 3 years and it is truly a TFP pool that I have maintained using the methods preached here. Absolutely love it!!

With that being said I bought a new spa last week and got it all hooked up pretty easily. It came with a kit of useless chemicals but my wish is to try to standardize the way I maintain both my pool and my spa. The difference is that I do not have a salt chlorinator on the spa like I do the pool.

The only thing I added was the metal out it came with and lowered the PH with a little muriatic acid. I used Clorox to get the chlorine to the proper level and like many others have noticed these levels drop very quickly. My thoughts were to use the TFP method with the exception of buying some Bromine tablets and using them in a floater and to raise with the Clorox when needed. The reason is because of the reduced chlorine odor.

Can I do this?

I have to stay on top of it as my spa will be high maintenance. I have a dog that jumps in it every time we do lol !! We cannot keep her out.

Any other tips or tricks for dual owners appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

 

[YippeeSkippy]

I personally wouldn't do it to my pool as any "back and forth" swimming and hot tubbing will eventually transfer enough bromine in to the pool (I believe) to change it in to a bromine pool. I have no citations for how much water a bathing suit carries with it but.. I won't risk it.

Once you have bromine in the water it *is* a bromine pool. When you add chlorine to a bromine pool it just re-energizes the bromine.

Not something I'm willing to risk.

Two alternative options- a small salt water chlorine generator for the spa. I have one, works a charm! or this:
How do I use Chlorine in my Spa (or pool)?)

Either one may suit your needs

Maddie

 

[Donldson]

Assuming a standard 30 ppm of sodium bromide is in the spa for a bromide bank, it would take 500 gallons of spa water to be transferred to the pool to increase the bromide level to 1 ppm. So it would take a while for the bromide to build up in the pool even if people are jumping straight between the hot tub and pool often. However, even 1 ppm of bromide in the pool can cause problems, and once you start having problems associated with adding bromide to the pool it takes very large water changes to get it out of the pool.

I personally wouldn't want to deal with that. Also your plan wouldn't make it a bromine tub, it would be a chlorine tub with a tiny bit of bromine. You need to add a bromide bank to make a body of water bromine instead of chlorine. Also bromine tablets contain DMH, which builds up over time and reduces the effectiveness of bromine similarly to how CYA does chlorine, so you will want to change your water every couple of months to stay on top of that.

 

[YippeeSkippy]

Ah, thankyou Donaldson for clarifying this.

Sounds like a nuisance to ever deal with bromide to me.

Maddie