used sodium bromide in salt water generator pool HELP

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R

rogmorris

0
May 7, 2010
14
Brownsville, TN
I use Autoclear Plus SWG. I had a yellow or brown algae problem. was recommended "the yellow stuff" (98% sodium bromide) to my pool to treat it. It seems start to work, but I did not know i converted my chlorine pool to bromine. I HAVE NOT RUN MY SWG SINCE I added 18 ounces of sodium bromide to 25,000 gallon pool then added 2 lbs. of shock the same day and 2 lbs of shock the next day. Is that enough to make my pool start producing bromine if I turn my SWG on and start sanitizing. If so, how the heck do I get the sodium bromide out of my pool. I know there about the same, but bromine will not hold up in hot sunny days, and the chlorine will. This is my second salt cell, I dont want to overuse it producing enough chlorine to activate the bromine (or something like that) anyway, I know the salt cell will have to work harder. What can I do to get the bromide ions or sodium bromide out of my pool without draining it. I am not going to put any more sodium bromide in. Will that starve it or am I screwed. It is going thru bags of shock fast. have added 4 more bags of shock. Algae seems to be turning gray instead of dark brown.

test results before adding sodium bromide to pool
pH - 7.6
TA - 80
FC - 3
TC - 2
CH - 250
CYA - 80

Water looks great just had brown "dirt" in certain creases in pool. Would vacuum it up, it would come back the next day. But it sparkling blue. Just the Mustard algae.
 
If you follow the directions on the package, and add all of the chlorine they recommend adding (which I am fairly sure is more than you used so far), and then add another dose 24 hours after that, and then continue adding chlorine to your normal target level till your FC level holds steady overnight, the bromine/bromide will be gone.

There are a couple of different forms of bromine/bromide. The kind used in spas and bromine pools is designed to stay around forever. The kind used in the various brands of "Yellow" treatments is designed to dissipate after enough chlorine has been added.

Some SWGs are designed to work with bromine/bromide, but many are not. If they say it is suitable for use in a bromine pool then you are fine. If they don't say that, then leave it off till the bromine/bromide is gone.
 
zea3 said:
Sodium thiosulfate can be used to get rid of the bromine according to wikipedia. One of the experts can give you more information on if this will work and how to use it.
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This will only convert bromine to bromide. It will not get rid of the bromide. Unfortunately, once a bromine pool, always a bromine pool. If not too much bromide was added, then eventually the bromine will dissipate through outgassing and water dilution, but it can take some time (months). This could potentially be accelerated by shocking to have a high bromine level and then aerating the water to try and force more outgassing.

As Jason says, so long as the SWG doesn't have a problem with some bromide in the water, then one can just live with the situation with the only downside being a possibly somewhat higher SWG on-time needed since bromine is not protected from breakdown from the UV of sunlight, though it doesn't break down as fast as chlorine with no CYA.
 
Actually the package only called for 1 shock treatment. Only by reading these posts did I know to keep putting the shock on it. My SWG does say I can use sodium bromide. Do I need to put more sodium bromide? or just crank up the output on the salt cell and start super chlorinating. And the "dirt" that was there is still there but it starting to turn gray instead of dark brown.
 
Since my original post I have put in 4 more bags of shock, 2 this morning. Got home from work free chlorine was almost 0, added the other 2 bags of shock. Should I just turn my salt cell on? If so, how long. Another question is about the algae. Do I brush the pool? Is it suppose to disappear or will just turn gray and still settle on pool bottom? Do I vacuum to waste if it does settle after it dies? How long should this process of getting rid of the algae take with my method? Also put all bathing suits and equipment in pool to disinfect. this is the second day. FC readings have been up to 5 then burn off to 0, add shock then back up to 5. I really do appreciate all of your replies. This site is VERY helpful.
 
OK, you've got multiple things going on at the same time. I think you can ignore the sodium bromide you added and not worry about that. I would turn on your SWG just so you keep adding at least some chlorine to the water at all times, but the bulk of the chlorine you should be adding should be done manually.

I am concerned by the "shock" you are using -- what is that exactly? What ingredients? Does it say "calcium hypochlorite" or something else in which case what does it say? You should normally be adding chlorinating liquid or bleach and should be doing so regularly to maintain a shock level of around 30 ppm or so given your CYA level. You also should brush the pool to help mix the algae with the chlorine to kill it faster and to get it to circulate to your SWG and filter. If it does settle, you can vacuum to waste though that normally isn't necessary just for algae.

Defeating Algae in the Pool School tells you what to do.
 
Yes, definitely brush the entire pool and vacuum up as much dead algae and other debris as you can. You can vacuum normally and then backwash/clean the filter. Vacuuming to waste is only worth it if you need to get rid of water anyway or the organic debris is very dense so you can vacuum it all up in a short period of time.

The algae doesn't just disappear. The filter catches some of it and you have to vacuum the rest up.
 
thanks for the reply guys. chem geek, The shock that I am using is 58.2% sodium dichlor-s-triazinetrione, other ingredients 41.8 %, thats all it says, staright from wal-mart. The test readings were done wednesday. By shock level do you mean FC readings? How much liquid chlorine are we talking about and I guess that this isnt going to harm salt cell or pool. How long should this take to work? I can see the algae getting gray or dying, should I go ahead and still add the liquid chlorine? Jasonlion, should I be vacuuming as I go or wait til it all dies? Just got through brushing pool tonight. The free chlorine is close to 10 right now according to Aqua Chem liquid test. Please tell what I need to do and how I need to do it the next couple of days. Sorry for the ignorance, You guys are very Helpful.
 

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rogmorris said:
thanks for the reply guys. chem geek, The shock that I am using is 58.2% sodium dichlor-s-triazinetrione, other ingredients 41.8 %, thats all it says, staright from wal-mart. The test readings were done wednesday. By shock level do you mean FC readings? How much liquid chlorine are we talking about and I guess that this isnt going to harm salt cell or pool. How long should this take to work? I can see the algae getting gray or dying, should I go ahead and still add the liquid chlorine? Jasonlion, should I be vacuuming as I go or wait til it all dies? Just got through brushing pool tonight. The free chlorine is close to 10 right now according to Aqua Chem liquid test. Please tell what I need to do and how I need to do it the next couple of days. Sorry for the ignorance, You guys are very Helpful.
Click to expand...

You should not use Dichlor. Dichlor raises CYA. In your pool - 4 bags would raise the CYA by about 10 - so now your CYA level is too high. You should drain some of your pool water out, I'd say to the bottom of your skimmer, and replace it with fresh water. This should lower your CYA level a bit, which will be easier to manage the shock process.

Chem Geek gave you a link to an article in Pool School that discusses how to defeat algae:
Defeating Algae

And this article tells you how to shock your pool:
Shocking Your Pool

Follow the steps in these articles to the tee. Post back if you need clarification on anything. Vacume up what you think is the algae, while the pool is at shock level. If you still see it at shock level, then it's probably dust/dirt or pollen and not algae (a common mistake, many pool owners mistake this for mustard or yellow algae).

You are going to need a better kit:
Test Kit Comparison

You will have a very difficult time completing the shock process without an FAS-DPD test.

Hope this helps! :wink:
 
I did forget to mention to all of you is that I have not vacuumed my pool yet, just brushing. My problem might be fixed and I not know it. If I vacuum and it does not come back did I win this battle?. I also did not have salt cell on til tonight. Going tomorrow to get test readings so we can be accurate. FC level is pretty high,tests color is yellow at 10 it is orange now. The pool store cant measure above 10. But I can get accurate reading on everything else. Right now salt cell is on 12 hour cycle. Will vacuum tomorrow evening. Any advice between now and then will be helpful.
 
It is too early to tell if the algae will come back or not. Chances are excellent that you have taken care of it, but you won't be sure for several days at least.

All you need to do right now is focus on maintaining an FC level above zero. Once the FC level holds overnight you will be fine.
 
ok guys, got test results back I took the sample 8:30 am.

FC-10+
TC-10+
TA-23 (low)
CH-166 (low)
CYA- 24

As I said earlier put 2 bags of shock in at 7 pm last night ran salt cell on 12 hour cycle from midnight last night til 12 pm today. FC was 10+ according to pool store test 8:30 am sample. At 11 am my wife checked it, FC was at 4. Got home at 3:30 pm, FC little less than 1. Vacuumed pool, backwashed, rinsed. turned salt cell on 12 hour cycle. Have not added anything else to pool. Does this mean my FC held overnight?
 
No, I don't think your FC held over night, but the only accurate way to confirm if your FC held overnight is with an FAS-DPD test.

A pool store tested these results? What kind of test (drops or strip in a reader?)

I don't think they are reliable -How could your CYA go down to 24 and your TA 23? Since you didn't mention a drain...

Read the links in the post I gave you above about how to shock your pool. 2 bags of shock only raises FC in your pool by about 5, your shock level for a CYA of 80-90 is around 30. So even though your test is reading 10+, there is no way to no if you are reaching shock target without an FAS-DPD test, and there is no way to know if the FC is holding at shock level, because you aren't able to test that high.

So unless you drained 75% of your water out since yesterday, your CYA isn't 24....
 
THE CHEMICAL READINGS ON ORIGINAL POST ARE MY MISTAKE. They test by syringe into color coded vials, they insert those vials into some kind of reader then the results show on computer screen. Those chemical readings that I posted were not the correct readings, they were the specifications for the correct balance of pool chemicals for optimum performance of my salt cell. I guess I had gotten them mixed up with the readings I should have put in my original post. They did seem kind of odd to me after i looked back at the post, thats why i went to have a fresh test. Sorry for the inaccuracy, misinformation is terrible. These readings are correct, except FC and TC. So my CYA is not as high as I posted, does this make a difference?
 
Based on the newer numbers from the Sat May 08, 2010 6:36 pm post:

Your TA is quite a bit too low. That will allow the PH to swing around more than you want. You want to raise the TA up to at least 60 and as soon as the FC level comes down below 10 you should test and adjust the PH. The FC level should fall fairly rapidly during the day tomorrow (while the sun is up), so there shouldn't be any problem adjusting the PH at some point tomorrow.

A high FC level is good at this point. We don't know for sure that all of the algae is dead, but the high FC level suggests that the algae is dead.
 

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