Anyone using a bromine Frog System?

[Sjde]

Can anyone tell me about the Frog system using a mineral (silver ion) cartridge and a bromine cartridge? One came with our spa and we never used it . We use a bromine floater with tabs instead. What is the advantage ? The Frog system is more costly but if it works better to keep consistent bromine levels, it would be worth it.

I do have 2 specific questions.

I read that you can't use bromide with it (inactivates the silver). So when I refill my spa I don't need to build up a bromine bank with the sodium bromide packets?

If water is changed monthly , does mineral cartridge get changed monthly or still every 4 months? TIA.

 

[tim5055]

Well, I haven't used a Frog and haven't used bromine in many years....

I just wanted to ask, why change water every month??

With city water I did it evey 3 - 4 months.

Now that I'm on a well with iron in the water it's more like 6 months.

 

[Sjde]

It's in a vacation rental.

 

[tim5055]

It's in a vacation rental.

See, I figured there had to be a reason....

 

[MikeDelta62]

My spa can with an inline Frog system and was used for several months.
Question #1 - The product instructions only referred to the jump start packet and that's all I did. I recall the packet having dichlor shock but was mostly "Other ingredients". Sodium Bromide supplement was not needed based on test strip results.
Question #2 - The water change was every three months when the mineral cartridge was empty. I set the mineral cartridge to "6" and SmartClor/Bromine to "3". The SmartClor or Bromine cartridges lasted approximately 1 month. The website advertises monthly shock. I found this insufficient based on our bather load. You don't state if your system is inline or floating. If inline the mineral cartridge mounts above the SmartClor/Bromine.

Disclosure: I no longer use this method. I follow the Bromine sticky to the letter. The Frog instructions read to keep TA between 80-120. This will drive my water's PH well above 8.0. I didn't care for the sole source/expense/lack of availability of the cartridges or the proprietary strips that we not accurate. As a rental property I can see how this method is an issue.

 

[Sjde]

Ours is inline.

 

[Sjde]

I don’t plan to keep the TA at that either because I have the same situation as you- if TA is 80, pH goes over 8.0.

I use a drop test kit, I don’t plan to use the strips- is that a problem? TheCS rep on the phone didn’t comment when I told him that, so I don’t think so.

I know it’ll be more expensive than the bromine floater I use now but I’m hoping it’ll be more consistent. Right now the floater doesn’t always bring the bromine up to 1-2 in the morning, if the level was at 0 after use the night before.

 

[MikeDelta62]

You can try it but my opinion is, if using the SmartChlor, the chlorine free chlorine (FC) and combine chlorine (CC) results may not be accurate. I don't know about using the Bromine carts. You would have to compare results between the test kit and Frog strips. After I received my Taylor 2106 test kit, I used the Frog strips for the sanitization level and the test kit for everything else.

 

[Sjde]

We use bromine.