Hi. Can anyone resolve an apparent paradox regarding bromine? I read here that bromine cannot be stabilised with CYA in the same way that chlorine can, so it's not advised for external pools with high UV flux. To me that implies that when bromide salt is converted to bromine, it is rapidly lost. At the same time, I also read here that 'once a bromine pool, always a bromine pool', and that you can't get rid of it without draining and refilling. That seems to me paradoxical. But I must have misunderstood something. I ask because I have mustard algae. The one time I tried a sodium bromide product it cleared it rapidly. All advice and clarification welcome!
BROMINE PARADOX?
- Thread starter roger888
- Start date
- May 11, 2021
- 973
- Pool Size
- 7000
- Surface
- Vinyl
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- CircuPool RJ-30
UV will transform your Bromine in Bromide. If you add chlorine (or MPS) the Bromide becomes Bromine once again. So once Bromine always Bromine as it will use any chlorine you add to convert bromide into bromine.
HI. Thanks. Your first point seems to be the key. If I have bromide salt, chlorine will transform it to bromine. But UV will convert it back to bromide salt. Is that correct? What is the mechanism for Br + UV to Bromide?
- May 11, 2021
- 973
- Pool Size
- 7000
- Surface
- Vinyl
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- CircuPool RJ-30
Bromine cation (Br+) is the one capable of sanitizing your water, while Bromine anion (aka Bromide or Br-) is highly soluble in water, but inert (actually roughly 2% of seawater are bromides).
Chlorine will quickly oxidize and ionize Bromide in Bromine that will be quickly be ionized by UV back in Bromide until no Chlorine is left.
If you constantly added an insane amount of chlorine to bromine pool you might end with enough FC to be effective, but it would raise your bromine levels sky high by "activating" all bromide in the water. So so even doing that you would still have a Bromine pool.
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