First Time Pool Owner - Inherited Bromine Pool

[dggizmo]

Hi Everyone,

I just moved into a new house and upon having my pool opened, discovered we actually have a bromine pool. The person who opened the pool turned on the pump and heater, brushed the walls, and dumped the previous owners remaining bromine tablets into the chemical filter. I checked the chemical levels with the AquaChek Red Total Bromine dipsticks he provided and the levels were:

Hardness - 0
Bromine - 0
Alkalinity - 40 ppm
pH - Looks to be a little above 7.8

I've been reading online but I can't seem to figure out a clear answer as to what I should be adding to increase the alkalinity and bromine, but also lower the pH. Does anybody have any suggestions? I've read that bleach can help the bromine levels and baking powder can be used for alkalinity. A local pool store said that bleach and baking powder are not recommended and can be dangerous, but his explanation was a little sketchy in my admittedly limited knowledge of pool chemical.

My pool is inground, about 36'X15' (kidney bean shaped), so I would guess my pool is between 20,000 and 25,000 gallons. I'm also unclear how much of anything should be added. Any help that can be provided would be greatly appreciated!

 

[YippeeSkippy]

Welcome to TroubleFreePools....

Are you interested in keeping a bromine pool, or switching to chlorine. Most of us (about 98%) use chlorine while the other (2%) use Bacquacil then come to us looking for help on how to get rid of the bacqua. <disclaimer: All statistics a figment of my imagination, although feels accurate> In my years answering posts here I can't remember more than a few bromine questions. Someone else is going to have to advise you.

That water in there is bromine unless you drain it. Even adding bleach to the water just re-activates the bromine again (sort of charges it up, but I can't think of the proper lingo)

Are you in PA? Or where?? Can you add that detail please??

Yippee

 

[dggizmo]

Lol Yippee,
"Oh people can come up with statistics to prove anything Kent. Forfty percent of all people know that." - Homer Simpson

I am in Lancaster, NY, a suburb of Buffalo.

I think for now I am going to keep the bromine pool, even though I've read that it's not the best idea for a pool in the sun, which mine is. The person who opened my pool said once a bromine pool always a bromine pool unless I drain it, which I have no interest in doing. So I am going to go the bromine route for this year and try to see if the previous owner had the right idea. I will re-evaluate after this year to see if I should change but for now I plan on maintaining what the previous owner started.

 

[YippeeSkippy]

Well, you know what you have and you can later tell us how its working out for you, ok? In your area of the country, with such a short swim season, I'd hate to go thru all that work of draining and refilling too.

You may find it costly though? I have no idea how much though but for comparison I have a salt system and occasionally need to supplement it with liquid bleach. I spend no more than $100/year on pool testing supplies and a couple of cartons of bleach a year. But my swim season is longer than yours I'm pretty sure. So if you find this bromine ends up costing you fiftygazillion dollars, well, I think it *may* be worth considering that drain and refill more seriously.

Cheers to a hot summer!

Yippee

 

[dggizmo]

I have a feeling I will need a new pool liner in the next couple years so I will probably then make the switch.

In the meantime, does anybody know how much bleach I should add? Does the pool calculator also work for bromine? I have read anywhere from 3 gallons to 15 gallons so I am lost lol.

 

[MPurcell]

The pool calculator only does it's computation in units of chlorine. If you are using a bromine test kit, and bromine ppm, you can convert your current and target readings to chlorine ppm by dividing by 2.25, and then use PoolMath to get the amount of bleach to add. Remember to set the strength of bleach, 8.25% or whatever. I've used this method with my bromine spa, and it works out very accurately.