Right, this is what I'm looking for from people - their standby sanitizer demand, when the tub isn't in use.
How much chlorine does your hot tub use?
- Thread starter bedelliott
- Start date
(Thank you, for some reason I'm not getting emails anymore when people chime in, so I'm just seeing this) Don't you want to know your CYA (roughly) so you know your minimum effective FC/bromine level and also in the event you had to SLAM?
When you say "bromine tub" you must mean a 100% bromine tub, not something done with brominating granular which also has dichlor, true? Sorry, new to all things bromine. About the "bank", how do you know when it's sufficiently built up and what's the impact if you keep building it up higher?
This manual dosing is starting to wear on me - what would be the simplest (least maintenance) solution - would it be for me to get some 1" bromine tabs, stick them in a floater and see how many tabs it takes for me to maintain that 4-6 total br level, then still have to manually dose something after bathers to stave off that load?
- Jun 1, 2018
- 13,747
- Pool Size
- 26000
- Surface
- Vinyl
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Hayward Aqua Rite (T-15)
Cya is irrelevant with a bromine tub & the necessary total bromine level.
No- you’re still confused.
You have a bromine tub- once you add any bromine at all you now have a bromine tub & your sanitizer is bromine not chlorine.
The chlorine in the dichlor is your oxidizer not your sanitizer. It’s only action is to activate your bromide & turn it into bromine.
The only way to switch to chlorine as your sanitizer is to drain all the water & start over solely using chlorine.
You can attempt to calculate based on how much you have used. This can be a little complicated when using a product that’s not 100% sodium bromide which is why the guide suggests you use 100% sodium bromide to build your bank.
There’s no issue with having a higher sodium bromide level- it just sits there, in reserve, inactive until the oxidizer of your choice activates part of it. The “activated” part will measure as Total Bromine.
The product you are currently using is adding sodium bromide and activating a portion of it at the same time via the dichlor.
Once you’ve added enough sodium bromide to have a bank you can just use liquid chlorine to activate it as needed & forego the expensive bromide granules.
Your testing would need to guide your necessary amounts based on your bather loads.
This is considered the 2 step system. It certainly can require a bit more attention.
Br Tablets also contain some dichlor. Using them in a feeder/floater would mean that it was adding some sodium bromide & also activating some all the time & may make things easier as a hot tub eats around the clock.
This would be considered a 3 step system as outlined in the guide below.
You would still want to make up for any heavy bather loads with manual dosing.
Also with both methods it is recommended that you raise Total Br to shock level (10ppm) weekly with the oxidizer of your choice.
How do I use Bromine in my spa (or pool)?
Originally Posted by waterbear There is a lot of misinformation on the proper way to use Bromine so I hope this primer is helpful. First, you need to establish a bromide reserve in the water. Bromine tablets can do it by themselves but it can take literally weeks until enough dissolves. Some...
www.troublefreepool.com
Sodium Bromide - Further Reading
www.google.com
- Jun 1, 2018
- 13,747
- Pool Size
- 26000
- Surface
- Vinyl
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Hayward Aqua Rite (T-15)
Bedelliot, you've been around for several years an it would be far easier to slightly modify the TFP chlorine ways to account for the higher bather load in the tub, than to learn bromine from scratch.
I understand you have chemicals on hand. Sell them on FB marketplace / Offerup app / Craigslist, etc. It will still be less hassle than learning them just to exhaust the supply.
I understand you have chemicals on hand. Sell them on FB marketplace / Offerup app / Craigslist, etc. It will still be less hassle than learning them just to exhaust the supply.
Yea, I have that set - up until 3-4 days ago I got an email every time someone responded but since then I get maybe 1 out of 4 - maybe I hit my quota...
Yea, I know what you mean, but I'm only 10 days in and I'm tired of the daily dosing and making sure others/bathers add the right amount when they're done, and if I leave town, well, I'll come back to a swamp of a hot tub, so I need a way to maintain this so I can go a week between doing anything if I needed to, but maybe that's not overly possible with a hot tub, short of over doing it with floaters and letting the bromine spike...? For my pool I have a Liquidator, which I love, it doses as the pump runs, and it's all dialed in to give me perfect FC, and I simply add stabilizer at the beginning of each swimming season, so it's boringly easy to maintain - maybe that has me spoiled...
- Jun 1, 2018
- 13,747
- Pool Size
- 26000
- Surface
- Vinyl
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Hayward Aqua Rite (T-15)
drain, refill & Go with chlorine & add a swg. No worries about standby chlorination or vacation once you have it dialed in.
The bromine stuff is a pain for most.
Great reminder for me to look into that, thank you! Any brands to stick with or stay away from?
- Jun 1, 2018
- 13,747
- Pool Size
- 26000
- Surface
- Vinyl
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Hayward Aqua Rite (T-15)
The two most well vetted are:
the saltron mini - there’s only one model
&
ControlOmatic- there are several models to choose from for a regular sized spa:
A basic “dumb” one (chlormaker) that you manually select your output similar to how the saltron mini operates,
& two “smart” ones (smarterspa) that detect & keep your fc steady (one has wifi- smarterspa+)
The smart ones can be a little finicky to get the set point adjusted but most people are pretty happy with them once they do.
The controlOmatic units are more expensive than the saltron mini but the cells are bigger & they have a longer lifespan so it’s understandable.
I have a saltron mini and when I deplete my stash of spare cells I will probably get a controlomatic unit.
The saltron mini cells have about an 18 month lifespan in my 250 gallon spa it seems - running it on average 3hrs/day. That’s about 1620 hours per cell. There is no advertised lifespan for them.
My first controller lasted around 4 years.
The controlOmatic units advertise a 7,000 hour cell lifespan.
They also sell a larger one for swim spas (megachlor).
There are a couple cheaper Chinese units available on amazon & ebay etc. now but their longevity/quality is unknown since they are pretty new to market.
- Jun 1, 2018
- 13,747
- Pool Size
- 26000
- Surface
- Vinyl
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Hayward Aqua Rite (T-15)
Couple extra notes-
The controlomatic controller is not as weatherproof as the saltron mini controller so some precautions must be taken to protect it from the weather & cold conditions as explained in the manual. The cold thing may not be much of an issue for you in texas.
The saltron mini also has a smaller cell which is why I chose it initially because my spa is quite small & I was worried something bigger might be intrusive. 5 years later I don’t think that matters much to me anymore.
The controlomatic controller is not as weatherproof as the saltron mini controller so some precautions must be taken to protect it from the weather & cold conditions as explained in the manual. The cold thing may not be much of an issue for you in texas.
The saltron mini also has a smaller cell which is why I chose it initially because my spa is quite small & I was worried something bigger might be intrusive. 5 years later I don’t think that matters much to me anymore.
Great info, thank you. I've read thru several threads and quite a few say these SWGs drive up the pH - has that been your experience? With a pool that's an easy solution (acid), but I haven't dealt with it on a hot tub. What are the downsides of these SWGs, anything besides the cost (looks like $16-17/mth based on the controller lasting 4 years & cells 18 mths)? How about the other things out there like the FROG Ease (looks about $30/mth)? If my primary goal is ease of maintenance, should I just stick a floater in there with 1" bromine tabs - could a floater let me leave the house for a week at a time? Online some say 4-5 tabs (for my 420 gal tub) would last me 5-7 days but I can't find any info on what bromine level that provides, pool math doesn't look to cover bromine.
- Jun 1, 2018
- 13,747
- Pool Size
- 26000
- Surface
- Vinyl
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Hayward Aqua Rite (T-15)
The swcg doesn’t increase ph - the lack of adding acidic forms of chlorine/bromine is just not keeping ph down.
You would need to use muriatic acid to control ph just like with the pool only its a bit of a faster paced cycle due to all the aeration.
No frog
- that’s a whole nother bag o worms.
Until you are ready to drain & go chlorine you should probably go with br tabs. Its least maintenancey br option.
Since you should purge, drain & refill the tub at least every 6 months anyway you can decide at each time which route you wanna take (chlorine or bromine).
Some people alternate depending upon their season of life at that time.
You can turn a chlorine tub into a bromine tub without a water exchange simply by adding sodium bromide.
You cannot however switch back to chlorine without exchanging the water.
You br supplies should be very shelf stable should you wish to use them again in the future.
You obviously have all the chlorine supplies you need now unless you choose to add a swcg.
Fwiw my swcg cell was out last year so I was manually chlorinating when it was time for vacation.
I raised my fc to slam level for my cya
FC/CYA Levels , lowered the temp way down on the tub (it was the summer so it never got below the mid 90’s)
& came back a week later to fc still above minimum for my cya.
Everything was fine.
A swcg isn’t a must have thing but it does take the pressure off so to speak. You know its there doing its thing.
You would need to use muriatic acid to control ph just like with the pool only its a bit of a faster paced cycle due to all the aeration.
No frog
- that’s a whole nother bag o worms. Until you are ready to drain & go chlorine you should probably go with br tabs. Its least maintenancey br option.
Since you should purge, drain & refill the tub at least every 6 months anyway you can decide at each time which route you wanna take (chlorine or bromine).
Some people alternate depending upon their season of life at that time.
You can turn a chlorine tub into a bromine tub without a water exchange simply by adding sodium bromide.
You cannot however switch back to chlorine without exchanging the water.
You br supplies should be very shelf stable should you wish to use them again in the future.
You obviously have all the chlorine supplies you need now unless you choose to add a swcg.
Fwiw my swcg cell was out last year so I was manually chlorinating when it was time for vacation.
I raised my fc to slam level for my cya
FC/CYA Levels , lowered the temp way down on the tub (it was the summer so it never got below the mid 90’s)
& came back a week later to fc still above minimum for my cya.
Everything was fine.
A swcg isn’t a must have thing but it does take the pressure off so to speak. You know its there doing its thing.
It looks like these 1" tabs only contain bromine, so I'd need to first build the bank with bromide (maybe using my brominating granules) then switch to the tabs, true? How do I know when the bank is sufficient and after that, how fast does the bank deteriorate (?) in which case more bromide is needed to add to the bank? Sorry, I'm probably using all the wrong terminology...The swcg doesn’t increase ph - the lack of adding acidic forms of chlorine/bromine is just not keeping ph down.
You would need to use muriatic acid to control ph just like with the pool only its a bit of a faster paced cycle due to all the aeration.
No frog
Until you are ready to drain & go chlorine you should probably go with br tabs. Its least maintenancey br option.
Since you should purge, drain & refill the tub at least every 6 months anyway you can decide at each time which route you wanna take (chlorine or bromine).
Some people alternate depending upon their season of life at that time.
You can turn a chlorine tub into a bromine tub without a water exchange simply by adding sodium bromide.
You cannot however switch back to chlorine without exchanging the water.
You br supplies should be very shelf stable should you wish to use them again in the future.
You obviously have all the chlorine supplies you need now unless you choose to add a swcg.
Fwiw my swcg cell was out last year so I was manually chlorinating when it was time for vacation.
I raised my fc to slam level for my cya
FC/CYA Levels , lowered the temp way down on the tub (it was the summer so it never got below the mid 90’s)
& came back a week later to fc still above minimum for my cya.
Everything was fine.
A swcg isn’t a must have thing but it does take the pressure off so to speak. You know its there doing its thing.
- Jun 1, 2018
- 13,747
- Pool Size
- 26000
- Surface
- Vinyl
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Hayward Aqua Rite (T-15)
I can't see how to show a label but here's a link to it. But for that matter, I could also use the typical 3" pucks people use in pools, right? Since CYA isn't really an issue (I'll be draining every 6 months anyway), is there a downside to using those? If you say less surface area than the 1" tabs couldn't cutting one into 4 quarters work? It only crossed my mind because they're so cheap at Costco. Here's the link - Amazon.com
I use chlorine in my hot tub (bleach), not bromine. My tub can go a day or two without dosing. Normally it "eats" about 1.5 ounce of chlorinating liquid a day. I neglected it over the last week and now it is grey. SLAMing is ongoing
A also add 1oz of chlorinating liquid per person per 30 min of use.
When I go on vacation and other people (house sitters, my kids) use the tub, my instructions are "Add 2oz of this daily, and 1oz per person per 30 min after use" It does not seem hard for them to follow.
With a salt system, you can get rid of the daily dosing, but you will still need to tell people to add chlorine post-use.
- Jun 1, 2018
- 13,747
- Pool Size
- 26000
- Surface
- Vinyl
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Hayward Aqua Rite (T-15)
That is BCDMH -
Here’s a bit if an explanation of how is works
Post in thread 'CYA in a bromine spa'
CYA in a bromine spa
Here’s a bit if an explanation of how is works
Post in thread 'CYA in a bromine spa'
CYA in a bromine spa
Thank you, I read thru that, my head is spinning... I wish there was a chlorine product you could put in a floater that'd last a week, but from what I read using the 3" pucks isn't a good idea (they melt too fast so you have to watch closely, they add other chemicals that don't have good results, etc.). Thoughts on that? Maybe a SWCG is my best bet, and only use it when I'm not home, since when I'm here I can dose daily or as needed. But would that work, or would all the salt I add for the SWCG wreak havoc on the tub/chemicals when the SWCG isn't being used?