Sodium Bromide / Chlorine

[DisneyFan71]

I wish I found this website sooner but glad I’m here now! We were told last year upon closing that we had “pink algae” and were advised to add a whole bottle of No Mor Problems (NMP) and then add a bottle in the spring when we open. NMP is about 41% Sodium Bromide and in total about 60 oz was put in my 14000 gal pool. After adding NMP of course is when I read about bromide eating the chlorine and now I know why I can’t keep a chlorine level. I’ve gotten very good at balancing everything the past 5 years and I’m mad at myself for just taking the word of the pool guy I’m angry more at him!! I don’t want a bromine pool so our intention is to slowly dilute by sending it out to waste and refilling. I know it’ll take a while doing it this way but I don’t really see any other options. My main question is how do I keep my chlorine levels up in the meantime, more so how do I know how much chlorine is in the pool if the sodium bromide is obscuring my test results. I do have the Taylor kit with the dpd chlorine test. All other levels are balanced, CYA is 30-40. Thank you for any help it is truly appreciated

 

[CrystalRiver]

The other option is complete drain and refill. That would be done by using something like a sump pump.

 

[mknauss]

slowly dilute by sending it out to waste and refilling.

Welcome to the forum.

With a Fiberglass pool, draining is not a good idea - but - an Exchange will work. Read Draining - Further Reading. Focus on the Exchange process section. It would reduce the headache time of managing your FC with the bromide interference.

 

[DisneyFan71]

The other option is complete drain and refill. That would be done by using something like a sump pump.

Not gonna chance that with a fiberglass pool but thanks

 

[DisneyFan71]

Welcome to the forum.

With a Fiberglass pool, draining is not a good idea - but - an Exchange will work. Read Draining - Further Reading. Focus on the Exchange process section. It would reduce the headache time of managing your FC with the bromide interference.

Thank you

 

[DisneyFan71]

Sooooo I had to run to the pool store to get chlorine, figured I’d take a sample to have tested for bromine since I don’t have a way to test it.... they are saying I have 0 bromine in my pool... now I’m at a loss as to what is happening to my chlorine They also ran 2 separate tests one with bromine as sanitizer and one with chlorine as sanitizer, same water a few minutes apart and the TA, PH and hardness were all different also I tested my CYA to be around 50, they are saying 0.... are pool places really that hard up to sell chemicals that they screw with tests ugh thanks

 

[IceShadow]

Never attribute to malice that which can be appropriately explained by incompetence.

They’re probably just testing wrong, or their testing equipment is improperly calibrated and they don’t care.

 

[DisneyFan71]

Opened the pool 5 days ago was a medium greenish color. Vacuumed the worms up and adjusted my levels. Added a few bags of shock, next day zero chlorine... happened a few times. When we closed the pool we were told we had pink algae and to add no more problems (41% sodium bromide) I added about 60 ounces between closing and opening this year. After luckily finding this forum I realized my mistake with the sodium bromide and I thought thats what was eating the chlorine.... had it tested at the pool store cause I can’t test for bromine and it was zero. We added 2 bags of shock last night and chlorine is at 0.4 this morning. Thing is the pool for the past few days is beautifully clear (dead algae on the bottom this morning) I figure if I had an algae issue my pool wouldn’t be so clear. So I’m at a loss as to the chlorine, algae issue? Or bromine that the pool place didn’t test properly for Suggestions?? I’m ready to fill it in lol. 5 years and I’ve never had an issue I couldn’t fix thank you link below for my test results

PoolMath Logs

troublefreepool.com

 

[JamesW]

They can't test for bromine.

All they can test for is the total amount of chlorine and bromine.

For example, if they get a reading of 5, they have no way to know if it's all chlorine, all bromine or a combination of both.

Also, they can't test for bromide at all.

Bromide is a salt like chloride.

All they can test for is the total amount of chloride and bromide, which does nothing to help you.

When chlorine is added, the bromide becomes bromine, there's no way to tell if it's bromine or chlorine.

 

[DisneyFan71]

Ugh well then I guess I will try and SLAM the pool and if it’s still eating chlorine I will assume it’s the sodium bromide and continue replacing the water.

 

[JamesW]

Do an OCLT.

Overnight Chlorine Loss Test

The bromine is not protected by CYA.

So, your FC will be lost quickly during the day.

 

[DisneyFan71]

Will do for sure! Thank you, my brain hurts trying to figure this out !!