Achieving A Safe Bromine Level For Your Hot Tub Water
Responsibility is often a source of joy. The daily care you provide to your family and home adds structure to your life, joy, and a sense of well-being. Those same feelings can even come from the care of items that add value to your life. Think of cellists caring for their instruments, or of author Robert M. Pirsig’s Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. One of the many benefits of owning a hot tub is the opportunity to care for it, even in simple ways, such as maintaining the purity of your spa water on a routine basis.
Spa water can be purified using a chlorine, bromine, salt water, or ozone system, each of which has unique attributes. While chlorine is effective and costs little, it can be harsh on skin and sensitive areas of the body, including your eyes, nose, and throat, if you dont balance your water correctly. The @ease® In-line System with SmartChlor® Technology, which is chlorine based, uses up to 75% less chlorine*, greatly reduces hot tub water maintenance, and comes standard on all Caldera® spas. The SPA FROG® In-line bromine system is a great alternative to chlorine for those with sensitivity issues.
Whether you already own or are looking to purchase a spa with a bromine system, weve compiled everything you need to know to make caring for your spa water simple.
*Compared to the minimum ANSI recommended chlorine or bromine level of 2.0 ppm for a hot tub.
What Does Bromine Smell Like
Bromine has a mild, clean, slightly bleach-like chemical smell. If the levels are properly maintained, it should be barely detectable, and certainly not overpowering.
It’s much milder than the strong ‘swimming pool’ smell you might associate with chlorinated pools.
Did you know? Chlorine or bromine should have barely any odor if used correctly. ‘Swimming pool smell’ is actually the result of chloramines or bromamineschemical compounds released when the sanitizer mixes with unwanted contaminants.
If you ever experience a chemical odor from your bromine spa that smells overpowering, it’s a sign you need to shock your water. This will kill the contaminants your bromine has encountered, and convert it back to ‘free bromine’ so it can be effective again.
What Does Bromine Do In A Hot Tub
Bromine just like chlorine is a great hot tub sanitizer. Bromine works by combining with the contaminants forming bromamines. Although not as reactive as chlorine, bromine works by slowly reacting and keeping your hot tub healthy.
Bromine also has a lower pH compared to a sanitizer like chlorine thus keeping the water more balanced. Bromine also doesnt itch your skin like chlorine does therefore making it a great choice if you have a sensitive skin.
After reacting with contaminants, bromine becomes less reactive but a shock can make it effective again.
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Advantages Of Bromine Over Chlorine
Bromine is one basic advantage over chlorine in your spa or hot tub. It is more stable than chlorine, so you can avoid testing the water as often.
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Bromine remains more stable in the higher temperatures of summer
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It has increased stability in a wider range of ph levels
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Bromine doesnt have that chlorine odor
How To Lower Bromine In Hot Tub
Once in a while, you may overspill bromine in the hot tub. Too much of it in the spa could corrode the components of the tub or even irritate your skin. There are different ways you can use to lower the levels of bromine in the hot tub.
- Dilute the water
Depending on the amount of bromine, drain some of the water in the hot tub and refill with fresh water. For this process, you can also use a bucket to draw some of the water from the hot tub.
After diluting, run the hot tub so that the water mixes correctly. Test the water for bromine levels and dilute again if need be.
- Use a neutralizer
If you want to use the hot tub almost immediately, then a neutralizer is the best solution. The best neutralizer is sodium thiosulfate which slowly breaks down bromine in the water.
If you arent planning to use your hot tub anytime soon, then you can give it time. Naturally, bromine will break down thus decreasing in amount over time. This is the best way to allow bromine levels to decrease without using any chemicals.
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Alternative Water Care Programs
If you want to try a different water care regimen than standard chlorine or bromine, there are a few products available. These are sometimes sold as natural or premium water care systems. There are several brand names available. These alternative solutions may or may not be more natural depending on how you look at them. However, they do take a somewhat different approach to inhibiting water-born contaminants. Some of these solutions are marketed as a technology that hinders bacterial growth by eradicating the food source. Others are sold as metal-based bacterial inhibitors. Most contain additional water conditioning agents that claim to help your water feel softer to your skin.
Tips for using alternative water care systems:
Is Chlorine Or Bromine Better For Hot Tubs
This is a question in the heart of every hot tub owner who is considering switching from chlorine to bromine. What really makes bromine preferred? Which of these is really the best spa and hot tub sanitizer?
Here are a few reasons why bromine is preferred.
In the meantime, I will share both of these products that will do the job right.
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How Long Should Bromine Tablets Take To Dissolve
As I said before, bromine has a couple of stages to go through.
As bromine is added, it introduces bromine ions and there are no tests to determine the how much bromide ions are in it. The reason for this is because the one test that would measure bromide ions will also measure amounts of chloride ions. Since every water will have some amount of chloride ions, the test becomes inaccurate and unacceptable.
As long as you have at least 15 ppm or more of bromide ions in your spa water, all the chlorine you add afterwards will convert bromide ions into hypobromous acid , none of it will provide a chlorine residual.
Your bromine tablets, perform a slow release of bromine into the water, just like chlorine tablets.
Bromine tablets can take up to 7 days to dissolve and it is for all the aforementioned reasons where bromine reacts slower than chlorine when it comes to removing any residual.
Bromine Tablets Are Not Dissolving In Hot Tub
Check your pH, alkalinity and total hardness levels.
In case your hardness and pH are high, you will need to address this first before you can add your bromine tablets. Check to see if your heater has any forming.
This is usually the main reason why your bromine tablets wont dissolve.
With bromine, with new hot tub fills, you might need to shock your hot tub more often in order to keep the bromine levels up for a few weeks. This is only until you have enough ions in the tub.
What shocking will do for you, is that it will re-establish most of the used bromine.
Again, before you can get to this test, get your levels sorted. As a note, you should keep your calcium hardness between 50 and 150. Any levels above 400 are super high.
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Based On What Customers Bought
- AquaChek 6-in-1 Spa Test Strips for Spas and Hot Tubs, 50 Strips114.7 out of 5 Stars. 11 reviews3+ day shipping
- 63.8 out of 5 Stars. 6 reviews3+ day shipping
- HTH Multi-purpose 6-Way Test Strips for Swimming Pools, 30 ct4214.2 out of 5 Stars. 421 reviews3+ day shipping
- Clorox Pool& Spa 3-Way Test Kit pH, Chlorine, or Bromine2124.1 out of 5 Stars. 212 reviews3+ day shipping
- Clorox Pool& Spa Multi-Use SmartStrips for Swimming Pool Water Testing, 30 Ct2724.4 out of 5 Stars. 272 reviews3+ day shipping
- $11.56was $11.56Willstar Chlorine Dip Test Strips,50 pcs 6 in 1 Swimming Pool Water Chlorine Dip PH Test Strips Paper Hot Tub Chemicals Tester233.7 out of 5 Stars. 23 reviews2-day shipping
How To Build A Bromine Bank
Building a bromine bank ensures the effectiveness of bromine in the hot tub.
A bromine bank is a reserve of sodium bromide ions in the water. The sodium bromide dissolves into bromine via spa shock, ozone or liquid chlorine. The average sodium bromide tablets compose of about 30% chlorine and 70% bromine.
To successfully build a bromine bank, always add sodium bromide tablets after draining, shock the spa with your preferred oxidizer and this activates the bromide ions and converts it into hypobromous acid which is the killing form of bromine.
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Should You Use A Floating Bromine Dispenser In A Hot Tub
A floating bromine dispenser is the easiest way to keep your spa’s bromide levels topped up between water changes.
If you don’t use one, you’ll need to add bromide booster regularly yourself, or just put brominating tablets directly into your spa’s skimmer basket if it has one.
It can be harder to get the dose right this way, so you’ll often find your sanitizer levels either much too high, or too low .
Leisure Time Brominating Granular is a bromide booster and shock in one. You can use it to establish an initial bromide reserve, and then add more weekly as a shock. You may not even need to use tablets or a dispenser.
If you do use a bromine floater, it’s fine to take it out while you’re using the spa if you find it gets in the way.
Do I Need Bromine In My Hot Tub
Chlorine tablets for hot tubs tend to be harsh and cause skin irritation. Hence the use of bromine in spa water and hot tubs.
In case you are using chlorine now and wonder how often you need to add it to your water, I have a nice article that took me some time to research that can give you more information about using chlorine. You can read it here.
You need bromine in your hot tub because it is proven to be an effective sanitizer that destroys algae, microorganisms and hot tub bacteria.
If you use chlorine for hot tub, it exhibits weaker oxidation properties even though it might be faster but bromine has a larger molecular size which gives it an advantage at killing bacteria and viruses.
Bromine combines with bacteria in spa water to neutralize it even though a good portion of the bromine stays active even after combining with the bacteria. If your family has sensitive skin, bromine is obviously a better option to chlorine.
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How To Shock A Hot Tub With Bromine
A hot tub shock is an oxidizer that activates bromide ions in the hot tub water with spa shock and converts them to hypobromous acid, the killing form of bromine.
While preparing to shock the spa water, you should first test and adjust the pH level to about 7.2 to 7.5. The shocks work in a low pH environment, and the efficiency of your spa shock is twice as great at a pH of 7.5 than it is at a pH of 8.0. Make sure to have a well-balanced pH level.
Here, the numbers behind a decimal point matter so you really want to have as accurate pH strips as it can get. I will share a whole kit with you below thats on sale thats really accurate in case you need to order it.
To shock your hot tub with bromine:
Switching To Or Starting Bromine
We recommend flushing, draining, and refilling your spa when switching from and to a different sanitizer. Doing so will prevent any possible chemical reaction that may skew test results and the potency of the new sanitizer.
Switching to Bromine: If you are switching to bromine from a previous sanitizer, we recommend using a Spa System Flush product to clean the plumbing lines. You dont want to damage your spa with the chemical reaction that could be created by having any residue from another sanitizer. Even if youre consistent in draining and maintaining your spa water, youll be amazed at the gunk that comes out of the hot tub plumbing!
Starting Bromine: With bromine hot tub start-up, you will want to establish a reserve of bromide in the spa or hot tub water. Bromide Booster is not a disinfectant on its own but must be added before using brominating tablets for the first time. The bromide is converted to the bromine sanitizer upon addition of shock or oxidizer. Using a bromide booster product will ensure that the disinfection of the spa or hot tub water is completely bromine-based and will eliminate the harsh chlorine odors. The same treatment is required whenever the spa is drained and refilled.
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Adjusting Bromine Levels In Your Hot Tub
The best way to adjust your spas bromine level is gradually: When low, dial up delivery a little when high, wait longer than usual before adding more bromine. If accidental over spills occur when administering bromine, or if you miss a week of testing, you might have to make a major adjustment.
Raising the bromine level from a low point is simple just add the appropriate amount. Reducing the level, however, is a little more difficult. The best way to reduce bromine concentration is to allow the bromine to outgas, or evaporate, naturally over time. If, however, you want to lower the level more quickly, you can dilute it by draining some water from the spa or removing a few gallons using a bucket, and then replacing it with fresh water. Run the hot tub, and wait a while to let your water mix and settle . Then, test the water again. If testing shows the bromine level is still too high, repeat the process.
You can also lower the bromine level by adding a neutralizing chemical, such as sodium thiosulfate, to the water. Neutralizers are available online, but its best to purchase from a local dealer, who you can consult before adding extra chemicals to your spa. Its preferable to avoid adding neutralizers, because extra chemicals will complicate the balancing process and may alter other characteristics of your spa water, such as pH, alkalinity, and calcium hardness.
Can You Switch From Chlorine To Bromine
You can switch from chlorine to bromine sanitizer in a hot tub. In fact, it is actually easier to go from chlorine to bromine than the other way around.
Simply stop adding chlorine, and start adding brominating tablets instead. The dissolving tablets will gradually start to build up a bromide bank, and then when you next shock the spa, that residual bromide will be converted to bromine.
It’s important that the two chemicals don’t mix directly. If you were using a floating dispenser with chlorine, you should get a new one to use with bromine tablets so you can be sure there’s no chlorine residue in it.
So why doesn’t it work the other way around?
If your spa already has bromine in it, every time you add shock , this existing bromine will get reactivated, and you will still have a bromine spa.
There’s unfortunately no way to completely remove bromine from the water without doing a full drain, clean and refillincluding flushing the plumbing lines with a cleaner like Ahh-Some.
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