Substitute for Sodium Bromide

[IokaBell]

Hi! Starting a bromine inflatable spa. I already put the tablets in the floater of freshly filled water. However as expected, not much is happening chemically. I have now read about building the bromide bank. However in my location sodium bromide is extremely hard to get. What are my alternatives?

Note: the only chemicals in my pool so far are my pH decreaser (so the Total Alk and pH are already perfectly balanced) and the bromine tablets in the floatie. My bromine tablets are Bromochloro-5,5-dimethylhydantoin.

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

 

[JoyfulNoise]

Supplement with liquid chlorine until the bromine levels remain stable on their own without having to add chlorine.

 

[Methuselah]

Hi! Starting a bromine inflatable spa. I already put the tablets in the floater of freshly filled water. However as expected, not much is happening chemically. I have now read about building the bromide bank. However in my location sodium bromide is extremely hard to get. What are my alternatives?

Note: the only chemicals in my pool so far are my pH decreaser (so the Total Alk and pH are already perfectly balanced) and the bromine tablets in the floatie. My bromine tablets are Bromochloro-5,5-dimethylhydantoin.

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

+1 (What Matt said!)

There's also a sticky pinned to the top of this group (here).

 

[IokaBell]

Supplement with liquid chlorine until the bromine levels remain stable on their own without having to add chlorine.

Thanks!
I have chlorine in granule form as sodium dichloro-s-triazinetrione. Is this okay to use as well?

 

[JoyfulNoise]

Thanks!
I have chlorine in granule form as sodium dichloro-s-triazinetrione. Is this okay to use as well?

Yes but that will also add cyanuric acid to the water. You don’t want more than 30ppm of CYA in a tub as anything higher makes the active chlorine levels too low to be a useful sanitizer. Liquid chlorine is really the best option.

Every 10ppm of FC added using dichlor will raise the CYA by 9ppm.

 

[IokaBell]

Thank you. My understanding now is that I add a shock level of chlorine (preferably liquid) and over time the bromine will take over from chlorine as my sanitiser.

From there, I would just do a chlorine shock approximately weekly.

I saw a lot of warnings about mixing chlorine and bromine in a spa but it seems that is dependent on your approach.

 

[JoyfulNoise]

Thank you. My understanding now is that I add a shock level of chlorine (preferably liquid) and over time the bromine will take over from chlorine as my sanitiser.

From there, I would just do a chlorine shock approximately weekly.

I saw a lot of warnings about mixing chlorine and bromine in a spa but it seems that is dependent on your approach.

Chlorine oxidizes bromide into active bromine. Your tablets are actually doing that - they contain both chlorine and bromine. The problem is, the bromide (spent bromine) levels are so low that it’s taking time to get up to the correct levels. You should be able to use your tablets without adding any additional chlorine after a few of them dissolve completely. Just be very careful as those tablets are acidic and they will lower both pH and TA. So you need to constantly check pH and TA to make sure they are at the correct levels.

 

[The Mule]

You can crush the bromine tablets to help them dissolve faster. Do it outdoors because the fumes can be very potent.

 

[JamesW]

You can crush the bromine tablets to help them dissolve faster. Do it outdoors because the fumes can be very potent.

That's a bad idea.

You will create too much bromine and it's dangerous crushing solid forms of chlorine or bromine.

 

[JamesW]

However in my location sodium bromide is extremely hard to get.

Why is it hard to get?

What country are you in?

The bromide bank is overrated anyway.

You will have chlorine in the interim until you get a bromide bank, but even a few ppm of bromide is enough to create some bromine.

 

[IokaBell]

Why is it hard to get?

What country are you in?

The bromide bank is overrated anyway.

You will have chlorine in the interim until you get a bromide bank, but even a few ppm of bromide is enough to create some bromine.

Hi I’m in the Caribbean

 

[IokaBell]

Chlorine oxidizes bromide into active bromine. Your tablets are actually doing that - they contain both chlorine and bromine. The problem is, the bromide (spent bromine) levels are so low that it’s taking time to get up to the correct levels. You should be able to use your tablets without adding any additional chlorine after a few of them dissolve completely. Just be very careful as those tablets are acidic and they will lower both pH and TA. So you need to constantly check pH and TA to make sure they are at the correct levels.

Thank you!