dichlor vs trichlor

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J

Jonsstihl

Well-known member
Sep 2, 2021
90
Quebec, canada
Just got the spa installed yesterday, was supposed to be started on bromine but the chemicals included with the spa is a bucket of trichlor tablets.

was planning on running bromine to start but may keep going with the chlorine if it works out well.

the spa sticky mentions dichlor. what is the difference dichlor vs trichlor. am I slowly contaminating my spa water.

by the way, walmart bleach in canada is not marked with a percentage but it seems to work out to 3% according to pool math and testing data.

stopping by the dealer tonight so will know more later.
 
Trichlor doesn’t add quite as much cya per ppm of fc as dichlor.
PoolMath effects of adding can show you the resulting effects of each dose to help you keep track. Also be very mindful of the acidic effects & take those into consideration before also dosing with acid.
Generally trichlor tablets aren’t recommended for spas since they erode at too high of a rate in the hot water thus being too acidic & doling out too much fc - this can lead to damage to the shell, cover, & equipment. If using it for the interim keep a good check on things. They shouldn’t be used long term.
Did they give some sort of floating tablet dispenser?
If not - you will need to get one to use the tablets.
If so & you use it for trichlor now you will need to get a different one to use with bromine later so there’s no accidental combinations.
Walmart here often carries 1# containers of 99% dichlor granuals in the spa area. That would be better & easier to deal with long term.
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Even after switching to bromine you can use liquid chlorine/ dichlor to shock & reactivate your bank so they are things u need to have anyway.
 
spa store doesn't seem to know what they are doing, what a surprise. said I couldn't convert to bromine unless I change the water. From what I understand I can convert to bromine any time but can switch back to chlorine unless I change the water.

I have a floater but so far we are using it quite a bit so the tab directly in the skimmer works but they go fast 1.5 days per tab and the chlorine is slightly on the high side around 5 but I'm still figuring out what it wants. so far we don't really like the feel of chlorine and would like to try bromine.

i'm currently using a combination of trichlor tabs and great value liquid bleach after use. but the tabs will have to go into a floater soon because I think the CL is a little high for the long term.
 
Its no surprise the pool/spa store isn’t well informed with chemistry. You are correct about the switch.
Tabs in the skimmer means straight acid water to your pump - which is a no no.
Never put anything in the skimmer- even if the manual tells u to!
Your signature says u have an above ground pool- do u have any cya on hand? You can use that to get to around 30 ppm via the sock method & forgo the trichlor. Then just dose w/ bleach thereafter. W/ 5ppm + of fc but basically no cya the chlorine will be very harsh. Also have u tested ph before entering? - low ph can be irritating.
 
thanks for the reply, the installers put the first puck in so I was just following their lead. actually we wanted to run Bromine from the start in the floater but thats not how it worked out. (they brought a bucket of trichlor instead of bromine tabs) I'm planning on adding borates to try and smooth out the water. The PH is within limits.

Yes I do have some CYA I can add but was waiting since we were planning on switching to bromine. Maybe we should give this chlorine a go properly first and maybe switch at the next water change. we have had the spa 3 days so still very new.

Definitely agree the chlorine is harsh that is one of the reasons why we are thinking of switching to bromine.
 
Did you do an Ahhsome purge of your new spa?
Best to do it twice on a new spa to get all the gunk out.
Type 'ahhsome' in the search box above for further info.
 
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I would go ahead with the 30ppm cya & bleach & ditch the pucks today.
Proper chlorine levels according to the FC/CYA Levels aren’t harsh - fc with no cya is harsh.
Fwiw - in my limited experience with bromine-the few times I have experienced it- it was harsh. To be fair, This could have been an improper maintenance issue as they were all at Vrbo’s.
 

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did the switch tonight. puck was gone when I got home from work so never added another. added a small amount of CYA to get to 20 ppm. didn't want to overshoot since my test kit for CYA is only coming next week. did the borates treatment and maybe its just a placebo effect but I could have sworn the water got clearer as soon as I put the first dose of borax in.

will soak tomorrow and see if it made a difference.
 
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Tried looking at your poolmath logs & it only shows your pool.
If you are a premium subscriber you can add your spa by hitting switch pool in the hamburger menu then selecting +add new pool.
 
For future reference it’s much easier to just use granular boric acid to add borates. Less fiddling w/ph.
Most here buy from duda diesel- not sure if that’s an option for u in Canada 🇨🇦.
Also it’s best to have ta 50-60 before adding borates if you’re goal is to moderate ph rise.

Borates in pool - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com www.troublefreepool.com
 
I order the big bucket of granular boric acid from duda diesel for my pool so I always have some on hand for my spa.
For the pool it’s definitely easier to do 1 step vs 2 & I don’t look crazy cleaning out the borax shelf at the Walmart 😂
 

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