Hot Tub Forum
Original => Hot Tub Forum => Topic started by: Brewman on June 03, 2006, 12:52:30 am
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Dichlor- Easier and Cheaper.
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It actually is. Put in a known given amount to a known tub volume and it will give you x PPM. It's that easy, Shock once a week with 10 times that amount and it'll give you 10x PPM reading. Decide to use MPS instead of chlorine to shock ... still no problems.
AND at $30. 00 for 5 lbs, it is the cheapest sanitizer you can get. 1lb of dichlor = 72 teaspoons ... that's an awful lot of dosing and shocking!
The ONLY thing that bromine has over dichlor is that once you get the proper opening on the feeder then you only have to worry about bromine once a week ... but it seems most people go from bromine to dichlor so that probably isn't an advantage.
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I've only had my tub since Feb, but our dealer started us out on the bromine. When we changed our water last month, I switched to dichlor. I am loving it. It just seems to be easier to regulate for me, I think my skin is happier, and my water is beautiful.
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I use Dichlor and have had good luck. But I have the same issue that Vinny has mentioned in other threads, leave the tub alone for 2-3 days and you have cloudy water. I am thinking of switching to Bromine floater on my next water change because of this. What are the disadvantages of Bromine? What would do people use as a shock with Bromine?
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I haven't been on vacation yet or have left my tub for too long but try using a little dichlor every other day. For me this keeps my tub looking great.
My tub is actually in a state of chlorine lock as I write ... My dichlor stays for a long time ... I shocked Sun or Mon with 7 1/2 PPM, yesterday afternoon I still had 1.5 PPM of chlorine.
For me, I have the best of both worlds - I use dichlor and it lasts as long as bromine! ;D Maybe that's not a good thing ... ::)
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I use a Taylor K2005 kit. It is what's called a DPD test kit. You can also buy a OTO test kit that'll test pretty much the same, the Taylor will test for free chlorine seperately from total chlorine.
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I use bromine in a floater and fill the tablets twice a month. I shock with mps and never have cloudy water. If there is a disadvantage, I am unaware of it.
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I use bromine in a floater and fill the tablets twice a month. Â I shock with mps and never have cloudy water. Â If there is a disadvantage, I am unaware of it.
I haven't tried Bromine yet but one of the disadvantages is that you're soaking in a chemical bath--so I've heard anyway. :)
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I use bromine in a floater and fill the tablets twice a month. I shock with mps and never have cloudy water. If there is a disadvantage, I am unaware of it.
I'm with you. I go camping for a long weekend, on vacation for ten days, come back to perfect water. I started out on chlorine, took more time than the bromine floater. If I'm soaking in a chemical bath, it sure feels nice.
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The problem I had with bromine was that I could never get the level regulated to my satisfaction. Even using the sodium bromide starter packets on clean water, I'd go days with no bromine reading, then all of a sudden the reading would be off the scale, etc... Seems no matter what I set the floater to, it wasn't right.
Plus, bromine and MPS were dragging my Ph and alk levels down, and I had to add Ph and alk increasers a LOT more than I do now using just dichlor.
I just toss in a couple teaspoons of dichlor when we get out of the spa- just as easy to me as when I had to babysit the bromine floater.
Shock once a week or so with a mega dose of dichlor.
How much easier can it get?
I've gone from bauqa spa to bromine to dichlor. Dichlor wins for me hands down.
YMMV
For bromine, you can use dichlor to shock, or MPS.
For whoever asked that question above.
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"If I'm soaking in a chemical bath, it sure feels nice. "
;D
Classic! My chemical bath is in a similar tub to yours LtDan. Might be a Jacuzzi thing?
I was told a while ago that bromine is better suited for hot water and also hate measuring out granules all the time so I ain't switchin.
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I wouldn't have switched either if I'd been able to get the stuff to work. Then again, I'd probably still be on Baqua Spa if I could have figured out how to make IT work.
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Both will work fine, I prefer bromine
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Seems that I hear that bromine is supposed to cause less skin irritation, but when I wet tested tubs with bromine, or sat in friends' tubs with bromine, I was itchy for days. I started with chlorine, have never tried anything else, but dont think I will, either. Super easy.
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You can use dichlor in such a way that when you use the spa there is no or extremely little chlorine in the water.
We usually use our spa at night, so just after we get out I toss in my dichlor, it does it's job and is pretty depleted by the next use, so we don't ever really soak in the stuff. Bromine is always there. Other than that slight bromine odor on our skin when we got out, the smell didn't really bother us.
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I use Dichlor. I add 1/2 teaspoon per person after each soak and run the jets for about 10 minutes.
I love it.
It's easy. It's quick. My water quality is great. By adding dichlor after I soak, I get the chlorine levels to 5ppm to sanitize the water. The next time I soak, the chlorine levels have drifted way down and I soak in crystal clear water with very little chlorine. A handy tip I picked up here in this forum is to save an empty test strip bottle and before I go out to the tub, I add the correct amount of dichlor into the bottle and take it out with me. When I get out of the tub, I add the pre-measuered dichlor to the tub and I'm all set. :)
A cd ozinator works 24 - 7 to pick up the slack.
For me, it's a great system and I highly recomend it.
On my previous tub I used a bromine floater. I didn't care for it. I was getting very dry itchy skin, I didn't feel my water was as clear (I did not have an 03 system either) and I had the damn floater.
Dichlor! ;D
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I was told a while ago that bromine is better suited for hot water
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also hate measuring out granules all the time so I ain't switchin.
1) who told you that?
2) you need to "measure" it out the same way you measure how much salt to sprinkle on your food, you open the top and with about 1/16 second of thought you say "oh, about that much".
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Seems that I hear that bromine is supposed to cause less skin irritation, but when I wet tested tubs with bromine, or sat in friends' tubs with bromine, I was itchy for days. I started with chlorine, have never tried anything else, but dont think I will, either. Super easy.
I got the old "she told me she prefers bromine because she's allergic to chlorine" to whihc i said "show her the part here on teh bronine bottle that tells her the bromine tabs are about 25% chlorine". Persoanlly, I'll always choose a chlorine based system to a bromine based (aka, spa chemical soup) .
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1) who told you that?
Science
1 - Bromine works in a wider pH range (As we all know pH tends to bounce around in a spa)
2 - When combined with nitrogenous materials, bromamines continue to actively kill bacteria (unlike chloramines)
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Science
1 - Bromine works in a wider pH range (As we all know pH tends to bounce around in a spa)
2 - When combined with nitrogenous materials, bromamines continue to actively kill bacteria (unlike chloramines)
Yes, that's true but if you use dichlor properly it works just as well and maintaining Ph isn't that difficult and I don't see people struggle with it very much and yes, you'll need to add dichlor per use since the chlorimines are useless but how difficult is it to sprinkle some in as you get out? I've met MANY people who've tried both enough to get a good feel for each and I swear that it seems like 90% prefer chlorine so the ph monitoring (you obviously need to check both, you'll just be more apt to have to adjust one) and the need to add dichlor per use are minor issues. More than anything I think people go to Bromine based on the "easier to use" premise and while both are effective (used properly) I just can't stomach the smell from Bromine.
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I've had spas for 20+ years. I've used bromine in a floater, I've used dichlor granules, I've used both in conjunction with ozone and / or minerals. The best, easiest, cleanest, clearest, best smelling, etc. system that I've ever used is the frog and ozone system in my Marquis Epic. The bromine stays at the correct low level, the water stays perfect, and if I'm out of the spa for 3 days or 2 weeks the water is perfect when I'm ready to use it.
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I have the Marquis system also. Sometimes the readings are dead on other times the bromine is very low or very high. For the first time I'm having issues with low pH and low alk. I'm using a different shock than what I had been using maybe that's why?? Haven't tried the dichlor only because sometimes we don't use the spa for a week or longer.
Like someone said, "they both work".
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You can use dichlor in such a way that when you use the spa there is no or extremely little chlorine in the water.
We usually use our spa at night, so just after we get out I toss in my dichlor, it does it's job and is pretty depleted by the next use, so we don't ever really soak in the stuff. Bromine is always there. Other than that slight bromine odor on our skin when we got out, the smell didn't really bother us.
Yeah, I guess I should clarify that I only add chlorine after soaking. Perhaps soaking in 2-5ppm chlorine would irritate my skin as much as bromine does, but using chlorine allows me to soak in just HOT WATER no sanitizer, thus my preference.
I have water that wants to stay very basic, but even for a newbie like me, getting the pH under control was not a huge issue. A little effort to maintain pH is worth it- for me.
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My issue is that I not home at least 4 days in a row twice a month. This is the reason I am thinking of switching to Bromine. My wife is home but the last two trips I was on she forgot to add Dichlor and I had cloudy water. Sounds like a Bromine floater will slove my issues and work just as well as Dichlor.
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Yeah, I guess I should clarify that I only add chlorine after soaking. Perhaps soaking in 2-5ppm chlorine would irritate my skin as much as bromine does, but using chlorine allows me to soak in just HOT WATER no sanitizer, thus my preference.
I have water that wants to stay very basic, but even for a newbie like me, getting the pH under control was not a huge issue. A little effort to maintain pH is worth it- for me.
I've soaked in 20+ PPM chlorine without any ill effects ... my tub smelled like chlorine and I thought it was in need of a good shock.
No skin problems or anything out of the ordinary. Something that gets forgotten is that many water supply companies pump 3 PPM chlorine into the drinking water to keep it safe. Although I will soak with 0 PPM chlorine most of the time, if drinking it is safe then I would think soaking in it at LOW levels is safe as well.