Considering switching to bromine...

[Tatooed_Lady]

Okay, our tub is the "standard" N2, ozone, dichlor setup. The ONLY issue I've got at this point is that we're going to be getting into our "heavy" work season (construction), and I won't have time to do daily soaks, and there WILL be days that I won't be thinking of adding dichlor to the tub, and it's possible to go a week in a complete daze. In the interest of keeping the water hot, sparkling clean and ready to go, I'm seriously considering switching out to a bromine floater for the summer.  I realize this means that IF I want to switch back to dichlor, I would have to be careful to flush all the brominated water out, and that's ok.
Thoughts?
Also, I've got N2....I believe I would have to switch to the frog? I'm just trying to get things straight before making any major water changes.
Thanks, guys......(and gals!!)

[Brewman]

 Have you looked at Vermonter's dichlor method?  
You may get that type of a plan to work for you, and you'd be able to keep on your dichlor routine.
I've been on dichlor now for a few months, was on bromine prior.  I wish I'd have switched years ago.
Bromine works fine, and if you can get it dialed in, it can be less daily work, but a lot of us had trouble with the bromine level- one day it's not even detectable, despite having the floater allways on, and the next day the reading is off the scale.  Plus it tends to pull alk and Ph down, so in my case I was having to add a lot of Ph and alk boosters.  
Dichlor is cheap,and easy- even if you're not using the spa daily.  

You can pull the essay on Vermonter's method off of Doc's website if you're interested to read it.

If you have not, I'd do that before you decide to switch.

[LtDan]

I went from chlorine to bromine a year ago, it was a good move for me. I also have no ozone system. I go out of town a lot, recently got back from 8 days away and the tub was fine. I put PH lock in at water changes and it really does seem to keep it from drifting. The level does seem to fluctuate some, not bad though. The key for me has been not to mess with it too much and it works out well in my case.

[hottubdan]

Stick with the program you are on.  As long as you superchlorinate once a week and add chlorine or MPS when you use the tub you should be OK.

Compressed santizers in a floater (chlorine or bromine) may void your warranty, because many people think all they have to do is put the floater in and not test.  Results acid water.

[drewstar]

Tat, I would also recomend sticking to Dichlor and see what happens.

You have ozone runnin 24/7 and i beliver that makes a difference.

There are weeks I don't get to use my tub and I haven't had a problem.  I never let it go longer than a week without getting the chlorine up to about 3 ppm and running the clean cycle for 10 minutes.  But you should be able to find the 30 seconds a week to do that!.

[hymbaw]

I say go for it. I use bromine at home and here in the showroom. VERY easy, once you get your floater dialed in. I check PH and TA once a week, shock with MPS, that's it! There are some haters out there. Pay them no mind, there are many thousands of people that use bromine with noting but positive results.

With ozone you can run lower bromine levels(1-3 ppm instead of 2-5 ppm)

Bromine DOES NOT void your warranty, BTW.

[Spatech_tuo]

You're seeing poeple give advice both ways which brings it back to you to decide. Whenever people are interested in the opposite switch (from bromine to dichlor) I always suggest they give it a try because I think most will prefer that but even though this is the reverse of what I'd think most would want I say GO FOR IT and learn for yourself which way YOU prefer. Having said that, yuck, I just can't stomach bromine.

[shabba34]

I can understand switching to Bromine only if you or someone in the family has a strong sensitivity to Chlorine, but just to switch because you may only use the spa once a week is not necessary.  I use my spa maybe 1 to 2x every two weeks and use Di-chlor and CD Ozone as my treatment method.  If I use it, couple teaspoons of di-chlor when I get out. 1x per week, 2 tablespoons of di-chlor as a shock, and adjust ph levels 1x per week if necessary.  Water is sparkling all the time.  May take as Drewstar said 30 seconds out of my day.

[drewstar]

I can understand switching to Bromine only if you or someone in the family has a strong sensitivity to Chlorine, but just to switch because you may only use the spa once a week is not necessary.  I use my spa maybe 1 to 2x every two weeks and use Di-chlor and CD Ozone as my treatment method.  If I use it, couple teaspoons of di-chlor when I get out. 1x per week, 2 tablespoons of di-chlor as a shock, and adjust ph levels 1x per week if necessary.  Water is sparkling all the time.  May take as Drewstar said 30 seconds out of my day.

I bet you could shock less often too.

[shabba34]

I bet you could shock less often too.

I could if were just my wife and I, but my neighbors have a tendency to frequent the spa sometimes and I use the additional shock just to make sure.

[Tatooed_Lady]

Maybe your water is just "better" than mine straight from the source, but I added dichlor to raise the level to 3ppm after soaking, and within 2 or 3 days (I forget which, and this is why I worry) the water was pretty cloudy. NOT milk, mind you, bu cloudy enough to surprise me.
Yes, I can spare 30 seconds per day, however....when I get into "work mode", I tend to be too tired to eat by the time I get home, much less putz with the tub.....I'm thinking I'll switch to bromine for the summer months, then when we get more off time later in the fall, go back to chlorine for the winter. It just seems to make more sense to me. However, if it turns out that we HATE bromine, it'll be right back to dichlor...otoh, we could LOVE it and that's that....DOH.
I recall seeing posts about adding chlorine as a shock to a bromine tub......am I correct, or is my brain fuzzy from lack of oxygen again?

[East_TX_Spa]

I've got a Grandee like yours on the deck, Mrs. Lady.  I'm all about keeping it simple and this is what I do:

Initial fill- 2 tblsp dichlor, turn on both pumps, leave it alone

After each soak- 1 tblsp MPS, hit CLEAN button

Once/week- 1 tblsp dichlor, turn on both pumps, leave it alone

That's it.  Water is crystal clear.

Terminator

[Tatooed_Lady]

I've probably monkeyed with my water a LOT more than you in your tub, Term....maybe it's my "gotta have control over the tub" mentality, I dunno.....but if I just added 2T of dichlor and left the tub alone on startup....I'd have readings like:
TA 240+
TH off the charts high
pH 8.4
Somehow I don't think that's real good for the tub, so I had to get one in line, then the other, then the other, and......doh.
Anyhow, maybe I should use some softened water along with the hard to balance some of the numbers...but yanno, I smelled the bromine at the HS dealer earlier......I actually kinda like the smell....or lack of. So, I'll try this, since I've tried that, and maybe I'll go back to square one in a month, who knows. *lol* I'll figure it as furthering my education at very least.

[East_TX_Spa]

Well, I don't know what the heck pHd's and TnA's and STD's are and all that fancy talk, but we have high quality H2O in these here parts and all I got to do is put in chlorine to kill the critters.  The Brilliance Bromine is mighty fine too.

Terminator

[Tatooed_Lady]

Here's a shot of our water.

I'm guessin' we've got a lot more than just critters to chunk outta the tub, eh?