Chlorine vs Bromine

Chlorine is one of the main disinfecting products for hot tub water. It does those two jobs. It’ll disinfect the water and kill any of the bacteria. And it also oxidizes, burns off, or shocks any organics that are in the water. That’s your sweats, body oils, urine, etc. In the Arctic Pure line, chlorine is available in two forms: tablet form and granular form. They both have their advantages.

Tablet form provides a constant release of chlorine, because they’re slow-dissolving tablets. The tablets can be placed in a floating dispenser, such as this, which floats around and bubbles in the water, slowly releasing the chlorine tablets. And the chlorine tablets are placed in this column here. And this is adjustable. You can adjust how much flow of water can pass through the tablets. You can turn it up or turn it down, depending on how much you want to be released into the water. Now, it provides a slow release of the chlorine, which is what you want. You always want some chlorine being constantly added to the water to keep the water clean and safe.

With these, though, the disadvantage of them is that they do have a low pH. So they will drive down your pH and your alkalinity slowly over time. Because the chlorine is being dissolved slowly, it doesn’t happen instantly. You just have to watch your pH and watch your alkalinity. You can do that with the test strips. Test strips will test your pH, your alkalinity, and your chlorine. In a hot tub, the recommended level of chlorine is three to five parts per million. That will always keep your water clean and safe. So the periodic testing of you water…that will tell you whether you need to add more chlorine by a shock or just increase the flow of your tablet dispenser.

With the granular chlorine, this dissolves instantly. It’s completely soluble, so this will provide you an instant boost of chlorine into your water. You can use this as your main source of sanitation of the water, or you can use it in conjunction, and this is what I would recommend, is use it in conjunction with your tablets as a periodic shock for the water, done after a heavy bather load. Or you take a test and you see that your chlorine is low, add some boost and it will provide an instant chlorine residual into the water. This is also pH neutral, which is a huge advantage. It won’t alter your pH. It won’t alter your alkalinity, so your water will stay in balance. It’s a great product.

So, chlorine does those two things. It disinfects the water killing your bacteria, and oxidizes out or burns off any organics that are in the water. Always keep it between three and five parts per million and you’ll have clean, safe, clear water.

The use of bromine provides an effective alternative to chlorine when disinfecting your hot tub water. Like chlorine, bromine does two things. It disinfects the water and kills any bacteria that are in the water, as well as it oxidizes out any organics that can be in the water. In Arctic Pure, we offer two types of bromine, bromine tablets and granular bromine Peak Boost.

The bromine tablets, just like chlorine tablets, offer a slow release of bromine into the water. The tablets are slow-dissolving, so they take up to a week sometimes for them to dissolve. The tablets are placed in a floating dispenser such as this, or in the skimmer basket, or if the hot tub does have a tablet feeder, they can go in there. It’s important to note that you do not want to mix chlorine and bromine tablets in the same feeder, basket, or dispenser. I would recommend that if you were to switch from tablet to tablet that you buy a new dispenser. It can be dangerous.

So, like chlorine, you want to keep the level of three to five parts per million bromine in the water. That’s gonna keep the water safe and clean. Bromine can be tested by a tester. You can test it at home with the testers. Give it a test. See where the level is at and adjust your level accordingly.

The granular provides an instant bromine residual in the water. Peak Boost is completely soluble, fast-dissolving, and as well it’s pH neutral, so it won’t affect your water balance. The pH will stay the same and the alkalinity will stay the same. So it’s a great product.

You can use both of these products on their own, or you can use them in conjunction. And I would recommend that. I would recommend using the tablets for that slow release and constant residual into the water. And use the peak boost as a shock when needed after heavy bather use, or if you test it and you see that the level is low, add Peak Boost to bring it up right away. With the tablets, just like chlorine tablets, they do have a low pH, so over time they will drive down the pH and drive down the alkalinity levels in the water. So it’s just something you have to watch. It doesn’t happen instantly. Because these are slow-dissolving, it happens slowly over time.

So bromine is a great alternative for disinfecting your water to chlorine. It’ll keep your water clean, clear, and safe.