Question:

Can you please tell me more about the following: In general, does Bromine & Ozone do a better job than Chlorine & Ozone for pools? Also, where would I purchase a device to test the ozone levels in my pool and hot tub.

Answer:

Chlorine and ozone have the tendency to eliminate each other. Bromine and ozone cooperate to some degree. For regular pool owner is completely irrelevant what chemical processes are taking place, but the result is rather interesting - bromine usage with ozone is almost 1/2 of what would be chlorine usage with ozone in the same pool - while maintaining recommended residuals.....

Some people can tolerate bromine better then chlorine (and opposite). Chlorine is usually the 1st choice for most pool guys active in this field on commercial level mainly because the chlorine based products are cheaper. Using the cheaper supplies keeps their profit margins higher.... so, most people will not be given an opportunity to try bromine....

=== That does not mean bromine is safe and/or environmentally sound solution for swimming pools......

=== The usage of bromine as a disinfectant is very similar to chlorine usage. However, for the testing of bromine residual in water you will need Bromine test kit - should be available from your local pool product supplier. In regards to dosages you should refer to product info labels. There are too many different producers and products, therefore it is completely pointless to discuss any details about specific products I know about and we have available locally in my area.

=== An Ozone test kit (chemical test) is produced by LaMotte company and it can be ordered directly from them (sorry, I do not have their tel.# available at this time) or you may ask them for reference to a nearest distributor. Everyone should be able to find their info on the Net. Perhaps your local pet store will carry ozone test kit (for aquariums) - you should be looking for test range between 0 - 0.1 ppm with target reading around 0.08 ppm of ozone.

There are also some electronic tests available, however, the test probes (ORP) and meters [mV] can be quite expensive. mV meters (preferably digital with range 0-1000mV) can be sometimes found on sale in Radio Shack for 40-50U$......However, the testing of residual ozone levels when utilizing additional disinfecting agent (H2O2, Chlorine, Bromine, etc.) is not as simple as we would like to see it. You will find that most tests simply are not suitable (or as accurate as it should be) for applications when more then one disinfecting agent is used.

Then, there is number of ORP automatic controllers - most of them quite costly. In time when I was active in this field I was using pH and ORP combination unit which took care of both - pH levels as well as disinfecting by ozone. This controller had adjustable set points and built in relay, so acid pump and ozone generators were plugged directly into this unit. It made installation relatively simple and it sure worked very well - unless there was a ground problem and some electric current was leaking trough whole pool installation. Then, these controllers got wild and they become useless...but that is a completely different subject :)

=== The OzoneLab™ Team