bromine readings in chlorine pool

[charmschool]

Here's an odd one. We're having problems getting a free chlorine reading after reopening our pool this spring. We've gotten some new test strips that work for both pools and spas, which have test pads for both chlorine and bromine, and we keep getting readings that our bromine levels are fine, even though we're not using any bromine products, only chlorine shock and tabs.

I assume we're getting the bromine readings from our "city" water (I checked one of the test strips with tap water & get basically the same reading as from the pool water), but it's been over a week since we added water to the pool, and we've shocked twice, and gone thru six 3" chlorine tabs since then. I'm wondering if the bromine levels are somehow keeping us from getting a free chlorine reading, or we've got some other problem. I've seen a few mentions of ammonia from leaf decay, and we did let a lot of leaves sit in the pool this past winter. Also, since bromine is an alternative sanitation method, is the pool safe to swim in, even with no free chlorine?

[dynamictiger]

Bromine and chlorine are measured using the same reagents. It sounds to me like your test strip is reading your chlorine as bromine. What sort of residual is it saying you have?

[charmschool]

Sorry, I forgot to check yesterday. When I use my drop kit, I'm getting about 1.0 free, and about a 10 total chlorine. However, I can't get any chlorine reading off the chlorine pad on the test strip, only the bromine pad. I've tried dipping the very second we shock, and get a reading then, just not any time after, so I know the strips are reading at least partially right. I'm really thinking I've got a bad ammonia problem, which is using the shock, but if I really have gotten some bromine from the tap water, I hear it's hard to get rid of, and that shock tends to "reactivate" bromine, and since my tap water seems to be the source, I can't use it to refill the pool, so what am I supposed to do?

I was just hoping someone had an easy answer, but I guess not. Hubby and I got frustrated & haven't touched the pool in several days, so I'm going to try triple-shocking it daily for a few days to see if it is ammonia, and hope the bromine reading is just an anomaly....It just doesn't help that all our area pool stores are staffed with hateful people who treat you like an idiot if you don't have a chemistry degree!

[dynamictiger]

Look I hate test strips. They are fine for a quick check but that is all. The drop kit you are referring to is probably OTO which creates an orange colour in reaction to chlorine.

Please go to your pool store and purchase a DPD based test kit. Please do a test for DPD#1 and DPD#3 The difference will tell us how much combined chlorine is in your water and whether you need to shock again or not.

HTH

[Guest]

I had this problem last year and again this year-I just kept shocking it everyday for about 7 days and finally the chlorine was freed up and i got a reading-