People have various options to sanitize their swimming pools. Most of us are accustomed in using chlorine as a disinfectant for our pool waters. This is because it has been tried and tested through time. Even though it is popular, it is still notorious for giving hazardous effects to the swimmers. On top of that, their levels are fluctuating. Therefore, the main challenge in here is how to keep them within their acceptable level to maintain their effectivity as a disinfectant. People also do not like the smell it brings. It is too strong for the nose but it never stopped people from swimming.



It is not that chlorine is a bad disinfectant. It would just be nice to be able to swim without complaints or even experience discomforts when you try to relax. Because they are notorious for harmful effects to humans, alternative disinfectants are used.

Bromine is a non-metallic element that is now used as an alternative disinfectant. It has been used as water disinfection since the 1930s. They react with ammonia to take form of bromamines. Definitely, if you want to eliminate the use of chlorine in pool maintenance, this is the way to go. They are not even harmful to costly pebble pool finish or any other types regardless of value.

For you to decide on why you should go for it, take note of the good and the bad of using this method.

The good

• It eliminates the use of chlorine, meaning your water will not have the smell that you dread every time your go swimming.

• It does not leave harmful residue in your waters thus, you do not have to worry about the common pool problems.

• They do not leave harmful gases.

• They are effective agents in fighting bacteria and algae.

• They are also effective in higher water temperatures.

The Bad

• Must remain in high levels to be efficient disinfectant.

• If not controlled, it can be corrosive to your metal equipments used in operating the pool.

• It is expensive.

• It is unstable yet you can just add them right away because high level can be destructive.

• Shocking of pool cannot be eliminated because of the fact that ammonia cannot be eliminated on its own.

From the looks of it, bromine taking the form of bromamines can be a very effective disinfectant. They have no known effects in your plaster, vinyl or pebble pool finish. Therefore, they should be good to use. Their drawbacks are not impossible to avoid. It is common in everything that you use. There is no such thing as the perfect sanitizer. Therefore, the best way to avoid them is just to maintain the normal operations of your pool and ensure all system is working well. On top of that, you can ask for the advice of experts or your manufacturer in this case, to know how to avoid bad effects of bromine. Either way, it is still proven and tested to be the perfect alternative of chlorination.