First, let me say that you and your website are AWESOME! I have had my pool for 10 years now, and have gained most of my knowledge through your website, so thank you very much. In the 10 years, thankfully, I have not had many problems because I am meticulous with my pool and keep my chemistry perfectly balanced and circulation is great. I have a slight problem that I know you have the answer to, and here it is: My pool is a free form gunite pool with plaster, 35,000-40,000 gallons with a DE filter and salt chlorinator. I was experiencing “Pink Algae” and tried to use algaecide (as you recommended) with a lot of shock, and spending countless hours in the pool brushing every bit of the pink blooms. It got rid of it for about a week and it came back. Frustrated, I used 4 pounds of United Chemical’s “Pink Treat” and followed their instructions (the bottle and website say that it can be used in chlorine pools as well as salt generator pools). “Pink Treat” is sodium bromide 88.8%. The pink algae is definitely gone, however, even by following the directions on the bottle, I cannot get any reading for chlorine, no matter how high I turn up the chlorinator (salt generator) and now I’m worried that I converted my pool to a BROMINE pool. I’ve read all of your answers about this topic, and even others on the web, and I’m really concerned that I will have to drain my pool to start over if I want to get rid of the bromine. I’ve also read that by “making chlorine” that I am continually “assisting making more bromine.” Is this also true. Please help and let me know what I can do to get my pool back to chlorine generation from my cell, and/or get rid of the bromine. Right now my chlorine level is ZERO. However, all of my other levels seem good. Thank you for your prompt reply, and the great website. Warmest Regards,

This is something that they don’t tell you. and causes confusion.  The type of algae, that you had, was evidently resistant to normal level of chlorine.  When you added the sodium bromide, the chlorine converted the bromide to bromine.  In essence, you now have a bromine pool.  So long as you keep generating chlorine, it will convert the bromide to bromine.  It will be a closed system, so it will keep on cycling.  The down side is that bromine cannot be protected, from the SUN’s UV rays, as can chlorine.  Therefore, it will be best if you run the system, after the Sun has gone down.  This will allow the bromine level to rise and persist and give you a reading the following morning.  You could run the filter, for as few hours during daylight to promote circulation.  To dramatically improve circulation, you could replace the existing return jet fittings with The Circulator. Better circulation cures a whole host of problems.  The possible downside for trying to run the salt cell 24/7 is that you will shorten its cell life.  This may not be exactly what you wanted to hear, but it did solve the resistant algae problem.  Adding a 60% polymer can help provide some algae protection, during the daylight hours.  If this website was helpful, in answering your question, please consider joining our E-Letter Mailing List.  You’ll receive E-Letters, with helpful information, new product updates, suggestions and sale announcements. I hope that this recommendation works out for you.