The idea of swimming in a pool of chlorine can be off-putting, especially if you have sensitive skin or asthma. But not all pools are treated with chlorine, and there are many chlorine-free alternatives. In the interest of finding out which alternative pool treatments are best, we researched pool chlorine alternatives and spoke to pool professionals to find the best options.
Read on to learn more about swimming pool chlorine alternatives.
Our Editor’s Best Swimming Pool Chlorine Alternatives Reviews
- Shockingly Quick Sanitation: Enjoy crystal-clear, swim-ready water faster with Champion Pool Shock’s powerful and potent 12.5 percent sodium hypochlorite formula, providing rapid sanitation for your pool.
- No Cloudiness or Stains: Keep your pool pristine with a formula that doesn’t cloud water or leave residue, preventing stains and ensuring a beautiful, clear swimming environment.
- Ready to Use: With no mixing required, it offers an effortless pool care solution. Simply pour it directly into your pool or feed it through a peristaltic metering pump for easy and effective sanitization.
- Cost-Effective Solution: Save on pool maintenance with a liquid chlorine that offers superior cleaning power at a lower cost, reducing the need for expensive alternatives.
- Reliable and Safe: Certified to NSF/ANSI 60 standards, this commercial-grade liquid chlorine ensures dependable and safe use in various aquatic settings. Available in convenient 1-gallon jugs, packed in a set of 4.
- Effective Sanitizer: Bromine is an excellent alternative to traditional shock sanitizers in swimming pools, spas, and hot tubs, effectively eliminating bacteria, viruses, and algae to maintain clean and safe water.
- High Bromine Strength: In The Swim 1-inch Bromine Tablets Plus offer enhanced sanitizing power with 98% active ingredient, an improvement over our regular bromine tablets that contain 96%, ensuring stronger disinfection in pools and spas.
- Stable in High Temperatures: Bromine is more stable than chlorine in higher temperatures, making it ideal for hot tubs, where heat can break down chlorine more quickly.
- Low Odor and Less Irritation: Bromine is less irritating to the skin and eyes compared to chlorine, making it a preferred option for swimmers with sensitive skin.
- Effective at Higher pH Levels: Bromine remains effective at higher pH levels and can be reactivated with an oxidizer, providing greater flexibility in water chemistry management and more efficient use with fewer additions.
- Eliminates bacteria, algae, and other organic contaminants, keeping your pool clean and clear all season long.
- 99% Trichloro-S-Triazinetrione and 90% available stabilized chlorine.
- Ideal for swimming pools with white plaster surfaces
- Removes stubborn black alage from your pool water
- Can be utilized as an alternative to Calcium Hypochlorite (Cal Hypo) pool shock
- Shockingly Quick Sanitation: Enjoy crystal-clear, swim-ready water faster with Champion Pool Shock’s powerful and potent 12.5 percent sodium hypochlorite formula, providing rapid sanitation for your pool.
- No Cloudiness or Stains: Keep your pool pristine with a formula that doesn’t cloud water or leave residue, preventing stains and ensuring a beautiful, clear swimming environment.
- Ready to Use: With no mixing required, it offers an effortless pool care solution. Simply pour it directly into your pool or feed it through a peristaltic metering pump for easy and effective sanitization.
- Cost-Effective Solution: Save on pool maintenance with a liquid chlorine that offers superior cleaning power at a lower cost, reducing the need for expensive alternatives.
- Reliable and Safe: Certified to NSF/ANSI 60 standards, this commercial-grade liquid chlorine ensures dependable and safe use in various aquatic settings. Available in convenient 1-gallon jugs, packed in a set of 2.
- Pool Algae Treatment: Our Pool Algaecide and Clarifier is specially formulated to treat existing algae while providing long-lasting defense against stubborn growth, ensuring that your pool remains clear and algae-free for an extended period of time.
- Maintain Crystal Clear Water: Kills and prevents all types of swimming pool algae (green, mustard, black algae) for crystal clear swimming pool water.
- Non-Foaming Formula: Spend less time maintaining and more time enjoying your pool with this Swimming Pool Algaecide and Clarifier, which features a non-foaming formula.
- Suitable for Use in All Types of Pools: This product is proven to meet the needs of every pool owner, as it is compatible with all types of pools, including saltwater pools. You can trust our product to deliver exceptional performance and keep your pool water clean and clear.
- Clorox Pool App: Test like an expert anytime, anywhere with the Clorox Pool App. Solve common swimming pool problems and get personalized product and dosage recommendations
- Eliminate bacteria, algae, and other organic contaminants, keeping your pool clean and clear all season long.
- 99% Trichloro-S-Triazinetrione and 90% available stabilized chlorine. Tablets do not expire and are non-perishable, but performance is best within 2 years of the provided manufacturing date.
- Dissolve slower helping you to avoid inconsistent chlorination.
- Sun-stabilized protecting it from the sun's harmful rays.
- Ideal size for floaters or automatic feeders.
- Cleans Water & Stops Algae: Kills harmful bacteria and prevents equipment corrosion, scale and stains. Kills and prevents all types of swimming pool algae (green, mustard, black)
- Long-lasting sunlight protection: Contains chlorine stabilizer to extend the life of your clean
- Creates Silky Smooth Feeling Water: XTRABLUE chlorinating tablets contain conditioners for silky smooth feeling water
- Usage: Apply 2 tablets weekly to treat 10,000 gallons of water, add more tablets as needed to maintain adequate sanitation. Safe for all swimming pool surfaces, including vinyl, plaster, fiberglass, and tile.
- Clorox Pool App: Test like an expert anytime, anywhere with the Clorox Pool App. Solve common swimming pool problems and get personalized product and dosage recommendations
- BENEFITS: Stay all clear for cannonballs; This fast-dissolving, convenient 4-in-1 formula kills bacteria and algae, reduces chlorine odor and irritation, and quickly restores crystal clarity
- FEATURES: Multi-functional shock treatment for weekly use to solve 90% of pool water problems within 24 hours and restore crystal clarity
- VISIBLY BRILLIANT SPARKLE: This Cal Hypo based formula sanitizes without adding cyanuric acid (CYA) to prevent overstabilization or chlorine lock
- COMPATIBLE WITH ALL SWIMMING POOLS: This product is great for all pool types including vinyl-lined pools and saltwater systems
- YOU'RE ALL CLEAR WITH HTH: For best results, use with HTH 6-Way Test Strips to test and balance your swimming pool water twice weekly
- BENEFIT: Sanitizer, clarifier, and algaecide to protect your swimming pool and swimmers with one easy, convenient, and individually wrapped 3-inch tablet
- CLEAR BLUE WATER: This advanced formula sanitizes, clarifies, and kills algae for beautiful, clean, and clear water all season
- SLOW DISSOLVING, LONG LASTING: Sun protected for longer chlorine life, HTH 3” Individually Wrapped Chlorine Tabs Advanced dissolve slowly and last up to one week
- COMPATIBLE WITH ALL POOLS: This product is great for all pool types including vinyl-lined pools and saltwater systems; Use in floater, feeder, or skimmer basket
- YOU’RE ALL CLEAR WITH HTH: For best results, use HTH 6-Way Test Strips twice weekly to test and balance your swimming pool water and keep chlorine levels between 1 and 4 ppm
- 6 in 1 Formula: Kills bacteria and algae to maintain a clear swimming pool. Our algae-fighting formula prevents algae for crystal-clear water. Destroys contaminants to aid filter performance and clear dull, cloudy water
- Swim-ready in 15 minutes: Fast dissolving formula works quickly so you can treat and swim in just 15 minutes.
- Compatibility: This product is safe for all swimming pool surfaces, including vinyl, plaster, fiberglass, and tile.
- Usage: Use 1 lb. per 12,000 gallon of water. Shock pool weekly and after heavy use, high temperatures, or rain.
- Clorox Pool App: Test like an expert anytime, anywhere with the Clorox Pool App. Solve common pool problems and get personalized product and dosage recommendations.
Best Swimming Pool Chlorine Alternatives Buying Guide
Before choosing the best swimming pool chlorine alternative you should consider following options:
1. UV (ultraviolet) disinfection: UV disinfection uses ultraviolet light to kill bacteria and viruses. UV disinfection is simple to install and maintain, and it is one of the least expensive disinfection methods.
Although UV disinfection has minimal operational costs, it has drawbacks. UV disinfection doesn’t effectively kill some bacteria, viruses and parasites. Therefore, it is most effective for treating water that has low levels of organic matter.
Also, UV light can degrade and may require replacement every five years or so. Finally, UV disinfection isn’t effective in cold weather, when the water temperature drops below 60 degrees F.
2. Ozone generation: Ozone is a powerful oxidizing agent that kills bacteria and viruses. Ozone is effective in cold water and can kill microorganisms that UV disinfection can’t kill, including Giardia, Cryptosporidium and Legionella.
However, ozone has disadvantages. First, ozone is unstable and can be poisonous if it escapes from the water treatment system. Second, ozone is corrosive and can damage equipment. Also, ozone may require special treatment and disposal of the by-products.
3. Alum, copper and silver ion generation: Copper, silver and aluminum ions kill bacteria and viruses. These disinfection methods are effective in cold water and can kill microorganisms that UV and ozone disinfection can’t kill.
Although alum, copper and silver ion generation has benefits, it also has drawbacks. First, these disinfection methods can be expensive to install and maintain. Second, they may require special treatment and disposal of the by-products.
4. Combined UV, ozone and alum, copper or silver ion generation: Combining these disinfection methods improves water quality and reduces the number of disinfection by-products. However, it increases operational costs because of the expense of installing and maintaining multiple disinfection methods.
5. Ultraviolet photolysis: Ultraviolet photolysis combines UV light with ozone for enhanced disinfection. This dual disinfection method is effective in cold water, and it reduces the number of disinfection by-products. However, it increases operational costs because of the expense of installing and maintaining multiple disinfection methods.
6. Advanced oxidation: Advanced oxidation uses a chemical oxidizer for disinfection. Advanced oxidation has high operational costs because of the expense of installing and maintaining multiple disinfection methods. Also, advanced oxidation may require special treatment and disposal of the by-products.
What else you should know about swimming pool chlorine alternatives
1. What are the most popular swimming pool chlorine alternatives?
The most popular swimming pool chlorine alternatives are saltwater pools, mineral pools, and ozone pools.
2. What are the pros and cons of each alternative?
There are pros and cons to each alternative. For example, choosing to go to college may mean that you will have more job options and make more money, but it also may mean that you will have more debt.
3. How do I know which alternative is right for my pool?
If you have a pool, you should test the pH levels regularly to ensure that the water is balanced. You can use a pool test kit to test the pH levels.
4. How do I use chlorine alternatives in my pool?
There are many chlorine alternatives on the market, and each has its own set of instructions. Be sure to read the directions on the product you choose to ensure proper and safe use.
5. What are the common problems associated with using chlorine alternatives in swimming pools?
There are a few common problems associated with using chlorine alternatives in swimming pools. One is that they can be more expensive than chlorine. Additionally, some of them (such as bromine) can be corrosive to pool surfaces and equipment. Finally, chlorine alternatives may not be as effective at killing bacteria and other contaminants as chlorine itself.
Conclusion
On the market, there are numerous best swimming pool chlorine alternatives. Hopefully, the list of the top ten best swimming pool chlorine alternatives will save you time researching and deciding on the best one for you.