Besides chlorine, other chemicals commonly used in treating swimming pools include those described in Table 1 below:

Table 1

Commonly Used Swimming Pool Chemicals and Their Effects/Action

Chemical

Effect/Action

Bromine

More stable in hot water than chlorine, bromine functions in much the same way as chlorine in killing pool bacteria; however, bromine is more resilient to the effects of the other chemicals used and will last longer than chlorine.

Pool shock and super chlorinators

When chlorine and bacteria combine in pool water, they are eliminated by briefly raising the chlorine level of the water using pool "shockers" and super chlorinators; there are some chlorine-free shockers available that use potassium monopersulfate that are reported to work just as well.

Pool water balancers

Cyanuric acid is used to help keep swimming pool water clean and to prevent harm to swimmers' skin and hair as well as to help keep pool maintenance equipment...
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