Clinobrite Filter sand, enhanced substitute 25kg

How many bags of Clinobrite do I need?

• 1 Bag Clinobrite replace 1 Bag of normal filter sand
  
  
• To determine the size of your sand filter, look on the size of the drum for a number. For example: Aquaswim 3 indicates that the drum takes 3 bags of filter sand. Other manufacturers would print Q120 or just 120 on the the drum to indicate a 3-bag sand filter (3 bags x 40kg = 120kg). The number on a 2 bag filter would therefore be "80", indicating that it takes 80kg of normal filter sand and "160" would be printed on a 4-bag sand filter.

Why use Clinobrite?

• It absorbs Amonia
• Reduces chlorine demand
• No more burning eyes/ unpleasant pool smell
• Amonia levels kept in balance
• Absorbs and holds harmful heavy metals like lead
• Performs much better than ordinary filter sand
• Longer lifespan

What is Clinobrite?

Clinobrite is a specific type of Zeolite mineral exclusively mined in South Africa. It is a direct substitute for pool filter sand that saves you money by scavenging unwanted ammonia from pool water and thereby reducing your swimming pool chlorine consumption. It is a true 21st century filter medium with both ion exchange and superior micro-filtration properties.

Unlike ordinary filter sand, the surface of Clinobrite grains are not smooth. Clinobrite grains attract and trap extremely fine dirt particles and algae onto their surface and not just between the grains like ordinary sand. In practise, a Clinobrite pool filter can remove 40 - 50% more physical dirt than an outdated sand filter. It can also filter out much smaller particle sizes than sand. This greatly improves the clarity of your pool and gives much longer service cycles between backwash operations. Clinobrite is even able to trap the tiny cysts of diarrhea causing cryptosporidium which are becoming a health problem in municipal waters worldwide!

Also, unlike sand filters, Clinobrite acts as a filter on the atomic scale by absorbing ammonium ions (NH₄⁺) from pool water and this consequently eliminates algae. This is due to a powerful negative charge that exists within the Clinobrite structure that attracts positively charged cation contaminants such as ammonia and holds them within the Clinobrite structure.

Discerning pool owners and industrial filter operators choose Clinobrite!
Clinobrite is available in a 25 kg bag.

Reduce Swimming Pool Chlorination Costs Using Clinobrite

Clinobrite is a natural zeolite and a direct substitute for filter sand. Unlike sand, it will reduce chlorination costs by
minimizing ammoniacal nitrogen in swimming pool water. In order to explain this, let’s take a look at some swimming
pool chemistry.
When chlorine gas, hypochlorites or chlor-isocyanurates are added to water, two important chemical species are
produced: [hypochlorite ions OCl - ] and hypochlorous acid [ HOCl ]. Hypochlorous acid is about 80 to 100 times
more efficient as a biocide compared to the hypochlorite ion.
Hypochlorous acid only exists below pH 8.3, and is the dominant chlorine species in water below pH 7.4. This is the
reason that pool pH values have to be adjusted into a narrow pH band for chlorine-based biocides to work effectively,
and accounts for all the sales of acids, soda ash, pH test kits, chlorine test kits etc.

When “Pool Chlorine Products” are added to water, some of the reactions are as follows:

Ca(OCl) = Ca++ + 2(OCl)- 2
(dissociation into calcium and hypochlorite ions)

H+ + (OCl)- = HOCl
(Formation of hypochlorous acid: – pH dependant, ideal at 7.2)

For hypochlorite to work properly, it must be dosed at optimum pH values. Municipal waters are often close to pH 7.2
when added to the pool. However, on standing, waters change pH, generally by losing carbon dioxide to the
atmosphere. Carbon dioxide in water is weakly acidic, and if it is lost to the air, this causes pH to rise. Adding pool acid
(usually 30% hydrochloric acid) drags the pH back down again. But the acid then reacts with bicarbonate ions in the
water to liberate carbon dioxide: this gets lost to the atmosphere and the pH goes up again. Hypochlorite compounds
themselves elevate the water’s pH. The result is that pool water pH NEVER REMAINS OPTIMAL FOR

CHLORINATION! It is always moving the wrong way.

Ammonia and its compounds in pool water react very rapidly with hypochlorous acid to form the chloramines:

NH + HOCl = NH Cl + H O monochloramine 3 2 2
NH Cl + HOCl = NHCl + H O dichloramine 2 2 2

The chloramines are weak but persistent disinfectants, and they are responsible for the so-called “chlorine” smell on the
skin after bathing in a chlorinated swimming pool. The ammonia – hypochlorous acid reactions go faster as pH rises,
thus further depleting the availability of the one strong disinfectant. For economical disinfection with chlorine based
products, ammonia and its compounds must be removed from water. Since the ammonia content will rise with bathing
loads, the removal needs to be accomplished continuously by the filtration process. However, sand filtration does not
remove ammonia at all: this is best accomplished by Clinobrite filters.

Unlike sands, which physically trap dirt in interstices between adjacent angular grains as well as absorbing iron and
manganese, Clinobrite can act as filters on the molecular scale. The Clinobrite can remove many types of ions and
compounds from the water, including ammonium, calcium, magnesium, iron, manganese, copper, zinc, lead and
others, by sorption and by ion-exchange. Physical dirt entrapment also occurs, and also true micro-filtration, where
minute particles are trapped within Clinobrite pore spaces. In practice, a Clinobrite filter can remove 40 – 50% more
physical dirt than a sand filter, giving a longer service cycle between backwash operations. Because of its tiny pore
spaces, Clinobrite is able to remove much finer particles than a sand filter, and can even trap the tiny cysts of
cryptosporidium which are becoming a problem in municipal waters worldwide.

The use of Clinobrite can markedly reduce chlorine demand by eliminating ammonia and nitrogen compounds. The
presence of ammonia, nitrogen and phosphorus in pool water leads to the development of algae – black and blue-green
varieties. Thunder activity produces atmospheric nitrates which enter rainwater and thence pool water. Together with
the ammonia compounds these nutrients allow rapid algal development, leading to green swimming pools and high
chlorine demand. In short, no ammonia leads to less algae.

In a typical 50 000 litre swimming pool, the usual treatment regimen using granular hypochlorite (without stabilizers) is
to add “a cup every day”, with the cup being provided as the lid of the product container. This corresponds to
approximately 90g granular hypochlorite daily:- between 3.6 and 4kg per month. (The density of the hypochlorite varies
between manufacturers and with the progressive absorption of water)

Many factors contribute to chlorine demand, but a typical swimming pool installation will save about 25 – 30% of the
unstabilised granular chlorine usage if ammoniacal nitrogen is minimized using Pratley Clinobrite. The saving could
be even greater with high bathing loads.