Swim spas hold 3–6 times the water of a hot tub and need purpose-sized systems and doses. Start at the Swim Spa Water Care hub to choose between FROG @ease for Swim Spas and traditional chlorine.
Look at what’s physically in the tub. A gray dome floating in the water is a FROG @ease Floating System; a green lilypad floater with two cartridges is FROG Serene Floating. A round cap on the spa shell that opens to a cartridge holder is an inline FROG system – silver lower cartridge means @ease Inline, green means Serene Inline. A basic floater with tablets is traditional bromine, a jar of granules you dose by hand is traditional chlorine, and Softubs typically run the Softcare chlorine program.
Usually yes, but the transition matters. Switching from bromine to any chlorine-based system (including FROG @ease) requires a full drain and refill, and a bromine floater or feeder should never be reused for chlorine. Each guide on this page covers what its system needs at startup, so open the guide for the system you’re switching to before you drain.
No, and this causes more confusion than anything else in water care. FROG @ease requires its own @ease strips because SmartChlor holds a reserve that standard strips misread. FROG Serene needs strips that read low bromine levels. Traditional chlorine, bromine, and Softcare each read on standard 4-way strips, and salt systems add a sodium bromide test. Each guide lists the correct strips for its system.
Every system on this page starts the same way: fill through a pre-filter, treat metals if needed, then balance total alkalinity first, pH second, and calcium hardness third – before any sanitizer goes in. Filters get rinsed weekly and deep-cleaned monthly, and every tub gets drained, purged, and refilled every few months. Only the sanitizer step differs.
No. They are different chemicals with different routines, different target levels, and different startup steps. Never put chlorine granules in a bromine feeder or floater, never mix the two products anywhere in concentrated form, and never place either chemical in equipment designed for the other – mixing them can cause a violent reaction.
For most owners, the FROG systems are the lowest-effort: cartridges meter the sanitizer automatically, so there’s no daily dosing. Traditional chlorine granules are the cheapest to run but the most hands-on. Bromine tablets sit in the middle. If your spa has a built-in FROG cartridge well, the inline guides are your easiest path.
Other Hot Tub Water Care Articles
How to Start Up and Maintain a Hot Tub with FROG @ease
