I've been advised to always have 2 in the feeder but I've tried it with 1 and seems to work just as well - the pool still has about the same amount of chlorine in a week later.

Just curious about what the more experienced pool guys do.

Thanks in advance.

Us experienced guys don't use tablets.

How are you testing the FC?
What is your CYA number?
As a matter of fact, go ahead and post a full set of tes results.
pH
FC
CC
TA
CH
CYA
Salt

And tell us more about your pool and equipment as well as how the water looks.

You also need a good test kit if you don't have one.

Welcome to the group. In "Pool School" there's alot of good info. Tablets aren't the best way to maintain a pool.

Tablets can work for awhile, but they contain stabilizer that will build up until it becomes a huge problem. What is best for the pool is to know exactly what is in the pool and then add only what the pool needs, no more and no less. That requires a good test kit. And some education. Pool School, upper right corner, is the place to start.

FWIW, I use tablets to add chlorine when go on vacation. When I use them, I fill the automatic chlorinator tube to the top (7 or 9, I forget) and have it on a low setting, one or two. While I am gone, the pool sitter does test the chlorine level on the weekend and adds bleach if needed to push up FC.

At other times I use either cal-hypo (a sort of powdered shock product) or "liquid shock" (10% strength bleach) or bleach (6% strength)

For King's benefit, be careful with Cal Hypo too, it can drive your CH sky high.

I don't use tablets, I use BLEACH!

RobbieH is right to stress that point about cal-hypo. It will add to CH.

In my pool, after a normal wet winter, my CYA and CH are typically both a bit low. So I can use either bleach, or cal-hypo (adds CH), or trichlor tablets (adds CYA). Usually I will use trichlor to get the CYA to a minimum level, 30 ppm, then switch to cal-hypo to get to a low-mid range of CH, ~280ppm. Then I switch back to bleach until I need to go on a vacation. Then I load up the trichlor tablets and instruct the pool sitter to test every 4 days and to add chlorine bleach as needed to supplement the trichlor tablets.

When I get home, it is back to only bleach for chlorine, until tests tell me that I have other options based on falling levels of CYA or CH. Those things don't change too fast so I typically only test those monthly.

Sorry for not contributing to my own thread I've been really busy. Thanks for the responses.

I'm actually a newbie pool guy. I'm still learning my trade. And so it's a HUGE surprise to hear the experts say that tablets are a no no. It just goes to show I still have a lot to learn.

So if you don't use tablets, how do you maintain the chlorine level? Not through shocking (liquid chlorine) alone, surely?

Thank you for the welcome. Looks like a great forum. I've already posted a reply but I wanted to post a specific reply to you with regards tablets.

What IS the best way to maintain a pool?

Yes, liquid chlorine - either the 12% "pool" strength, or ordinary laundry bleach which is exactly the same stuff at half the strength. Usually daily addition. Or an SWG.

"Shocking" as understood here is a process, not a product. You raise the FC level and keep it there until everything's dead.

Hi Bama, as mentioned in one of my reply posts above, I'm a newbie pool guy so all my pools are different.

I currently use a standard full Taylor test kit. I'm only actually testing for ph, chlorine and alkalinity on a regular basis. Would that be incorrect?

Ah yes, I understand 'shocking' now. In fact, I knew this, and you have reminded me. Silly me

I've been working with a couple of pool guys who put 2 tablets in their pools feeders/floaters as a matter of routine.

Welcome to the forum. As a pool professional you will be working om this differently than us homeowners. The TFP method requires testing and dosing the pool several times a week, daily or every other day at a minimum. That won't work for you.

There are several professionals who can help you along. You won't be able to handle these pools the way we do, but you will still learn a lot that will be really useful.

IMO, you need to do more testing regularly. Not just chlorine, but FC and CC, since CC can tell you if the pool is fighting some organics. Also, CH and CYA need to be tested at least monthly. CH and TA and pH all figure into scaling or pitting problems. CYA is key in knowing how much of the FC is actually active and ready to fight algae or bacteria.

We recently spent a long hard weekend scrubbing black algae out of a salt water pool and it was totally the fault of the pool maintenance company. On their weekly visits they only tested TC and pH. No full tests were ever done. They frequently shocked the pool with cal-hypo and added dry acid. They never noticed that the CYA was ZERO.... so the FC was near to zero if they arrived very late in the day. Not too surprising that black algae took hold.

I had quizzed the pool person about what they did once. I was told that they "only took a sample back to the office if it looked bad". So, the pool ran for a year or two with no stabilizer at all it seems. They never did a full test. I'd have fired them but it wasn't my call.

The problem with tablets is they increase the stabilizer level over the long run and that will create more problems down the road. I inherited my pool with stabilizer levels over 125. It's slowly coming down its at about 100-110 now. I'd like to keep it between 60-80.

The best way to maintain a pool is test, adjust, enjoy. BBB works for me.