Is it ok to put bleach in my pool? I have a above ground pool it was give to me I think its a 3 feet tall 15 feet wide pool, and if I decide to use bleach how much of to put in and how often or if I decide to use other how much shock do I put in the pool and how often and how long before it can be swimable

Welcome to the forum!

Most of us here use bleach as a sanitizer in our pools. Best advice I could give you would be to read the general forums threads in the index. Also - lots of information in the 'stickies' link at the top right.

Plus buy yourself a FAS-DPD test kit for accuracy.

You can use bleach as long as your were previously using some form of chlorine. If you were using baquacil or bromine as a sanatizer then you will need to go through a conversion process before using bleach.

Bleach mixes with the water fairly quickly. You should pour it slowly into the skimmer. You can swim after a couple of minutes of allowing it to mix.

The amount of bleach you need depends on the size of your pool, the amount of free chlorine currently in the water, and how much CYA you have in the water. You can lookup the target level of free chlorine in Ben's Best Guess chart, see the link in my signature. Then you can calculate the amount needed to get to that level with my pool calculator, see the other link in my signature.

Now might be a good time to read the BBB and basic chemistry article in The Stickies section of this site. See the link in the sub-heading of each page.

3ft by 15 ft sounds like it may be an intex pop-up ('easy-set') pool? If so, I think the gallonage is a little less than the pool calculators figure. Also probably there is no skimmer??

We need more about your pool info to be able to help you more effectively!

There are some links in my signature you might find helpful. The best thing you can do is get a good test kit, like the TF100 linked in my signature. This is an invaluable tool to allow you to take total control of your pool!

Welcome to TFP!

dont know much about this pool it was given to me no chemicals have been added in this pool yet there is no skimmer i know in this pool filter this pool is like 6 years old I know it came from walmart I think it was a sun and shine pool or something like that, no box or no manuals came with this pool, it had liner and the outer shell and the filter I can add a picture of the pool

Ok, so it is a metal sided pool with a separate liner, and a small pump/filter combo. correct? I think these are 4 feet high, so I calculated your pool volume at 4600 gallons, using a water depth of 3.5 feet.

1) add 2 1/2 cups of 6% bleach (unscented or regular scent) to get your FC to 2ppm. Test your water every evening and add enough bleach to get back to 2 (your target range is 1-3 ppm for now.) Pour it slowly in front of the return (where the water returns to the pool) and it will mix right in. Add the first dose of bleach now, but usually add your bleach in the evening.

2)Get some CYA (Cyanuric Acid, aka stabilizer) and put 2 cups in an old sock. Tie this onto your ladder, preferable in front of the return. CYA is sunscreen for your chlorine, and will keep it from burning off as fast in the sun.

3)) get yourself a test kit. The one in my sig is the Cadillac... well worth the investment, and you will make up for the cost many times over in the savings from using the BBB method. Taylor makes one and Leslie's sells their brand, which is made by Taylor, but the TF100 is by far the best value! An HTH 6-way from wal-mart will do for now!

4)) check out the links in my signature, and get one of the calculators. It will help you figure out how much bleach to add each evening, and lots of other things.

5)) After you get your kit, post a complete set of numbers and we can help you further.
FC, TC, CYA (this will be 0, don't even bother), pH, TA

6)) read all the stickies, link is in my signature!

You can swim after a few minutes of adding the bleach. If you are consistant about testing and adding bleach every day, you will find you will rarely need to shock your pool.

Its a hard plastic shell and our pump I think went out too today it worked for a while and then made some awful noises and didnt work after that, we could still hear it on but not pumping my boyfriend has been working on it all day I think we need a better system for it really one that cleans better



well boyfriend got it work

I added the bleach but the pool turned green now

Is it cloudy or murky and green or a clear transparent green?

If it is cloudy or murky and green you probably haven't been putting enough bleach in and some algae has started growing in the pool.

its a clear transparent green

I don't really know what would cause that but two other people with the same reaction had it go away in a day or two and not return.

Hi Coyote,

It would be real helpful if you could post a set of numbers...


The bleach will work...and it will clear your pool...but a set of numbers would help ensure that you bring your water up to the correct shock level.


stick with it!
dan

I dont have a test kit yet getting one proably tomorrow when boyfriend gets payed

ok I got a tester today and tested the water and went by what it said on the bottle I added 1 lb shock xtra blue 6 in 1 pool shock waited about 3 hours and tested again

hardness 250
chlorine 3
free c 3
bromine 6
ph 7.8
alkalinity 120
stabilizer 50

it would be helpful to know what your CYA is

The CYA (stabilizer) is at 50

with a CYA of 50 you need to maintain a FC of 15 until it holds over night...

why aren't you using bleach?

Since your CYA is 50 you want to aim for a FC level between 3 and 6 and when you want to shock the pool you need to bring FC up to 15.

Your PH is just a little high, nothing to worry about but getting close to needing adjustment.

Has the color changed at all?

With the CYA at 50, you will need to shock your pool by bringing the chlorine up to 15ppm. So your shock level is 15ppm and once you pool is cleared up your "maintenance level" (the level to keep your chlorine at during regular needs) is 3-6ppm chlorine.




In your pool...figuring that it holds 4,000 gallons...you can add (roughly) 1 cup of bleach to get a 1ppm increase.



So, if your current free chlorine level is at 3ppm and you want to raise it up to 15ppm for "shock" levels you will need 12 cups of bleach...or 3/4's gallon of bleach. If your current free chlorine level is 3ppm and you only want a 2ppm increase (for your 5ppm maintenence level) then you only need to add 2 cups of bleach.



1 cup - 1 cup - 1ppm increase in chlorine
4 cups - 1/4 gallon - 4ppm increase in chlorine
8 cups - 1/2 gallon - 8ppm increase in chlorine
12 cups - 3/4 gallon - 12ppm increase in chlorine
16 cups - 1 gallon - 16ppm increase in chlorine



dan

sorry, I missed that.