Trichlor vs bleach

[surfhawaii]

Guy at the pool store tells me that it's better to use trichlor instead of bleach because bleach is only 6% which means I'm adding 94% of something inert. He contends that this 94% of something else will eventually bring the Total Dissolved Solids (TSA) level up to the point that only draining the pool will fix.

I've been using lots of bleach...at least 96 ozs a day to keep FC level up. I drained, refilled pool and added 5 lbs of CYA over a month ago. I still only get a reading of zero on CYA test. According to pool calculator, I should add more but hesitant to put in too much because I don't want to go back to 200 level like I had before. I think I have the concept of getting CYA level up to reduce the amount of bleach but guess I'm getting anxious to get to the point where pool doesn't need bleach almost every day. So...questions:

1. What do you think of pool stores recommendation of trichlor? And, is adding bleach all the time raise TDS and if so, is that bad?

2. Should I add 5 more lbs of CYA?

 

[Richard320]

Once the NaClO gets all broken down, you end up with H₂O and NaCl. Saltwater. You're in Hawaii - I bet you've swam in salt water before - and lived to tell about it!

You might want to carefully retest your CYA, and doublecheck the directions. Maybe even take a sample to another pool store and see what they get.

 

[JasonLion]

Bleach is totally fine forever. The inert ingredients are mostly water and just a little salt, which is completely harmless. Trichlor also adds salt, so no real difference there.

Yes you should bring CYA up to at least 30, perhaps as high as 50. That will save chlorine.

 

[surfhawaii]

Yea, that was my first thought, I might be doing test wrong but I had the pool store check it when I had a reading of 200+ and when it's zero...they got the same reading I did.