how often to shock

[Cajuncowboycummins]

I was wondering how often do you bring your pool up to shock levels? Do you wait till you see algae or do you have a schedule you follow? I was thinking of maybe once a week. Is that too much?

 

[woodyp]

Here's a concept for you. Hold on now!...................Keep your pool in the recommended ranges and you won't have to!@

 

[Butterfly]

Well, I copied this from Pool School:

If you have algae, or the CC level is above 0.5, or the free chlorine (FC) level is zero, you should shock the pool. Many people also like to shock the pool when the FC level falls significantly, as it often does after a major storm or large swim party. This is done even if FC doesn't get all the way to zero, just to be sure everything is all right. If you are maintaining proper FC levels there is no need to shock weekly, or on any other regular schedule

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Now, that being said, if you know your water and something looks a little 'off' to you, you should feel free to shock it. If your water looks a little 'flat' instead of sparkly, that is a clue to something happening.

 

[Cajuncowboycummins]

ok thanks

 

[anonapersona]

I've done a proper shock only a few times in three years. Many times I have run the chlorine level up to near shock levels, usually when I had let chlorine get too low or the pool looked dull or chlorine usage was up for no reason. If that bump in chlorine did not fix whatever it was, then I did a proper shock - up to shock levels a until all tests were passed. Pretty rare, though.