liquid bleach

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mjwilliams81

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May 25, 2011
27
Jackson, MS
Can someone explain, or point me to the place on here, to understand liquid bleach vs shock???

I've been having trouble with a cloudy pool and after a few days of rain and the filter was off a day (or two) we now have a greenish tinge to the pool. Water is getting tested today, but I've been reading about people adding liquid bleach to their pool and having success in a day! I would love that!!! Everything I have read so far has not made sense. Please help.
Thank you
 
What pools stores sell as "shock" is just other forms of chlorine (cal-hypo or dichlor, usually). Properly understood, "shock" is a process not a product.

It sounds like you have an algae bloom starting, so you need to go through a shock process. To do this, you will raise the chlorine to a level determined by your CYA level, and KEEP IT THERE with frequently (i.e. hourly) testing + addition of more chlorine until the water is clear and you lose less than 1 PPM FC overnight. What particular product you use to add the chlorine is less important, though bleach (or the more concentrated form the pool store sells) is the only one that's not going to add stuff to your pool which will (a) be hard to get out and (b) cause problems when (not if!) the level gets too high. This will not be practical with pool store testing, as you probably realized. You will need to get your own test kit (I'd recommend a TF100XL linked from Pool School).

Start by reading Pool School (link up at the top right of the forum), especially regarding test kits, forms of chlorine, and shocking.
 
Hi and Welcome!

Bleach is just that, bleach. It is the regular, unscented bleach that you use for everyday household chores. The sodium hypochlorite concentration in regular bleach is usually 6%.

Liquid chlorine or Liquid shock (as most pool stores/manufacturers like to call it) is a stronger concentration. It can be found in 10% or 12.5% strength.

You can use either bleach or liquid chlorine for shocking or everyday chlorination of your pool. The amount you would need is based on a number of factors and can be determined using the pool calculator,http://www.thepoolcalculator.com/.

It sounds like you have an algae bloom forming and you will need to shock your pool. Get a full set of test results and post them here. Also, start reading Pool School so you can start to understand how your pool works and how best to maintain it.

Here is a link to the article on how to shock your pool.
 
As said, bleach is just another form of chlorine. What makes it so attractive is that it's usually cheaper than other forms and it doesn't add extra things like CYA or Calcium to the water.

In order to effectively shock your pool, because as also having been said, Shock is a process and not a one time thing you do, or a product you throw into your pool, you're going to need a good test kit. If you have a good test kit then a set of test results is needed. You have to know your CYA level in order to know what your shock level is.
 
Test results are in!! The question I have is should I vacuum to waste to remove some of the water from the pool and then add more water and test it before fixing the high ph - or will that help the high ph? but the pool is definitely green.

TC 2.5
FC2.5
ph 7.9
TA 110
CH 250
Stabilizer (CYA) 185!

please help!!
 
Well, we know why the pool is green now! I'm surprised your TC wasn't higher than your FC, but there you go...

Did you measure the CYA, or did the pool store? I am sure your CYA is high, but typically the pool store is all over the place when it comes to CYA accuracy.

If you are sure you are at 185, you are certainly going to have to drain some water, or you'll be buying a chlorine factory to shock.
 
Be careful draining your pool if you live in a high water table area or if you have a vinyl liner or if you live somewhere like I do where the sun will blister the plaster when it is exposed without water.

You may need to drain a little at a time uses more water but it could save money in the long run.
 
After doing a lot of reading I want to make sure I understand.
To lower my CYA I HAVE to drain most of the pool water.....the other option would be to maintain a FC level of 10 or so!

If I get the FC up and add some muriatic acid will the CYA lower on its own?
 
The CYA will not lower on its own. You are going to have to drain. 185 is way above where you want to be, no matter the situation. It's going to take HUGE amounts of chlorine to shock with CYA at that level.
 

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Started draining last night, (vacuum to waste) and added more water this morning. Going to vacuum to waste again tonight and add more water and then run the numbers again.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but this is the best plan of attack right? Get the CYA down before adding more things to the pool. Of course the lady at the pool store said all we need is to lower the pH. (Of course my husband didn't tell her the pool is green and we need to shock it.)

I'm stopping by Sams after work to stock up on bleach to shock the pool when we get the CYA down.
I cannot wait until my test kit comes in the mail!!
 
You are on the best plan of attack. There's no use wasting chlorine just to pump it out the waste port. Once you get the CYA down and your own test kit you can fight this and win.

While at Sams, get a flat and load it with about 7 or 8 cartons (3 jugs each) of bleach. You'll need at least that much to get you through shocking.
 
He's right. I buy two of the 3 jug containers every time I go to Sam's or Costco, just for normal maintenance. ;) Buy a bunch and have the chlorine on hand for shocking, you'll be glad you did. At first it is going to go through chlorine really fast, as in when you start you will want to check it once an hour and keep it at shock level until it starts to stabilize a bit. Then you can raise it back up less frequently, as in once before bed and again when you get up in the morning.
 
mjwilliams81 said:
Started draining last night, (vacuum to waste) and added more water this morning. Going to vacuum to waste again tonight and add more water and then run the numbers again.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but this is the best plan of attack right? Get the CYA down before adding more things to the pool. Of course the lady at the pool store said all we need is to lower the pH. (Of course my husband didn't tell her the pool is green and we need to shock it.)

I'm stopping by Sams after work to stock up on bleach to shock the pool when we get the CYA down.
I cannot wait until my test kit comes in the mail!!
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I had the same situation you did. CYA levels were at 150 and i couldn't add enough chlorine to pool to even get it past 2 ppm. I went through 150 gallons of liquid chlorine in 1 week before finally draining and starting fresh. best thing i ever did.
My advice is to completely drain the pool, if you are sure you are able to drain it without any underground issues, and then refill and start with fresh water.I did that 2 months ago and now only use bleach from Sam's club, and muriatic acid from Home Depot to keep my chlorine levels and ph in check.
My pool is 34000 gallons and I use 1.5 gallons of bleach a day to keep levels just over 3ppm, which is where I want it to be.
Drain, refill, adjust ph and total alkalinity and calcium hardness, and add stabilizer , and then chlorinate.

If you are draining partially, it is possible that the algea bloom will grow faster than you can drain and get the cya levels down to about 30.
 
mjwilliams81 said:
I'm would like to avoid a complete drain. But if that's the only way, then its the only way.

We found out that at the house we are renting, water is almost $5.00 per 100 cubic foot of water. :(
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That should make the cost of a complete refill of your 25,000 pool about $170. One cubic foot equels 7.48 gallons so 25,000 / 748 X $5.00 = $167.11 That could be a lot cheaper the many, many jugs of bleach. One trip to a pool store is more than that.
 
chiefwej said:
That should make the cost of a complete refill of your 25,000 pool about $170. One cubic foot equals 7.48 gallons so 25,000 / 748 X $5.00 = $167.11 That could be a lot cheaper the many, many jugs of bleach. One trip to a pool store is more than that.
Click to expand...

Yeah - I was thinking about it earlier and I guesstimated that with my current CYA levels I would be looking at $300+ in bleach to shock my pool to get rid of the algae. And then I'd still have a high CYA level to deal with.

:grrrr: I'm just frustrated that no one at the pool store ever mentioned my CYA level being high. One of the last times we tested at 115 and they didn't raise an eyebrow. In fact they gave us a sticker and didn't told us our numbers were great! If they would of told us about it we would of stopped using the pucks all together and the last time we vacuumed, we would of vacuumed to waste instead of to filter to 'conserve water'. Butterfly mentioned it on here, but I didn't completely understand the relationship between CYA and Chlorine at that time, so needless to say, it was only a matter of time for the algae to start because we weren't maintaining a high enough level.

I let the pool drain for about 3 hours and am beginning to fill it back up again. My plan is to shock it in the morning.
Silly questions, but I still have some bags of shock....can I add liquid bleach AND shock at the same time?
 

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