Non-Chlorine Shock use with Trichlor

[mpkelley20]

I will be opening my new pool real soon after a long winter (install was last fall). I have read through the pool school and understand the bleach method vs. other methods of maintaining chlorine levels. While I want to say I would follow it to the letter, I am one of those "oh, how bad can it be" kind of guys who thinks that using the Trichlor pucks might not be such a bad idea. I underdtand that using those will build up CYA levels in my pool which reduces free chlorine levels and ultimatley the need for shock treatments to kill algae. And I understand that the best/only?? way to lower the CYA levels is to drian a good amount of the pool.

I am still on the fence on what method I will use and will probably go the bleach method but I was curious about another chemical I saw in a pool catalog which is basically called non-chlorine shock. I believe the retail brands are "Oxybright", "Impact" and "Shocktrine".

the claims are that using this helps "burn off dead chlorine cells to increase the amount of free chlorine". Is this the same thing as removing high levels of CYA or is this referring to something different or is this just a load of bunk? I see that it needs to be used weekly so the cost can get high over a season but.....if this is an alternative that allows me to use Trichlor pucks in my pool, it would help alleviate some of the potential daily maintenance of adding bleach.

So please don;t yell at me for asking this. I am still learning and I have about 3 or 4 weeks before my pool opens to get a plan in place.

Thanks

 

[jblizzle]

So it sounds like you understand the drawbacks of the pucks ... mainly the rising CYA and the need to maintain higher FC levels.

If you maintain the correct FC level (which goes up as your CYA goes up), then you never need to "shock" the pool. The use of non-chlorine shock would make no difference on the effectiveness of using the pucks. You could just as easily and cheaper use bleach to occasionally boost your FC level.

There are a lot of discussions about the non-chlorine shock and they generally have no benefit in a chlorine pool, try the search feature if you are curious.

Where are you located? How long is your season? Do you drain a lot of water for winter?

If you have a short season and drain a lot of water, you may get along fine with the pucks ... just keep an eye on the FC levels and track how many pucks you use to you can see how quickly the CYA is rising. Then if the FC is not staying high enough, start to supplement with bleach.

I have some pucks floating in my pool (trying to raise the CYA a bit) and find that they are really not dissolving fast enough to maintain the FC level so I am still adding bleach.

 

[mpkelley20]

Thanks! I am just outside of Boston so season is short. I had water added in the fall when liner went in and it looks like maybe 1/8 to 1/6 of the pool got drained before it was covered. My pool builder did my closing this year since its still not quite complete.

I will skip the non chlorine shock at this point. I am thinking the liquid bleach will be my best option based on everything I've learned and maybe use pucks if I am going to be away for a few days on vacation. Guessing using them sparingly won't be as bad as all the time.

 

[Isaac-1]

For discussions on this topic search the forum for MPS shock, this product has its place, but it is not generally needed for most pools, and requires the use of special testing methods as it shows up as CC on the standard chlorine tests.

 

[JasonLion]

Non-chlorine shock is an oxidizer, but not a sanitizer. Chlorine is both an oxidizer and a sanitizer. There is nothing wrong with using non-chlorine shock, but it costs noticeably more than chlorine, and does less than chlorine does, so there really isn't any point in using it in an outdoor pool. It has some uses in indoor pools, because it dissipates rapidly, while chlorine does not. But in an outdoor pool sunlight takes care of that for you.