Chlorine Tablets ok?

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J

Jameshtx

0
Jan 8, 2018
126
cypress texas
Howdy yall

I read on here that it’s not good to use chlorine tabs but my pool builder told me to use it with my automatic dispenser (Nature2 Fusion inground). What would you do if you were me? I’ve had my pool for 2 months now. Been getting my water tested at my local leslie’s. I’m going to start doing my own test when my k-2006 arrives tomorrow n can’t wait to test it for the first time. I will have lots more questions n will definitely share my results whenever I ask them.

The tablets I’ve been using are from Leslie’s pool store. It’s 3” individuality wrapped.
 
Wrong forum to ask that! Lol, but I have realized the tablets are good for some things. Vacations, long time away but not in excess. There is plenty on here about why not tablets. Big thing I read about is the cya can go through the roof without you knowing and then you will have bigger issues.
 
Jameshtx said:
Wouldn’t the Leslie store tell me if my CYA was higher then the recommended level though?
Click to expand...

:laughblue: :laughblue: :laughblue:

Yeah.. you'd *think* that...but they're often kind of clueless, inexperienced, in a rush, out to make a sale, you name it! One perfect example is the dozens and dozens of posters with vinyl pools who are told they need to buy calcium.
Ummm, nope!! What's calcium going to do for vinyl?? <eye roll>

Our trust is in owner testing most of all. No one cares more about your results than you...

Let us know how yours look when the kit arrives :)

Maddie :flower:
 
James,

Our job is not to tell you what you can and cannot add to your pool... Our job is just to make sure you know what products do before you add them..

The main problem with tablets is that they continually add CYA to your pool water.. As long as your CYA is low, then using tablet is perfectly fine. The key is for you to do the testing and for you to decide what to use when.

I would not even go into a Leslie's to use their bathroom... :p Not every store is the same, but for the most part we have found that their testing leaves a lot to be desired and is used mainly as a tool to sell you some "Magic" in a bottle.. We, on the other hand, sell nothing... So who do you think is going to give you the best advice?

As Richard points out... After you receive your test kit, run a couple of tests and I suspect that you will see what we mean.

Report back with valid test results and we can get you pointed in the right direction...

Thanks for posting,

Jim R.
 
Hi James

Welcome I’m just east of you in Spring. I will say that tabs can come in handy when on vacation if your don’t have a salt water generator. They will increase your cya so having a good test kit is a must.

Read pool school it will help. Basically if you understand your water chemistry and the relationships of what you put into your pool then it allows you to be informed and use what you think works best.
 
I use tabs in the spring when I refill my pool. Once I hit a CYA of 45ppm I switch to liquid chlorine for the rest of the season. You maybe alright if you just used them for two months. Once you get your test kit see where you are at.
 

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I'd say it all depends on how the math works out.

I'm a math guy, so I geek out a bit over getting to analyze things like this:

You need to boil things down to figure out a true cost.


For example, if you buy a 50 pound pail of chlorine tablets and they give an available 5,000 ppm of free chlorine and 50 ppm CYA
you can use that knowledge to figure out what your paying per 1 ppm of free chlorine and 1 ppm of CYA.

Compare that against just bleach or pool chlorinating liquid (just stronger bleach). So if I can get a gallon of 10% pool chlorine for
3.50 and it yields 10 ppm in my pool, I can figure out the cost of 1 ppm free chlorine and compare that to the 50 pound bucket of
tablets.

(These are all made up numbers by the way... not what you should expect at all)

The thing to remember is that all this math depends upon the amount of water in your pool. You have to start there. A gallon of the
pool bleach doesn't affect a 10,000 gallon pool like it would a 20,000 gallon pool. Simply because there is twice the water, so you'd
need twice the bleach to get the same effect. Once you know how much pool bleach you need to raise your pool 1 ppm, you can
figure out how much parts per million you can get out of a gallon of pool bleach and compare that to the cost.

If the math works out to pool bleach yielding 1ppm at 30 cents and the tablets yield 1 ppm at 15 cents.. you might be tempted to go
with the tablets. BUT as others have stated, those tablets have CYA in them. If your CYA gets too high, you have no choice but to drain
and refill some of the water in the pool. You won't have that problem with pool bleach, as it has nothing other than chlorine in it that will
mess with your pool levels. No CYA, no CH in good ole pool bleach.

The tablets have their place, and can be used in right situations / right amounts. Same with Cal-Hypo. You just have to understand what
they are doing to your water chemistry beyond adding chlorine and understand when they can cause you major problems.
 
YippeeSkippy said:
:laughblue: :laughblue: :laughblue:

Yeah.. you'd *think* that...but they're often kind of clueless, inexperienced, in a rush, out to make a sale, you name it! One perfect example is the dozens and dozens of posters with vinyl pools who are told they need to buy calcium.
Ummm, nope!! What's calcium going to do for vinyl?? <eye roll>

Our trust is in owner testing most of all. No one cares more about your results than you...

Let us know how yours look when the kit arrives :)

Maddie :flower:
Click to expand...

I added calcium to my vinyl pool..... on purpose! Lol
 
The problem with Leslie's testing and other pool stores as well is that often they don't use correct testing procedures. The CYA test is supposed to be read outside in full sun with your back to the sun and the tube held at waist level. I've never seen a pool store employee walk outside to conduct that test! Some of them use electronic testing which is only as good as its last re-calibration, and they need frequent re-calibration. Finally there is the disagreement between what the pool industry says is a good CYA level and what TFP says is a good CYA level. We say for a manually chlorinated pool 30-50 is the best range for CYA. The pool industry says anywhere from 30-150 is fine. From experience I can tell you that you are going to have a hard time keeping the pool clear at 100ppm of CYA! If they think 150 is a good level, they are not going to tell you its getting too high when you hit 70.

Its ok use anything you want in your pool as long as you know what the effects are and how to counteract them when needed. Some folks want to use trichlor tablets and are perfectly fine with draining some water when the CYA gets too high. As long as you know how to test and adjust the water you are far less likely to be blind sided by a green pool.
 
getreal720 said:
I'd say it all depends on how the math works out.

I'm a math guy, so I geek out a bit over getting to analyze things like this:

You need to boil things down to figure out a true cost.


For example, if you buy a 50 pound pail of chlorine tablets and they give an available 5,000 ppm of free chlorine and 50 ppm CYA
you can use that knowledge to figure out what your paying per 1 ppm of free chlorine and 1 ppm of CYA.

Compare that against just bleach or pool chlorinating liquid (just stronger bleach). So if I can get a gallon of 10% pool chlorine for
3.50 and it yields 10 ppm in my pool, I can figure out the cost of 1 ppm free chlorine and compare that to the 50 pound bucket of
tablets.

(These are all made up numbers by the way... not what you should expect at all)

The thing to remember is that all this math depends upon the amount of water in your pool. You have to start there. A gallon of the
pool bleach doesn't affect a 10,000 gallon pool like it would a 20,000 gallon pool. Simply because there is twice the water, so you'd
need twice the bleach to get the same effect. Once you know how much pool bleach you need to raise your pool 1 ppm, you can
figure out how much parts per million you can get out of a gallon of pool bleach and compare that to the cost.

If the math works out to pool bleach yielding 1ppm at 30 cents and the tablets yield 1 ppm at 15 cents.. you might be tempted to go
with the tablets. BUT as others have stated, those tablets have CYA in them. If your CYA gets too high, you have no choice but to drain
and refill some of the water in the pool. You won't have that problem with pool bleach, as it has nothing other than chlorine in it that will
mess with your pool levels. No CYA, no CH in good ole pool bleach.

The tablets have their place, and can be used in right situations / right amounts. Same with Cal-Hypo. You just have to understand what
they are doing to your water chemistry beyond adding chlorine and understand when they can cause you major problems.
Click to expand...

Use pool math effects of adding chems at the bottom to figure it all up.

Trip clor is every 10 FC is 6 cya byw, so your 5000 fc is more like 2200 cya
 
Steve_in_C said:
I'm betting you will want a salt water generator or chlorine injection pump before long. This will automate the day to day chemistry issues without using solid forms of chlorine that add CYA.

These links will help
SWG Run Time Calculator
Compare and Review Saltwater Chlorine Generator Prices and Features
Stenner 30 Gallon Tank System With 100 PSI Fixed Pump 1/4 Inch Tube
Click to expand...

Why would someone do an SWG when chlorine injector systems like that are available? The self contained dosing system you linked to is maybe half or a third the cost of an SWG and I have to imagine a handful of 5 gallon jugs of chlorine a year is the same or cheaper than a salt cell every few years. It seems like a no brainer to me, but I'm new at all this and don't know any better.
 
The CYA stays in the pool water. It does not evaporate. Only water evaporates, not the solids that are in your pool water, such as salt, calcium, and CYA.
 

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