Spa Chloe-brite shock...can I use in pool?

[mrdorkdar]

I have the leslies chlorbrite spa shock and it doesn’t mention using in a pool anywhere. Why is that?

 

[mknauss]

Its dichlor. It can be used. Adds more CYA than FC.

 

[mrdorkdar]

Why would anyone want to use this over the other alternatives?

 

[mknauss]

In spas, we recommend using dichlor after a new fill until your CYA gets to 30 or so, then switching to liquid chlorine.

 

[mrdorkdar]

I guess what I don’t understand is why wouldn’t the packaging say that it is mainly for newly filled spas? Why does it have to be so much work to see when to use what product?

 

[mknauss]

Because if they said that you would not use very much. I would never use that product. Much easier to use cyanuric acid granules when you need them, liquid chlorine when you need that, etc.

 

[mrdorkdar]

I have a chlorinator, is there no chlorine pucks I can put in it that doesn't contain cya?

 

[mknauss]

There are not. They do make calcium hypochlorite pucks that use a special feeder. DO NOT place them in a Trichlor feeder as an explosion can occur.

You do not need calcium added to your water either. You need to use sodium hypochlorite (liquid chlorine) daily or install a SaltWater Chlorine Generator.

 

[mrdorkdar]

Thanks so much for the help! I do buy liquid chlorine from Home Depot but it seems like all the chlorine burns off in a single day. Am I supposed to be adding chlorine manually every single day?!

 

[tim5055]

I have a chlorinator, is there no chlorine pucks I can put in it that doesn't contain cya?

To add to what Marty said....

In it's natural state, chlorine is a gas. Many large commercial pools actually use gas injection systems to chlorinate their pools.

Now, to change chlorine into something we can use at home it needs to be chemically bound to something to turn it into a solid. The "somethings" that are commonly used are stabilizer (also known as CYA), calcium, lithium, or --- get this water.

All of these add a little salt to your water, but they add something else. Cal-Hypo add calcium, Tri-Chlor and Di-Chlor (tabs and most granules) add stabilizer, Lithium hypochlorite adds lithium and liquid chlorine adds - water.

All of these things can be bad for your pool (except the water) in large quantities. The stabilizer helps shield the chlorine from UV degradation, but at higher levels it also impairs the ability of chlorine to do it's work. The higher the stabilizer level you have the higher the amount of chlorine you need. Too much calcium and you start to get scaling on the walls and floors of your pool.

So, why do pool stores push these products? Several reasons.

- Money would be the first. Unless a pool store is in Florida, Arizona or other year round areas they must make their profit in a short swim season. So, they need to sell you as much as they can as quickly as they can. Additionally, chemical sales is their bread and butter. Profit on a bucket of tabs is much higher than on a gallon of liquid.

- Secondly, we are an immediate gratification society. We want a magic potion that will fix our problem right now. This is where the industry has tried to ad items like clarifiers, floculants and the like which in a perfect world help get the bad stuff out of the water quickly.

- Third in my book is training. Most pool store employees learn on the job or through seminars taught by chemical salesmen. So, bad information is handed down from employee to trainee and the chemical salesmen teach them to push high profit items. This is especially true in large chain stores where employees are paid commission and managers jobs are based on how much product flows out the door.

 

[mknauss]

Am I supposed to be adding chlorine manually every single day?!

Correct. During swim season you need to add chlorine every day. Use the FC/CYA Levels to know how much. You need a proper test kit to manage the pool water chemistry.