First Chlorine - Tablets or Bleach?

[sbollag]

Long story short, we are probably going to end up with a pool service, so probably will be using the tablets with our automatic chlorinator before long.

But I'm doing the initial two week start up, and am about ready to start adding chlorine, and just wondering if I should just go ahead and start using the tablets, or if it'd be better to do the bleach method initially?

Thanks in advance for your advice and suggestions!

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[Texas Splash]

If this is for new plaster, you can use tabs. The acidic nature of the tabs will also help to keep pH down. You might still need some bleach/chlorine to maintain a proper FC level is the tabs can't handle it alone.

As for long-term use of tabs ... well.... you probably know how we feel about that right? I'm hoping your automatic chlorinator will replace the tabs down the road.

Hope that helps.

 

[duraleigh]

A two week period will not affect your pool in any way. The pool service may give you a continual dose of tabs so monitor them or you'll end up back here with a CYA of 100+ and a ton of problems.

 

[sbollag]

Got it, thanks y'all! Oh yes, I know full well how y'all feel about tabs.

It's just that we travel a lot, so I fear I won't be able to take care of it myself (had a whole other thread about that). I know I could, just don't think I'll be able to (which makes it doubly annoying).

I assume every service will just use the tabs, yeah? Do you think any do anything different? I'll certainly check with them, and whatever they do, will certainly be monitoring myself.

Well maybe I was unclear - the automa chlorinator we have is one that uses tabs (see my signature). Did you mean some other kind?

Thanks again!

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[Texas Splash]

Oh, I thought perhaps you had some other automated chlorinator like a Stenner pump, Liquidator, or something like that. Perhaps one of those or perhaps an SWG might be an option at some point down the road. But yes, I'm guessing your pool company will rely on tabs on days when they can't visit your house. But at least you know what's happening, how to test, and what to do as time goes on.

 

[pooldv]

Yes, using tabs is fine, you will just have to do partial drains to reduce CYA from time to time. You also need to measure CYA and reset your target chlorine level as CYA rises. FC level is set based on CYA level and the [FC/CYA][/FC/CYA]. Using tabs is manageable, but it does create extra work to manage.