Alright, so I've never recorded numbers.
Theoretically, bleach from the grocery store should be 6% active sodium hypochlorite. This should make bleach about 63% the cost of the 73% cal-hypo that I sell in my store. I've done 7 swamp-to-pool conversions pro-bono for the sake of knowledge, with all the work entailed, since I started in this industry.
Of these seven pools (4 of which were above ground), only one was cleared up via the bleach method with constant testing. It required a lot more bleach than was recommended, and I worked it out to determine that the bleach was about 4% active.
The others came out to about 2-3% active chlorine. The other six pools I gave up on and was able to clear up with one 30ppm dose (volume/10k x 1.8 x 30 = oz) of cal-hypo, plus all of the manual labor involved.
I read these forums every day, and I'm drinking and in a celebratory mood for various reasons. But through direct experience, and through thousands of water tests and advice, I just don't see the point in trying to use bleach for serious algae problems. It's unpredictable and a pain in the Rear.
Thank you, internet water chemistry ninjas. I understand that the active chlorine numbers are subject to a wide variety of problems; I did the best that anyone could. But the simple truth is that the cal-hypo clears it up in a day whereas the bleach required days of testing and dosing.
I love you all.
seilsel
Theoretically, bleach from the grocery store should be 6% active sodium hypochlorite. This should make bleach about 63% the cost of the 73% cal-hypo that I sell in my store. I've done 7 swamp-to-pool conversions pro-bono for the sake of knowledge, with all the work entailed, since I started in this industry.
Of these seven pools (4 of which were above ground), only one was cleared up via the bleach method with constant testing. It required a lot more bleach than was recommended, and I worked it out to determine that the bleach was about 4% active.
The others came out to about 2-3% active chlorine. The other six pools I gave up on and was able to clear up with one 30ppm dose (volume/10k x 1.8 x 30 = oz) of cal-hypo, plus all of the manual labor involved.
I read these forums every day, and I'm drinking and in a celebratory mood for various reasons. But through direct experience, and through thousands of water tests and advice, I just don't see the point in trying to use bleach for serious algae problems. It's unpredictable and a pain in the Rear.
Thank you, internet water chemistry ninjas. I understand that the active chlorine numbers are subject to a wide variety of problems; I did the best that anyone could. But the simple truth is that the cal-hypo clears it up in a day whereas the bleach required days of testing and dosing.
I love you all.
seilsel