My chemical levels are spot on and consistent. Ph 7.4- 7.6 and Chlorine 2.0 - 3.0. But my neighbors say use HTH shock and swim every month. my pool has not been shocked since initial opening 5 months ago.. filter cleaned once.. water is crystal clear.. Do I leave well enough alone for now. I treat pool myself, I use 3" tri-chlor tabs by HTH and muriatic acid 29% concentrate. It has been using about a quart a week and 1 tab about every 4-5 days.. Thanks Mike
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- Thread starter mikey51
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Hi Mike, Welcome to TFP! What are you using to test your water? We need to know what your CYA (stabilizer) level is to know if your FC (chlorine) is high enough. If memory serves the HTH products contain copper, and you do not want too much of that in your water! The cornerstone of the BBB method is to know what your chemical levels are and to only add what is needed to maintain a balanced pool. 99.9% of pools do not need to add copper to stay balanced, and if not managed carefully copper can cause staining on the surface of the pool.
You may want to consider switching to a non-stabilized source of chlorine at this point. Over use of stabilized chlorine (such as HTH pucks) leads to a build up of CYA which in turn requires higher levels of chlorine in order to keep the water sanitized. Liquid chlorine in either 10-12% from the pool store or 6% unscented bleach from your grocery store are the best sources of stabilized chlorine for a manually treated pool.
Now for the answer to your original question! You only need to shock the pool when there is a need such as an algae bloom or other event that increases chlorine demand. Chlorine levels should be checked and replenished no less than every other day during the swim season. Shocking the pool is a process and not a 1 time dose with a bag of granules labeled "shock". A properly chlorinated pool will not need to go through the shock process. You can read more about the shock process in Pool school. The link is in the upper right corner of every page.
I hope this answers your question. Feel free to ask if you have any questions about what I've written. Enjoy your pool!
You may want to consider switching to a non-stabilized source of chlorine at this point. Over use of stabilized chlorine (such as HTH pucks) leads to a build up of CYA which in turn requires higher levels of chlorine in order to keep the water sanitized. Liquid chlorine in either 10-12% from the pool store or 6% unscented bleach from your grocery store are the best sources of stabilized chlorine for a manually treated pool.
Now for the answer to your original question! You only need to shock the pool when there is a need such as an algae bloom or other event that increases chlorine demand. Chlorine levels should be checked and replenished no less than every other day during the swim season. Shocking the pool is a process and not a 1 time dose with a bag of granules labeled "shock". A properly chlorinated pool will not need to go through the shock process. You can read more about the shock process in Pool school. The link is in the upper right corner of every page.
I hope this answers your question. Feel free to ask if you have any questions about what I've written. Enjoy your pool!
This may be a stupid question, but just poor bleach in deep and while recirculating.. not in the auto tablet dispenser I'm guessing. Do they have tablets without copper?
Poor the bleach slowly in front of a return while the pump is running. Pool store tabs usually do not contain copper, but they will either contain stabilizer (CYA) or calcium (calcium hypochlorite) both of which will become problematic if allowed to build up in the water. The only way to get rid of excess CYA or Calcium is to drain and refill some of the water. Some parts of the country have reverse osmosis pool treatments available that will reduce CYA and calcium levels.
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