Shocking question

Jump to latest Follow Reply
J

jwayne42

0
Jul 31, 2013
6
All,

I had a quick question about shocking the pool. I am waiting for my TF-100 kit and it will arrive this Friday. Right now my pool has been progressively getting green, part ignorance on my part and also part not know how or laziness. I posted last week and I got quite a few positive returns about how I should maintain my pool. My question at hand now is for someone that regularly uses granular shock. My dad will be over tomorrow and is dead set on putting a huge dent in our problem and getting ahead for the following week.

The local pool store carries PoolLife brand Tubro shock that is 76%. This stuff really annihilated the black algae I had last year and it cleared up after a few days. I am going to switch off tablets after they run out and use liquid based chemicals in the form of concentrated bleach and vertex. Since my Dad said he's gonna pop for the shock I am not going to look a gift horse in the mouth. Of course we plan on vacuuming and scrubbing and suspending all of the nasty algae and giving my DE filter a thorough backwash, so any comments can leave that out. I plan on supplementing the 10lbs he is going to purchase and I am going to get 5lbs of the 72% they sell in town where I work. By the time I get off work all pool stores are closed and I am stuck with Wal-Mart brand. I know a lot of people here aren't a big fan of pool stores but I want to take the haze out of the equation so when my test kit comes I can jump right into the thick of things and begin the process. I am also going to buy 2 cases of vertex. They come in 4 jugs @ 10% chlorine. My plan is to use the 10lbs over night and run the filter and the pump 24/7 if it gets gunked up which I am sure it will, I am going to backwash and then put in my 5lb to supplement the 10lb that was put in over night. Then the following morning I will add one case of the vertex and then the other the following night. By that time it will be Friday and I can get down to the nitty gritty wit the TF-100 and test the FC level. If I need to start a SLAM then I will, but I doubt it. Last year 10lbs of this and some granular chlorine did the trick in about 5 days. Going forward i'll use a heavy dosage of 8.25% bleach that I calculated on the pool math website to keep the FC right at 4 until I can pass the OCLT.

Any comments are welcome I just want to see some progress as summer is almost over and I will close the pool typically mid September. I haven't had any luck or fun in the pool so far and I opened it back on June 30th after a brand new DE filter purchase. I hope you all can see my frustration and my lack of patience since time is dwindling on me. I wish I lived in a climate where pools flourish year round but that isn't the case, I will have to close mine since St. Louis can get some nasty winters. I look forward to any and all remarks.

Thanks.
 
What is the ingredient in the powder? It is either going to add a lot of CH or CYA to your pool. If either get too high or are already too high, you will have to replace water.

The powders are not a better deal than liquid chlorine when you look at the cost per ppm of FC which is all that matters.

Have him just buy you a barrel of bleach / liquid chlorine instead ... At least there are no side effects.
 
There's nothing magical about granular shock. It's the chlorine in the shock that got rid of your algae, and it's the exact same chlorine and results that you will get with regular old bleach. I agree with jblizzle--have him buy you bleach (the liquid kind) instead. It will be more bang for the buck in getting your pool back in shape. And you won't be adding stuff you don't want and will have to figure out how to undo later if you use liquid bleach instead of granules.

I completely understand wanting to do something, but you don't want to dump stuff in your pool that will cause damage or that will make this whole process take longer... do you have any kind of test kit right now?
 
The stuff we bough last year is the exact same as what we are buying now. It didn't have any CYA. This has a lot of active chlorine and has done the job before. My CYA is probably less than mid since I haven't stabilized at all this year and have used just the tabs. I tried a test strip earlier and it didn't pick up much.

I don't know where I can get a barrel of bleach lol. I will have liquid chlorine on hand, I'd rather have it little cloudy than greenish. The other granules I will purchase don't have CYA in them for sure. Again I just wanted to get ahead on this. I know the concerns but this stuff has been clean chlorine in the past. Last year during the really hot summer I had to put in stabilizer. It won't add anything else other than shock chlorine to the pool. I must add I will purchase two cases of liquid chlorine to go with this.
 
It adds calcium ... is it already too high? You are missing the point. The liquid is likely CHEAPER for the amount of chlorine you get. And it will not have side effects.
 
There is no such thing as "clean chlorine" granules. (Although, if somebody figures out how to do it, they can make a fortune!) Granules and pucks either add CYA or they add calcium. The Turbo Shock adds calcium, as posted above. The "shock" from my local Walmart also adds calcium, and since you're certain there is no CYA in yours, it must add calcium, too. Too much calcium in the water can cause scaling.

If you have any sort of test for chlorine, you can get some cases of Vertex or other liquid bleach, and start using those one at a time. Monitor with the chlorine test you have as often as possible (every hour if possible) and keep the chlorine level up until your good test kit comes in on Friday. If you're bent on dumping a bunch of chlorine in all at once, you're better off dumping in liquid chlorine than the chlorine+calcium granules.
 
Alright after reading what you said I am with you. My calcium is right on par if not a little under. The tests I have ran earlier in the summer it was always hovering, I don't see a big spike to cause scaling. The ALK and the PH are in line as far tests go, the CYA is right on par as well. After reading this I used a few test strips and those worked out good, the CH has been good all summer and hasn't been high. If this shock adds to the CH it won't do any damage as it is below the average and way under the cap for the hardness tests.
 

Enjoying this content?

Support TFP with a donation.

Give Support
You are correct. The Poollife Turbo Shock doesn't contain CYA. It does contain calcium hypochlorite which will increase your calcium hardness (CH). A high CH can cause scaling with high pH. You really need to know your test results before you add anything so no one here can say for sure whether or not you "could" use it. Once you get too high with your CH and you have scaling, you will have to drain water and fill. I dont know exactly how high you can go but you could very well be in the safe zone but who knows. Maybe you could guess at it with a test strip. It probably will show Total Hardness and I think it goes from 250 to 1000 so it would be a far cry from being correct. A formula for a close estimate of CH from TH is CH = Total Hardness / 1.4. If you use the shock I would keep my pH at 7.2 to 7.4 until I found out.

As far as the WalMart brand goes, the WalMart here only carries Aqua Chem Di-Chlor shock so you will have to be more specific about that one. There are two. The Aqua Chem Extra Blue also contains copper. They used to carry a Tri-Chlor powdered Shock but havent seen it in a while.

The WalMart brand (Great Value) of bleach works just fine, if your concerned about that. Here it is $2.99 per 121oz jug. Clorox is a little higher and will also work. Dont get any scented bleach or your pool will smell like a field of lavender flowers.
 
Last edited:
Hang onto the pucks and granules- you can always use them later- but AFTER you know your numbers from the TF100 test. Down the road, if your CYA needs a bump, you can use some pucks. Or if the calcium is low, use the granules. But don't dump then in blindly without test results. But you can start with liquid chlorine to at least kill some algae while you wait until Friday. Without your CYA number, you'll have no idea if you are at shock level though- so you could be wasting your money on bleach.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Thread Status
Hello , This thread has been inactive for over 60 days. New postings here are unlikely to be seen or responded to by other members. For better visibility, consider Starting A New Thread.
Top Bottom
Back
Jump to latest Follow Reply