bleach alternatives

[SUNOFTHEBEACH]

Looking to start up my pool with tri or Cal until I can find bleach at the stores. Also trying to do a cost comparison.

In the swim has

50 pounds of Calcium Hypochlorite 68% so that will give me 34 pounds chlorine and 16 pounds of Calcium. $129

50 pounds of trichlor is $100. 54.2% by weight of cyanuric acid so that will give me 27.1 pounds of cyanuric acid and 22.9 pounds of Chlorine.

My questions are

1. are my calculations correct?
2. Is the chlorine in tri-chlor and Cal-Hypo exactly the same (same strength?
3. How much will cal-hypo raise my calcium (16 pounds) if I use it all 20,000 pool?
4 How much will the tri-Chlor (27 pounds) raise my cya if I use it all, 20000 pool?
5 What is the bleach equivalent to 34 pounds of cal-hypo chlorine?

 

[Donldson]

1: No. There is about 2x more chlorine in trichlor than CYA. Not sure what the 54.2% number is, but if you are looking at a trichlor powder then that means it is only 54.2% trichlor and the rest is baking soda. It's something they do to make it relatively pH neutral.
2a: Chlorine is chlorine once in the water, but I don't think you are going about this right. See below.
2b - 5: Check out PoolMath to run these calculations. Either the app or the link at the bottom of this page.

 

[vbertone]

I saw this on another thread for puck usage and amounts.
1 puck - 8 oz. of trichlor - will raise your 15,000 gallons by 3.7 FC, raise CYA by 2.2, lower pH by 0.2, and raise salt by 2 ppm

 

[mknauss]

Walmart in Waldorf MD shows Pool Essentials Chlorinating Liquid in stock.

 

[SUNOFTHEBEACH]

this is what was said about tri chlor;

One 3” (8oz) Tablet of Trichlor delivers approximately 5.495 ppm of available chlorine and 3.27 ppm of Cyanuric acid into 10,000 gallons of water. Trichlor contains 54.2% by weight of the chlorine carrier molecule Cyanuric acid, so every 8oz tablet of trichlor contains 4.336 oz of Cyanuric acid.

so I figured if a 8oz puck contains 4.3 oz of CYA, then it contains 3.7 oz of chlorine. so 50 pounds would have 370 oz of chlorine, or 23 pounds?

I have pool math up, but my numbers have to be correct and I'm finding it hard to use backwards. but

6. if my calculations are correct, 50 pounds of tri-chlor has 27 pounds of CYA. 27 pounds is 432 oz. 431 oz raises CYA in a 20,000 pool 165ppm. does that sound right?
7.Cal-hypo 50 pounds of calhypo 65% put in pool math will rais my chlorine to 193 ppm. It has 16 pounds calcium and pool math says that will raise my calcium 85ppm? that doesn't sound right?

 

[mknauss]

Just use Effects of Adding Chemicals in Poolmath.

The 50 lbs of Cal Hypo in your pool volume will add 119 ppm CH.

The 50 lbs of trichor will add 145 ppm CYA. So you will need to drain your pool multiple times while using that.

 

[SUNOFTHEBEACH]

Walmart in Waldorf MD shows Pool Essentials Chlorinating Liquid in stock.

they do have a big pool section. I know I am all over the place with this post, but

the pool essentials liquid shock is 10% for $3.64
walmart cleaning bleach is 6% for $1.77

tomorrow I will not have a choice, but in the future whats the better deal? its the cleaning bleach right?

 

[SUNOFTHEBEACH]

Just use Effects of Adding Chemicals in Poolmath.

The 50 lbs of Cal Hypo in your pool volume will add 119 ppm CH.

The 50 lbs of trichor will add 145 ppm CYA. So you will need to drain your pool multiple times while using that.

effects of adding chemicals that's exactly what I need thank you.

 

[tim5055]

they do have a big pool section. I know I am all over the place with this post, but

the pool essentials liquid shock is 10% for $3.64
walmart cleaning bleach is 6% for $1.77

tomorrow I will not have a choice, but in the future whats the better deal? its the cleaning bleach right?

Sadly, they are not numbers you can compare side by side.

I'll let Matt explain:

Bleach sold for laundry use is sold by weight percent of sodium hypochlorite. That's 6% and 8.25%.

Liquid chlorine sold for pools is typically listed as Trade % which is really a volume %. That covers 10%, 12.5% & 15%.

The difference between weight and volume percent have to do with the specific gravity of the solution. It changes the FC calculations slightly.

So, there is a little more to it that a straight comparison, but in this case it's almost a wash.

I'd buy the 10% to carry fewer bottles.....

 

[SUNOFTHEBEACH]

This is what I was trying to figure out. (I rounded numbers to make it easier)

50 pounds of Cal hypo $129 gives me 168 ppm of free Chlorine and 119 ppm of Calcium.
it would take 62 gallons of Walmart cleaning bleach (6%)($1.77 a gallon) $110 to give me 168 ppm of free chlorine.
it would take 39 gallons of pool essentials liquid shock (10%) ($3.64 a gallon) $142 to give me 168 ppm of chlorine.


50 pounds of Trichlor $99 gives me 238 ppm of free Chlorine and 145 ppm of CYA.
it would take 86 gallons of Walmart cleaning bleach (6%) ($1.77 a gallon) $142 to give me 238 ppm of free chlorine.
it would take 54 gallons of pool essentials liquid shock (10%) ($3.64 a gallon) $196 to give me 238 ppm of chlorine.

Raising my CYA 145 ppm is unacceptable, but I'm pretty sure my plaster pool can take 119 ppm of calcium.
it feels like this season calcium is the ticket for me.