Using Cal hypo vs 3 inch tabs

[Marty D]

In the past 3 years at the end of summer the CYA starts to get high. Reason is, I use the 3 inch tabs. I just bought Cal hypo it was twice as expensive as the 3 inch tabs. How much will I use with this monster 112,000 pool. Time will tell. This winter and every winter, I leave the sump pump in the pool with a hose to drain it every time pool fills up. I drained it 4 times already. I just checked the CYA. It was 0. Now I’m thinking what the cost factor using 3 inch tabs vs Cal hypo ? Even tho using 3 inch tabs it takes two months for the CYA to get over 50. We open the pool in June and close it September. We have a very short season here in New York - Long Island. I know the Cal hypo is the correct chlorine to use but this pool is so large and my electric bills are $650 to $850 with heater per month.

 

[splashpad]

@Marty D , since you have a vinyl liner, I would suggest the liquid chlorine method! Your pool doesn't need the calcium

 

[Marty D]

@Marty D , since you have a vinyl liner, I would suggest the liquid chlorine method! Your pool doesn't need the calcium

Is the liquid -Cal hypo or ? Can you post a site to buy it ?

 

[splashpad]

Is the liquid -Cal hypo or ? Can you post a site to buy it ?

Sure give me just a sec to pull up some Pool School info on it You'll be much happier and no cloudy water!! (In our experience using cal hypo would cause cloudy water temporarily)
No it's not Cal hypo, it's Sodium Hypochlorite

Here you go: Trouble Free Pool, there is a link in that article to explain the different ways to chlorinate your pool

 

[Marty D]

Sure give me just a sec to pull up some Pool School info on it You'll be much happier and no cloudy water!! (In our experience using cal hypo would cause cloudy water temporarily)

Thanks - that’s another thing I read about Cal hypo - cloudy water. Our pool is and always sparkling clear water using 3 inch tabs.

 

[splashpad]

Thanks - that’s another thing I read about Cal hypo - cloudy water. Our pool is and always sparkling clear water using 3 inch tabs.

Yeah, because the vinyl liner doesn't require calcium support, so it eventually saturates the water column, causing "cloudiness", it's not 'bad' per say, just annoyance.

You definitely don't want to exclusively use the tabs (as noted the climbing CYA levels, which require higher FC levels to maintain sanitary water condition, see the shortcut in my sig to FC/CYA Recommended Levels)

 

[Marty D]

Yeah, because the vinyl liner doesn't require calcium support, so it eventually saturates the water column, causing "cloudiness", it's not 'bad' per say, just annoyance.

You definitely don't want to exclusively use the tabs (as noted the climbing CYA levels, which require higher FC levels to maintain sanitary water condition, see the shortcut in my sig to FC/CYA Recommended Levels)

If your talking about liquid chol from the dollar store or any $1.00 gallon with 6%. Screw that ! I did that last year as my CYA was over 100. I was buying 12 gallons pre week and still couldn’t keep up with the correct chol levels. This pool gets sun from 7 am to 7 pm full sun. I would need 4 gallons a day. Not to mention if my kids or wife sees me use washing chol. They freak out. My neighbor saw 30 gallons under a table in my garage and said - you making a bomb ? I know. They don’t know. Still it’s just to much to buy that way and most of the time there 1 gallon chlorine have less then 6 %. Most even have less.

 

[splashpad]

If your talking about liquid chol from the dollar store or any $1.00 gallon with 6%. Screw that ! I did that last year as my CYA was over 100. I was buying 12 gallons pre week and still couldn’t keep up with the correct chol levels. This pool gets sun from 7 am to 7 pm full sun. I would need 4 gallons a day. Not to mention if my kids or wife sees me use washing chol. They freak out. My neighbor saw 30 gallons under a table in my garage and said - you making a bomb ? I know. They don’t know. Still it’s just to much to buy that way and most of the time there 1 gallon chlorine have less then 6 %. Most even have less.

LOL
You can buy barrels of liquid shock 10 or 12.5%, You can also buy it at the hardware store.
If you prefer draining when the CYA levels max out, that's definitely personal preference

You could also look into setting up SWCG (saltwater chlorine generator). And *almost* set it... forget it. Definitely no heavy logging involved.

 

[Marty D]

LOL
You can buy barrels of liquid shock 10 or 12.5%, You can also buy it at the hardware store.
If you prefer draining when the CYA levels max out, that's definitely personal preference

You could also look into setting up SWCG (saltwater chlorine generator). And *almost* set it... forget it. Definitely no heavy logging involved.

We looked in to the saltwater. Spoke to 3 different people and one came here. They all said - I would need 3. One guy said forget about it. Pool to large. But they said that about heating the pool. I need 3 - heaters. We only have one and it gets the job done in the summer months.

 

[splashpad]

We looked in to the saltwater. Spoke to 3 different people and one came here. They all said - I would need 3. One guy said forget about it. Pool to large. But they said that about heating the pool. I need 3 - heaters. We only have one and it gets the job done in the summer months.

Here is a quote from a poster a few years ago about sizing a SWCG

...
3) ... A SWCG you want one that's 1½ to 3 times larger than the size of your pool.

The main reason to oversize the SWCG is to extend it's lifespan. So it can work at a lower % vs maximum output during operation.

 

[duraleigh]

That pool just gets bigger and bigger. Last year it was 90,000. Did you do an addition?

 

[JamesW]

How much will I use with this monster 112,000 pool.

How are you getting 112,000?

Is that gallons or liters?

What are the dimensions of the pool?

 

[cfherrman]

You need to decide what downsides you want for your clorine source.

Bleach, carrying jugs, telling people what bleach is, it's ok we had this conversation with everyone that uses our pools

Triclor, lowering pH and ta, buildup of cya leading to drain

Cal hypo, cloudy water, excess binders in tabs, buildup of ch that leads to a drain

Swg, upfront cost and setup, same cost over time

You say you have a lot of dilution over winter, you can use all three forms of clorine, untill your cya and ch gets to the upper limit and finish out with bleach.

 

[JoyfulNoise]

MartyD,

I grew up on Long Island, not too far from where you are. I know the water table there and it's soft enough for filling a pool with. There is no reason why you can not use a mixed chlorine strategy .... although NEVER physically mix your chlorine sources If I were you, I would use an inline puck feeder to deliver trichlor derived chlorine to the pool and set it on it's lowest possible dispensing rate. Then, for daily chlorination, I would add whatever amount of cal-hypo is needed to keep FC levels steady. You would broadcast the cal-hypo powder around the pool and brush vigorously to ensure no granules sit on the liner. Every 10ppm FC added by trichlor adds an additional 6ppm CYA to the pool and every 10ppm FC added by cal-hypo will add roughly 6ppm to your CH. If you keep a close eye on your CYA through out the swim season, you can stop using trichlor as soon as you get to 60ppm (even 70ppm is not so bad). Then you would simply switch to exclusively using cal-hypo for the remainder of the season. You are not going to build up enough CH to cause a problem but you will need to aggressively manage your post-season water levels to ensure that you are maximizing the amount of fresh water exchange you can put into your pool (seasonal rains and winter snow melt).

The one caveat with cal-hypo is that it tends to raise pH strongly and so you are going to want to keep your pH and TA on the lower side so that temporary cloudiness is mitigated as much as possible. Usually with cal-hypo you'll find that the water gets a little dull right after you add it from calcium scaling but that should go away rapidly with filtering and time. It's simply due to the more caustic nature of cal-hypo powder.

 

[Marty D]

That pool just gets bigger and bigger. Last year it was 90,000. Did you do an addition?

I use 90,000 for the math. Pool service guy told us 112,000. If you want to do the math. Here are the sizes. 35x60 -4 ft deep(30ft) 91/2 ft deep 30 ft. Built in spa on side of pool 8x2. Tell me what you come up with. The size doesn’t add the 4 steps go into the pool. You must not of read some of my other post.

 

[Marty D]

MartyD,

I grew up on Long Island, not too far from where you are. I know the water table there and it's soft enough for filling a pool with. There is no reason why you can not use a mixed chlorine strategy .... although NEVER physically mix your chlorine sources If I were you, I would use an inline puck feeder to deliver trichlor derived chlorine to the pool and set it on it's lowest possible dispensing rate. Then, for daily chlorination, I would add whatever amount of cal-hypo is needed to keep FC levels steady. You would broadcast the cal-hypo powder around the pool and brush vigorously to ensure no granules sit on the liner. Every 10ppm FC added by trichlor adds an additional 6ppm CYA to the pool and every 10ppm FC added by cal-hypo will add roughly 6ppm to your CH. If you keep a close eye on your CYA through out the swim season, you can stop using trichlor as soon as you get to 60ppm (even 70ppm is not so bad). Then you would simply switch to exclusively using cal-hypo for the remainder of the season. You are not going to build up enough CH to cause a problem but you will need to aggressively manage your post-season water levels to ensure that you are maximizing the amount of fresh water exchange you can put into your pool (seasonal rains and winter snow melt).

The one caveat with cal-hypo is that it tends to raise pH strongly and so you are going to want to keep your pH and TA on the lower side so that temporary cloudiness is mitigated as much as possible. Usually with cal-hypo you'll find that the water gets a little dull right after you add it from calcium scaling but that should go away rapidly with filtering and time. It's simply due to the more caustic nature of cal-hypo powder.

Very good info. I plan to do that. Water here is very soft. Witch chlorine would raise soft water ? I was using both last year tricolor & cal hypo and one was helping to get water hard. That was a good thing due to our soft water here. .witch chlorine did that ?

 

[setsailsoon]

Marty,

That's a huge pool! And tough problem with your short pool season. How about considering larger quantities like bulk liquid chlorine? If there's a bulk distributor they will deliverer 30-50 gal drums of 10-16%. Or even a larger bulk tank they refill, like the ones pool stores refill jugs from. Google "bulk liquid pool chlorine". Lincoln Aquatics could be an option in your area. They should also be able to help with bottle fill racks or dosing systems.

I hope this helps.

Chris

 

[JoyfulNoise]

Very good info. I plan to do that. Water here is very soft. Witch chlorine would raise soft water ? I was using both last year tricolor & cal hypo and one was helping to get water hard. That was a good thing due to our soft water here. .witch chlorine did that ?

Calcium hypochlorite (“cal-hypo”) raises calcium hardness (CH). It’s typically sold as a granular powder in 1-lb bags or in bulk in 10-lbs or 25-lbs containers.

 

[Marty D]

I’m doing my home work. Writing down what to use. I know what to use but with this large pool it can get expensive. This year I picked up 40 lb bag of soda ash for $12 bucks to raise PH keeping the TA on target. Also using cal hypo will raise PH keeping the CYA on target. We have soft water here. I’m adding water to this pool every day. I leave the hose on from 8 am to 5 pm on a very slow sprinkler. I’m alway trying to raise PH. You have no idea how much water evaporates with living near the ocean and sun hitting the pool 10 hours a day. Thinking there was a leak, we had all the pipes pressure tested.

 

[splashpad]

I’m doing my home work. Writing down what to use. I know what to use but with this large pool it can get expensive. This year I picked up 40 lb bag of soda ash for $12 bucks to raise PH keeping the TA on target. Also using cal hypo will raise PH keeping the CYA on target. We have soft water here. I’m adding water to this pool every day. I leave the hose on from 8 am to 5 pm on a very slow sprinkler. I’m alway trying to raise PH. You have no idea how much water evaporates with living near the ocean and sun hitting the pool 10 hours a day. Thinking there was a leak, we had all the pipes pressure tested.

Have you ever left it and seen how far down it goes? That would indicate the leak height. Of course you don't want vinyl to empty, if the leak was in the liner on the bottom