What's best

[DeathB4Me]

Which is cheaper? Shock (Cal-Hypo) or Regular bleach.
I've been trying to figure this out but i never get to it, and also which is best for my pool

 

[anonapersona]

First, it depends on where you are now. Can you get a full test for us? If you have high CH, you don't want cal-hypo regardless of cost. If you have low CH then you can evaluate cal-hypo vs bleach plus calcium increaser costs.

You can play with the pool calculator to find out what the cost is for whatever units of those are actually comparable. Like, for your size pool, if 1 lb of cal-hypo adds X ppm of chlorine and Y ppm of CH, then how much will it cost for the correct amount of bleach to give your pool x ppm of chlorine and how much will it cost for the correct amount of calcium increaser to give you Y ppm of CH.

But, you still first need to know if cal-hypo is even something you need to consider in your pool. Maybe you can't use it regardless.

 

[lightingguy]

Most likely bleach - especially in Vegas.

Cal-Hypo adds calcium to the water as well as chlorine. Check your Calcium Hardness level before using Cal-Hypo. Our pool got up to 1200ppm CH and was cloudy for a month before we really got a handle on what was going on.

Unless your CH level is below range for your plaster pool I'd avoid it - especially over the long term with a pool that's open all year long.

(Basically what anon said )

 

[tim_pool_newbie]

Does Cal-hypo also contain CYA? I'd like to know if cal-hypo is an option for those of us with low CH levels but high CYA levels.

 

[anonapersona]

Does Cal-hypo also contain CYA? I'd like to know if cal-hypo is an option for those of us with low CH levels but high CYA levels.

No CYA. It only adds CH and FC.

So, yes, if you have low CH and high CYA it MAY be an option. But really, if you have really low CH it may take so long to add CH this way that you'd be better off adding some calcium increaser to get to the bottom of the range and then using the cal-hypo for chlorine for awhile.

I had to do that earlier this year, I needed CYA, needed CH, couldn't get both up fast enough with both pucks and cal-hypo so I had to use some calcium increaser.

 

[DeathB4Me]

I think i'll stick with the shock since i have never got any problems before.
Thank you though.

 

[anonapersona]

I think i'll stick with the shock since i have never got any problems before.
Thank you though.

Whoa! How do you KNOW that it is OK? You have to know what your CH is now, and what the tap water will add to the pool over time.

Someone just said that in Las Vegas you probably don't want to use that. Do you understand what he knows about Las Vegas that suggests that CH levels may be high there or tend to climb too high as time goes on?

And, most importantly, you never got an answer on cost. We only looked at whether cal-hypo was actually a good option. (possibly not, given your location, but test data would answer that.)

The answer on cal-hypo cost is that if you are getting it in pre-packaged 1 lb bags it will probably be more expensive than bleach. If you are getting the 100 lb bucket it might be the same for the same amount of chlorine.

 

[lightingguy]

Obviously this is a bit broad, but here's a sense of what water hardness looks like around the country

http://www.qualitywatertreatment.com/ci ... _guide.htm

 

[dmanb2b]

I think i'll stick with the shock since i have never got any problems before.
Thank you though.

Shock is a process, not a product. Cal-hypo is a source of chlorine as is sodium hypochlorite (aka bleach aka liquid chlorine, aka liquid "shock")

You should read Pool school, before you end up with calcium scaling.