Bleach

[GottiJr]

Is clorox bleach the same as chlorine. A neighbor told me to just add that to my 13x30 pop up pool to save money. Im not sure about this, is it really the same thing as chlorine tablets? Thanks

P.S. I posted this under a different section (chlorine alt.) but since no one visits that really and I needed a answer i posted it here. Sorry.

[HABS_SD]

Hi,

I am a pool owner as of last Monday, and everything was working fine. Last Friday and Saturday following huge rain spells, I woke up to a green pool Sunday morning, which has been getting consistently darker since.

I did some research on the topic, and bleach does work. Down side is it can be messy, but they were selling 2gallons for $1 at my local store here, so I opted for the bleach.

I’ve read that you should use 1 gal of bleach for 1000 gal of water. However you should not use bleach for regular chlorination, only shocking purposes.

Keep in mind I am not an expert and base all this info on my research. I have a 16,000 gal above ground pool. I dumped 18 gallons (just to be safe) of bleach last night in to it. This morning when I woke up it was much clearer, but not yet clean. I’m hoping that when I get home all that will be left will be the dead algae to vacuum off the bottom. I’ll let you know how it works tomorrow.

[GottiJr]

Cool. please let us know how it worked. Im curious did anyone tell you why you shouldnt use bleach as an alternative to chlorine? Thanks in advance.

[HABS_SD]

Some reasons are that it can be very messy, and it can cost more than chlorine if you're buying an expensive brand at full price. I was lucky and got it at 0.50cents CDN per gallon, so definitely cheaper.

Main reason why you can't use it for regular use instead of chlorine is simply because it dissolves completely, unlike chlorine tablets or granules that dissolve slowly. This is why it is good for shock treatment, but poses too much work and grief for daily use.

[GottiJr]

Hi, oh ok cool. I just wanted to make sure they didnt say anything about it being harmful to swimmers if you used just bleach instead of chlorine.

[HABS_SD]

Hi, oh ok cool. I just wanted to make sure they didnt say anything about it being harmful to swimmers if you used just bleach instead of chlorine.

Well keep in mind not to swim while you are shocking. Wait until chlorine levels are back to normal.

Cool. please let us know how it worked. Im curious did anyone tell you why you shouldnt use bleach as an alternative to chlorine? Thanks in advance.

And now to answer the big question. I got home last night and checked the pool (at this point it had been 24hrs since I put a little over 1gal of bleach per 1000 gal of water).

Behold blue water! I was amazed at how much it had changed since the morning. All the dead algae had sedimented to the bottom. I immediately back-washed the filter and rinsed. I did this before vacuuming the bottom, because I wanted the filter to be clean to catch all the dead algae which would stir in to the pool while vacuuming.

When I finished vacuuming, I checked the chemistry of the water. Had good alkalinity, stabilizer and ph, and the chlorine was just above the acceptable range (which was great because I knew I still had free chlorine in the pool to work with to get the straggler algae!).

There was so much dead algae in the pool that when I vacuumed the bottom, a lot of it stirred back in to the pool and the water became a lagoon shade of blue. Knowing I was close to perfection, I didn’t want to chance it and gave it another dose of shock (but kept it to a lower amount since I already had significant free chlorine in the pool).

Pump ran all night and I woke up this morning to crystal clear water. Before I left for work I back-washed and rinsed the filter again, and tested the water. Chlorine levels were at same level as before the shock, which means there was still some algae left to combat (good call about the shock the night before!). By the time I get home tonight all should settle down, and pending a chemical test, I am looking forward to enjoying my beautiful and inviting pool, which I have not done in 5 days.

Hope my story helps. If you have any other questions about bleach or algae problems, just let me know.

This is one happy pool owner signing off

[pk4217]

Hi, oh ok cool. I just wanted to make sure they didnt say anything about it being harmful to swimmers if you used just bleach instead of chlorine.

bleach = sodium hypo = liquid chlorine in pool store, the difference is the concentration of chlorine. normally 12% or 10% being sold in the pool store, and 5% or 6% in grocery store.

1 gal bleach of 6% will give 10000 gal water 6ppm of chlorine, and 60ppm on 1000 gal water.

bleach will give you problem because it has a pH value above 11 and it'll raise your pH. so you need to add dry acid or muriatic acid to adjust the pH after using bleach.

calcium hypo also have high pH, but the effect on the pH of water is less than bleach, mostly because the amount being used.

trichlor has pH value below 3, and it'll lower pH of water after used. and trichlor has 55% of cyanuric acid, it'll raise CYA of the water.

[rdw]

I would recommend you household products to use.


My pool looks the best it has all summer, just using bleach!

[the pool doctor]

chlorox or liquid pool shock are both sodium hypochloride. the thing about sodium hypochloride is it does not contain stabilizer or cyanuric acid which prevents the suns uv rays from breaking down or dissipating chlorine so it can sanitize water.it should be used after dark for best results.the liquid pool shock sold in yellow jugs is several times stronger than regular bleach.hope this helps

[srobidoux]

Shouldn't he have used 1.8 gal and not 18? Seems like 18 would drive the neighbors away.

Hi, oh ok cool. I just wanted to make sure they didnt say anything about it being harmful to swimmers if you used just bleach instead of chlorine.

bleach = sodium hypo = liquid chlorine in pool store, the difference is the concentration of chlorine. normally 12% or 10% being sold in the pool store, and 5% or 6% in grocery store.

1 gal bleach of 6% will give 10000 gal water 6ppm of chlorine, and 60ppm on 1000 gal water.

bleach will give you problem because it has a pH value above 11 and it'll raise your pH. so you need to add dry acid or muriatic acid to adjust the pH after using bleach.

calcium hypo also have high pH, but the effect on the pH of water is less than bleach, mostly because the amount being used.

trichlor has pH value below 3, and it'll lower pH of water after used. and trichlor has 55% of cyanuric acid, it'll raise CYA of the water.