What difference does it make to use sodium hypo instead of cal hypo ?
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What difference does it make to use sodium hypo instead of cal hypo ?
Cal hypo breaks down into chlorine and calcium, which is fine as long as your calcium levels don't get too high. When they do, and you also have high pH and TA, the calcium can precipitate out and cause scaling or milky water. Cal-hypo also sometimes doesn't readily dissolve all the way and can bleach liners if it sits on the liner too long before dissolving.
Bleach breaks down into chlorine and salt water, which is actually a good thing, no matter what kind of pool you have. It also is readily dissolved, and is cheaper, if you don't mind lugging and disposing of the bottles.
It all basically depends on what your pool needs....if you need chlorine and calcium, then cal hypo is fine. If you have a vinyl pool, and your calcium isn't yet too high, then it's still fine. However, if you already have a high calcium content, and a concrete pool, and TA or pH that tend to rise, then bleach is better. It's also easier to calculate the effect on your chlorine level of a given amount of bleach than it is to calculate how much cal-hypo it will take to raise it the same amount.
Janet