New Donut pool owner Questions

We got our little 14x42 donut for fathers day. We have managed to keep it fairly clean. I am reading here about usinc common bleach instead of the fancy chemicals for keeping the FC levels where they need to be. Does it not matter where the FC comes from? I am concerned about the vinyl, is it specifically made to withstand the rigors of a person over chlorinating? I guess I always thought to much bleach would attack the vinyl. Are the drop in tablets not the way to go? I just bought a Pop up/ SPA (HTH) floater but can't find the tablets locally, if I decide to use them could I just buy the 3" tablets and break them up to fit into the 1" floater?

Thanks!

Hi edlentz ,

It doesnt matter where the CL comes from. THats exactly why 99.999% of everyone here uses bleach.

Bleach is sodium hypochlorite with a 6% strength . Liquid chlorine sold at pool stores is sodium hypochlorite at 12% . Same stuff, different strength but usually cheaper and more convenient at the grocery store.

I would recommend not using the tabs/pucks for your pool. There is more potential harm from them than bleach. Since they are in a concentrated form , they must be kept in the floater, otherwise it could harm your pool. They are acidic , lowering the ph of the pool. And they put CYA (cyanuric acid = stabilizer) into the pool. CYA is a good thing thats needed in pools , but too much of it is Not good.


Other then that, welcome to the forum, if you havent already ,check out Poolsolutions , the main site for the forum, along with all the STicky posts here . THeres a load of info on using Bleach , Baking Soda , Borax

I had an 18 x 48 donut style pool for the last 2 seasons and treated it according to the AquaChem instructions. Had nothing but problems!!

This year I went to the 18x48 metal pole pool (only because the donut pool was damaged in a large hail storm) and have been using the BBB method. It does not harm my pool liner at all. In fact, using the pucks resulted in too high of CYA levels which required a partial drain and refill.

I check my water morning and evening and keep my Chlorine level around 15 ppm due to my 70 CYA level. I shock at 20 ppm. With our high heat (100 degrees each day) I have found this to be effective in keeping the water clear and sanitized.

I also have a skimmer sock in my skimmer to prefilter out the bugs and other debris and rinse my filter off every 3 days or so to prolong the life. I change them out every 3 weeks or so - at $10 a filter this is cost effective and maintains my water.

However, when I have an algae bloom, they are changed much more frequently.

You can do a search for the best guess CYA chart and bleach calculator. They will help tremendously in determining how much bleach to add to your pool. ***don't dump it all in one spot, it will sink and bleach out your lining.

Thanks for the suggestions! I'll poke around Poolsolutions and get educated!