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the chlorine combines with ammonia- the CC reading when you test water...
then the extra chlorine and sunlight oxidize the CC away.
oversimplified, but that's the process in a nutshell!
So adding chlorine initially gives the CC, which smells and is irritating, then gets rid of it, along with sun and air!
In a 25K gallon pool, each 1/2 gallon of 6% bleach you add will raise your chlorine by just over 1 ppm, so each 2 gallons will raise it by approximately 5 ppm.... so you can use that as a guide when figuring out how much to add each time to get back up to your "shock" level. If you're using a drop-based OTO kit that only measures up to 5 ppm, you can use the directions here http://www.poolforum.com/pf2/showthr...a-good-testkit) to dilute your sample and at least give you a ballpark.
Janet
Thanks for the info, Carl. Sounds like I can finish off the 25 lb bucket of cal-hypo that I've got without causing the water to turn milky, then switch to bleach.
Maybe I missed it when i scanned this thread, but I didn't see if this is a gunite pool or vinyl or what. Concrete, gunite, etc. need somewhere between 200-400ppm of calcium. Vinyl pools need none but some won't hurt. I think you'll be fine finishing up the cal-hypo. But, just check your CH once every week or two to see where your level is.
Watermom makes a great point...I guess I assumed this was a vinyl pool, but if it's not, then she's right on about the calcium levels needing to be higher...
Janet