Chlorine Question

Hello everyone, just joined the forum, Im so glad you guys have this. Just had a inground pool put in last fall, so we just starting using it first week of May. My question is this. I have been spending $30.00 on 4lbs of Bioguard chlorine from the pool store. the silk sticks. I already have bought 2 containers, that $60.00 for 8lbs. CRAZY!! What is your guys opinion on using Chlorine from Sam's club, They sell 40 lbs for $90.00. Seems more economical! BUt I dont want it to screw up my water, my water is perfect right now! Any suggestions would be great. Thank You!

What kind of chlorine is it? Their bags of dichlor are fine.

PoolBrand® Chlorinating Tablets - 40lbs Bucket
For $90.00

I think they are 99% trichlor. Please check the label. If I am right, they are fine to use as long as your CYA is not too high. Since they are stabilized, they will add CYA along with chlorine. Do you have a current CYA reading for your water? Actually, it would probably be a good idea to post a complete set of current water testing results taken with a drops-based kit -- no test strips. Do you have a kit? What type?

I believe that the silk sticks are also trichlor, just a lot more expensive. Check the label on the PoolBrand tabs and make sure that they do not contain copper. I don't think they do, but many others out there do contain copper, and you don't want to add that to your pool.

Keep an eye on your pH while you're using these, too--they are acidic and will tend to drive your pH down...

Janet

Ok im going to go into Sams this week and read the label, if no copper I am going to buy them. If my PH does go down, I guess I can add Baking Soda, is that correct?? Also what is CYA?? I do use the drops and not the sticks. Also, since my water is stabilized, should you add anything to keep it stablizied?? I do the weekly bioguard shock and the chloroine tablets, do you guys suggest anything else?

If your pH goes down, you use 20 Mule Team Borax (laundry aisle at Walmart) to raise it. Baking soda is used to raise alk, not pH.

CYA (cyanuric acid) is kind of like sunscreen for your chlorine. Without it, an outdoor pool will lose all the chlorine to the sun really fast especially on a hot, sunny day.

We need to know your current CYA reading before you buy those trichlor tabs and start using them. If your CYA level is too high, then you won't want to use them.

What do you mean when you say that your water is stabilized?

What are the ingredients in the Bioguard shock?

Ok Bioguard Silk sticks ingredients were Trichloro 95.05%, Other ingredients 5.95% Available chlorine 84.65&. I bought the Sams club PoolBrand Chlorine and its ingredients are Trichloro 99% and other ingredients 1% Available Chlorine 90%. All looks about the same. Ok I just read about the Cyanuric Acid, where do I get that at and how much do I use?? My pool is 16x30 inground pool, vinyl liner. WHen I say stabilized I just mean my chlorine and PH are in the normal levels. My CYA reading is 100. My bioguard shock is 1lb pound and its ingredients are Calcium Hypochlorite 57.8 % Other ingriedients 42.2 %. I put 2 bags in about every week. Says one bag per 10,000 gallons of water. I have about 17,500 gallons.

Hi Jason,

Cyanuric acid, CYA, and stabilizer are all the same thing, and you've been adding it all along by using the silk sticks (and the trichlor tabs that you just bought, which are essentially the same thing). The problem with your CYA reading being 100 is that your minimum chlorine levels must be no less than 8 ppm at any one time, otherwise you risk an algae bloom. Now that it's that high, you really need to be testing your water daily to make sure the chlorine level doesn't get too low. High stabilizer pools are easy to run and don't require dosing very often, but you do have to keep those Cl levels up.

Ok thank you for answering my questions, I love this forum its such a big help!!! I check my water all the time and make sure my chlorine is good! So far no problems!! I hope it stays that way, we are at about 90 Degrees this week in Pennsylvania so I wanna stay on it!! Thanks again guys and gals!!

What test kit are you using? I also don't think we have asked you to fill out our Pool Chart. It will help us if you fill it out, please.

Pool Chart Entry Form
Pool Chart Results

If you are getting a CYA reading of 100, it could actually be much higher than that since the test can't differentiate levels past 100. Dilute a sample of pool water with an equal part of distilled water and use that to run the CYA test on and then multiply the result by 2. If you still get a reading of 100, dilute it two parts of distilled water and one part pool water, test and then multiply the result by 3, etc. Then repost with the result.

With a CYA of 100+, you should not use any more stabilized chlorine or else your CYA is going to continue to climb. So, no more dichlor powder and no more trichlor pucks.