Am I a bad person?

[jbalcorn]

My local wal-mart carries "Shock" and "Super shock". It's just Calcium Hypochlorite in powder form. (I don't have it in front of me, but I think it's about 40% and 50% respectively) I've calculated that unless the Sam's Club bleach is on sale for $1.49 or less (and then I use bleach), it's just a few pennies more to use the Shock instead of the bleach, and much more convenient.

Am I causing myself any problems? I am a little worried that the 40% solid weight CalHypo won't translate the same as the 6% by volume bleach.

I promise not to use PHUp! and to only use pucks when I go on vacation.

Am I forgiven?

[aylad]

That depends

You can use cal-hypo if you find it more convenient, but how much you can use (or for how long you can use it) depends on your pool and other test readings. What kind of pool do you have? What is your baseline CH reading? TA and pH? When calcium gets too high in a vinyl pool, higher pH and TA can work together to cause milky water problems that are only really solveable by draining/refilling water. If you have a plaster/gunnite pool, you need to keep your calcium at 200-400 ppm to keep the water from leaching calcium from the concrete, but high TA and pH can cause scaling issues. So....whether or not you can use it without problems really depends on the rest of your water levels. If you'll post them here (drop testing, please, no strips!) we can get a better idea of how well that may work for you.

Janet

[CarlD]

Are you a bad person?

I guess I don't know, but I doubt it. After all, you came here and we try to avoid letting bad people join--and we ban 'em when we find out! Those are usually hackers and snake oil salesmen. We define "bad people" as those who don't follow our AUP, Acceptable Use Policy. The "Hall of Shame" is filled with examples!
(got you chuckling yet? )

You can use anything you want in your pool--it is YOUR pool!

But Janet has answered your question. As for "pH Up!" ... you can buy it if you want but Arm&Hammer Washing Soda (in the yellow, not orange box) is the same chemical, only far cheaper. Both tend to raise by pH and increase T/A, where Borax only raises pH.

Pucks, too, have their uses. The trick is knowing when it is the right time to use them--and when it is the wrong time!