Algae loves my pool

[mrsbusymomee]

So I am done draining my pool and am now filling it back up. I went ahead and pumped to waste to clean out what I could. Pool looks pretty good.
Anyway, I found 2 gallons of LC named SHOCK that I bought last year. It contains 10% chlorine and doesn't list what the other 90% is. Is that ok?
Also after I get my pool back to normal, should I still use the tablets I have that are trichlor or use something else? If I use bleach all the time, how do you maintain the chlorine that way and how often do you put it in?

Thanks for all your advice!

[Watermom]

How much did you drain? Does the shock that you have list sodium hypochlorite as the ingredient? If so, you can go ahead and use it in the pool, but I doubt very seriously that it is still 10% after that much time. Unless you did a total drain and refill (and I hope you didn't!!!), you do NOT want to use the trichlor tabs. Just use bleach. If you use bleach, you just have to test it every evening or at least every other evening and add a little bleach. How much to add depends on what your cya level is. I usually check it every evening and add a little bleach. It takes me no more than 5 minutes at most.

[aylad]

Use the "Best guess chlorine chart" in Watermom's and my sig to determine where your chlorine needs to be, based on your CYA level, and add your bleach accordingly.

Janet

[CarlD]

10% liquid Chorine "Shock" is really just 10% bleach (it usually is actually a little higher). Regular bleach is 5.25%, "Ultra" (now the standard) is 6%.

What's the other 90%? Salt water! Yup! Bleach is made from brine (saltwater) as the formula for salt is NaCl...Sodium Chloride. So don't worry about it. If you use nothing but bleach/Liquid Chlorine for 10 years you still wont approach the salt water levels necessary for a pool that uses Salt Water Chlorine Generation (SWG,or SWCG).

[chem geek]

I wrote this post about what is in various products since this question of whether grocery/hardware store equivalents are really the same as pool store products comes up frequently from users new to these forums. Regular Clorox (Ultra in Canada) and off-brand Ultra bleaches are pretty much all 6% sodium hypochlorite, 4.7% sodium chloride salt and 88.7% water. Clorox has a very small amount of sodium polyacrylate in it as well (it is a mild metal sequestrant but as diluted in pools the amount is negligible).

[mrsbusymomee]

Well when it rains it pours. I drained about 2/3 of my pool and is now filled back up and it rained a lot last night. Went to go turn the pump on and now that doesn't work. (My husband is real handy and he said it froze need a new one.) So I am headed to the pool store to go buy another one. OMG I hope nothing else goes wrong as they say things happen in threes. UGH!
I'll have my water tested and I'll stop at walmart and buy a bunch of bleach and whatever else (borax or baking soda) provided what the pH is. I'll report the numbers when I get back.
Thanks guys!

[Watermom]

I would suggest getting an inground pump because they are usually easier to open. I have a pool the same size as yours and when I replaced mine, I bought a full-rated 1/2 hp inground pump for my AG pool and it has been fine. (Chose that one based on the recommendation of my fellow mod Poconos who is our resident pump expert.) Be cautioned --- the pool store will try and sell you a bigger pump than you need! They will probably also try and tell you that you can't use an inground pump on an AG pool and that it is NOT true. That's what I am doing!