Chlorine Pucks vs Bleach

[sunofthebeach]

here is my plan

I buy an $80 50 lb bucket of Chlorine pucks from BJ’s at the start of the season. The bucket will last all season. I shock my pool with bleach almost every Sunday with 2 jugs of bleach. (24,000 gal pool) Swimming season is May through September so bleach cost is about $40.

This method allows me to chlorinate my pool for $120 a season and I am only adding chemicals/pucks once a week. I do test the water 3 times a week though.

I don’t really care about CYA, because I open my pool to 0 CYA at the start of every season.

[CarlD]

Frank,
Sorry, B-B-B, is exactly that--Bleach, Borax and Baking Soda.

Sunofthebeach,
As I said, it's your pool, your are the lord of your domain. But you need to realize that CYA levels directly effect the level of chlorine you need to keep your pool sanitary. At 100ppm of CYA, you need to keep your Free Chlorine level at around 8ppm. But at 30ppm of CYA, a Free Chlorine level of 3ppm is more than sufficient.

As long as you KNOW how much CYA is in your pool and therefore how high your Free Chlorine level needs to be--and keep the Free Chlorine level there--you'll be fine, no matter what the CYA is. But if you do NOT know the CYA level, then you are probably underchlorinating or overchlorinating your pool and relying on luck to be at the correct level of chlorine and not get an algae bloom.

I not big on relying on luck myself--I just test my CYA level once a week.

[sunofthebeach]

Sunofthebeach,
As I said, it's your pool, your are the lord of your domain. But you need to realize that CYA levels directly effect the level of chlorine you need to keep your pool sanitary. At 100ppm of CYA, you need to keep your Free Chlorine level at around 8ppm. But at 30ppm of CYA, a Free Chlorine level of 3ppm is more than sufficient.

As long as you KNOW how much CYA is in your pool and therefore how high your Free Chlorine level needs to be--and keep the Free Chlorine level there--you'll be fine, no matter what the CYA is. But if you do NOT know the CYA level, then you are probably underchlorinating or overchlorinating your pool and relying on luck to be at the correct level of chlorine and not get an algae bloom.

I not big on relying on luck myself--I just test my CYA level once a week.

I was not as clear as I should have been. What I meant to say is I don’t really care about the added CYAfrom the pucks, because I open my pool to 0 CYA at the start of every season. I do put 35 ppm of CYA in my pool at the start of the season and it elevates a little from the pucks. The part I don't care about is that I am adding CYA, because by next season it will be gone.

[CarlD]

I was not as clear as I should have been. What I meant to say is I don’t really care about the added CYAfrom the pucks, because I open my pool to 0 CYA at the start of every season. I do put 35 ppm of CYA in my pool at the start of the season and it elevates a little from the pucks. The part I don't care about is that I am adding CYA, because by next season it will be gone.

As long as you are aware of what the CYA is throughout the season and adjust your FC accordingly, you are OK. See the post below yours for how much CYA pucks can add.

When we went on vacation a couple of years ago (for 2 weeks), I left 4 floaters wide open, each with 4 pucks in a 20,000 gal pool. I'd say about 10-12 of the pucks had dissolved, and my CYA shot from 30ppm to 65ppm. My pH was at 6.8 (which means less) and it took 4 boxes of Borax to get it back to normal. That means each puck was adding 2-3ppm of CYA to my 20,000 gallons.

Something to think about.

[faithfulfrank]

Carl,
Reading between the lines, I'm guessing that Tri-chlor has the side effect of lowering your ph.........
or does acid rain, normal life do this. I ask because i do not think i've ever had to lower my ph, but I do need to bring it up using 20 mule team borax every so often.
I just added some today because my ph was 7.2...although I won't even "open" my pool and hook up my filter for a few weeks.

Thanks,
Frank D.

[Watermom]

Yes - trichlor is very acidic and will lower your ph.

[geordie]

It is all about balance and the frequent testing of your water. Amazing how quickly you will get the hang of adjusting your water simply if you test it accurately and often.

Carl and Watermom really do know what they are talking about and if you follow their advice it will get you on the right track. I don't think anyone on this board actually hates the pucks, although it sure is a good idea to understand their effects. Many prefer not to use them and I think most people would advocate not using them exclusively.

I have a 12K gallon pool and I use pucks sparingly during the summer. Our water has a naturally high ph here, and for some reason using regular bleach drives the ph up. For most people the ph rise from bleach is temporary and drops naturally. In my pool the ph goes up and just keeps going up if I don't deal with it.

In my pool a puck a week keeps my ph nicely in balance, and I never add anything else other than bleach. Not BBB... just the first B. We get heavy rain or snow most winters and I lose/exchange enough water that I open to little or no CYA every spring. I use pucks to open and it brings my CYA up to around 30. Our swim season is about 16 weeks. I use two or three pucks during our vacations to maintain.

Since CYA is basically measured in increments of 10, 1 puck dissolved in 12K gallons is not measurable. After about 8 pucks (usually 8 weeks for me) I see an increase in my CYA of about 10. We also experience quite a bit of rain, and how much your CYA increases will depend upon the dillution and backwashing that you do.

If you decide to continue using some pucks you really need to test CYA every week as Carl said. Also, be aware that any CYA you add to your pool takes roughly a week before you get an accurate measurement.

When your CYA rises you have to look at Ben's chart to help you figure out what ppm level of chlorine you need to maintain in order to effectively sanitize your water. If you run your CYA low and keep your chlorine constant at 3ppm it works okay. If your CYA goes up 10 or 20 and you continue to keep your chlorine at 3ppm, you will wake up one day with swamp thing :-) I know, I did it a few years ago... that is how I found this site.

Good luck.

Jean

[tphaggerty]

I voted for an SWG but follow the rest of the advice here as closely as possible. As has been said before, a SWG is not the cheapest way to go, but it excels in 2 areas:

1) Very convienent. Once you are dialed in for the season, there is very little to do except test and (normally) minor adjustments. A lot of folks wind up doing a weekly acid dose, I haven't had to yet.

2) "Other" benefits. There is no doubt that the water feels softer, warmer and you don't need to rinse when you get out. I think the water feels better because it is pretty much kept in constant balance, as opposed to the ups and downs of adding chemicals and then having them dissapate over time.

I used bleach when I opened (what I learned, don't start heating your pool until you have all of the chemistry balanced!!) to clear some cloudiness. I use borax to maintain the alk and will use muriatic acid to lower PH once I use up the dry acid I have. Ben's test kit is (hopefully) on the way.

I think many here would agree that BBB can also be SWG/BB and work just as well.

[CarlD]

I voted for an SWG but follow the rest of the advice here as closely as possible. As has been said before, a SWG is not the cheapest way to go, but it excels in 2 areas:

1) Very convienent. Once you are dialed in for the season, there is very little to do except test and (normally) minor adjustments. A lot of folks wind up doing a weekly acid dose, I haven't had to yet.

2) "Other" benefits. There is no doubt that the water feels softer, warmer and you don't need to rinse when you get out. I think the water feels better because it is pretty much kept in constant balance, as opposed to the ups and downs of adding chemicals and then having them dissapate over time.

I used bleach when I opened (what I learned, don't start heating your pool until you have all of the chemistry balanced!!) to clear some cloudiness. I use borax to maintain the alk and will use muriatic acid to lower PH once I use up the dry acid I have. Ben's test kit is (hopefully) on the way.

Minor correction: Borax is for raising pH (making the water more basic, or alkaline) but it is NOT for maintaining alkalinity.

Alkalinity or Total Alkalinity, is kind of a misnomer. It's really a pH buffer to prevent pH see-sawing. Use Baking Soda to raise it.

Nothing wrong with dry acid--I actually use it because it's a bit easier and safer to handle than muriatic acid. But M/A is fine, too. I just don't like dry acid when it's called "Low'n'Slo" and has a price of $Boo-Coo!

I think many here would agree that BBB can also be SWG/BB and work just as well.

Absolutely!

[tphaggerty]

Minor correction: Borax is for raising pH (making the water more basic, or alkaline) but it is NOT for maintaining alkalinity.

Oops! Fingers working faster than brain. Thanks for the correction.