Chlorine Pucks vs Bleach

[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.

[faithfulfrank]

I tend to think of it like this;

total alkalinity is to ph as cya is to free chlorine.

So alkalinity is kind of a stabilizer to ph......

Would you agree??

BTW, I was somewhat suprised to see my start of the season cya level was already at 60......I kept it at about 35-40 last season, using just bleach and an occasional pack of shock, neither had cya......
But for over the winter, I did add a floater with 5 pucks in it in the fall, and 5 more pucks as soon as the ice melted, so 10 pucks raised it about 20.....

After I add the needed 10 or more inches of water to get the pool level up to the normal level, the cya should be down a bit more. I'll use mostly bleach this year, but boy, that too jumped up a bit in price.....oh well, life is still good......!

Frank D.