Quote Originally Posted by prh129
The next time you go to a pool store, take a look at their liquid chlorine (which might be called liquid shock). You should find that it too is sodium hypochlorite although in a higher concentration (10.5 or 12%) so the laundry bleach is the same stuff only in a weaker concentration so you would have to add twice as much to get the same result. The higher concentrations will lose strength faster than lower concentrations (affected by heat & light) so the laundry bleach will hold up better in storage. I am using both without any problems.

If you look for posts from mwsmith you can download a bleach calculator program that you can use to determine how much bleach to add. Just remember to adjust the concentration if you switch between laundry bleach and pool store bleach.

Peter
Regular bleach, whether 6% or 5.25% contains Sodium Hypochlorite and water.

The Sodium Hypochlorite will dissociate to Hypochlorous Acid and Sodium Hydroxide (Caustic Soda). As the Hypochlorous Acid destroys the bacteria and Chloramines (the bad guys) the Sodium Hydroxide is left, and this raises the pH. That's why you need Muriatic Acid to bring the pH down. It also increases the salt level in the pool.

Hope this helps.

Pat