Converted to a Salt Pool in spring of 2009 when a new liner was installed.
Pool is 24x36 and about 19,800 gallons with radius corners, corner steps, 2 jets, 1 skimmer plus bottom drain return. the chlorine generator seems to do a good job at keeping pool clear with low level of chlorine in pool so have not felt the need to shock the pool. I have been trying to keep the pool water chemical free except for adding a small amount of stabilizer. In 2009 and 2010 I dissolved granular stabilizer by placing it in an old sock and hanging it in the pool. Over the winter I had a plumbing leak and lost 2/3 of the water so most of the granular stabilizer is probably gone with the lost water. I was told that granular stabilizer could be bad for the chlorine generator so this spring I added 2 gallons of liquid stabilizer and all seems to be fine. The ph seems to run rather high (usually it is at about 8.0) so I add 1/2 gal of muratic acid from time to time to bring the ph down but it rather quickly comes back up. I read in the Pool Solutions Tips that a high ph may be OK as long as it does not get too high so perhaps adding acid is a waste of time? The total alkalinity has always been rather high (200ppm+) as well.
With small children now using the pool I feel I should start shocking after heavy use.
How much household bleach should be added to effectively shock the pool and how often should this be done. Should the chlorine generator be turned off when shocking and if so should I wait until the chlorine level comes back down before turning it back on?