How often do you find you need to shock?

[JohnT]

Haven't shocked at all this year. No CC on opening.

[Mom2Czars]

First year pool owner this year and I kept feeling like I *should* be shocking it. Only once did I ever see a CC reading that was the faintest tinge of pink, and I put extra chlorine in that night but didn't take it to shock level.

This week we were out of town for a few days, and it had seemed to me like the pool was using a bit more chlorine on a daily basis -- losing 1.5pmm rather than 1ppm. So before we left I took it up to what I would guess is close to shock level @ 12ppm. Came home tonight 3 days later and it's still at 6ppm (we had it covered with the solar cover). Looks clear underneath the cover but we haven't taken it off yet. I'm guessing my CYA is at ~20+. I've put in 3lbs of CYA but find the testing hard to figure.

Short story long, I guess it didn't really NEED shocking, but I figured the timing was good since we'd be away anyhow.