bleach

Causes and cures for cloudy swimming pool water.
Milky pool water, white, pink, brown, purple, black cloudy water.
don

bleach

Postby don » Wed 05 Sep, 2007 08:26

i have a concrete pool 20x40 will putting plain clorex bleach in it work the same as shock?


chem geek
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Postby chem geek » Wed 05 Sep, 2007 12:13

Yes. Just make sure it is unscented bleach and be aware that some off-brand "regular" bleach is very weak -- some are 5.25% but others are only 3%. Clorox Regular is now 6% and says so on the bottle (and also says 5.7% Available Chlorine since it is registered with the EPA as a sanitizer) while most off-brand Ultra bleach are also 6% though are not marked so you are taking a chance.

The sodium hypochlorite in bleach is identical to that in chlorinating liquid from the pool or hardware store except chlorinating liquid is stronger, typically 12.5% or 10%. This just means the dosing amounts are different, needing about twice as much 6% bleach to be equivalent to 12.5% chlorinating liquid (technically, 6% bleach is 6.2% "trade" which means by volume which is how chlorinating liquid is measured).

In the water, chlorine from ALL sources is identical -- all form hypochlorous acid (and hypochlorite ion). The only differences are what is additionally added by the different sources. All chlorine results in added salt since the chlorine that gets used up becomes chloride ion which is salt. For every 1 ppm FC of chlorine, it will end up as 0.8 ppm salt (technically, chloride is measured and then reported as ppm sodium chloride or salt). Bleach, chlorinating liquid and Lithium Hypochlorite have extra salt in them so for every 1 ppm FC of chlorine they add an additional 0.8 ppm of salt so you end up with 1.6 ppm salt after the chlorine is used up. Stabilized chlorine adds to the Cyanuric Acid (CYA) level. Specifically, for every 1 ppm FC added by Trichlor, it also adds 0.6 ppm to CYA. For every 1 ppm FC added by Dichlor, it also adds 0.9 ppm to CYA. Cal-Hypo increases Calcium Hardness (CH). For every 1 ppm FC added by Cal-Hypo, it also adds 0.7 ppm to CH.

Richard

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