Pool maintenance questions.... yes!

[Man?el]

Hello fellow DR-freaks,

Well, I have been studying pool maintenance, chemistry and sand filters for the past month or so and I'm shocked that stores don't seem to sell shock here? Basically non-stabilized chlorine.

The idea is that once in a while for good measure or if you have an algae problem you throw in a bunch of chlorine at night which kills everything. Then the sun comes out and burns it off. Heavier particules can be vacuumed to waste.

They have algaecide which includes copper based products, flocking sulfate, and regular stabilized chlorine in granules. I tried grinding the granules but they are tough and slow to dissolve. Then, we are left with high chlorine levels for the next couple of days...

Anyway, some guys recommend using algaecide weekly, others fight it with chlorine, flock then vacuum to waste (reduce chlorine).

Should I order shock online? Are there stores that carry more products? How do you do it?

Thanks a bunch.

 

[Seamonkey]

A big problem with using granule chlorine is that is slowly raises the cyanuric acid in the pool. When the cyanuric acid is too high you get a chlorine block and the chlorine becomes useless and your pool goes cloudy. The only way to reduce cyanic acid is to lower your pool water drastically and add water. You'll often hear Dominicans say that you need to change your pool water. I never changed my pool water in Canada, but I understand why they say it here. Also, the pool stores are pretty useless when it comes to testing water. They test PH and chlorine which anybody can do with a cheap kit. I order test strips from Amazon that test 7 different issues. I only add a small amount of chlorine at a time, but add it more often. That way you won't get that chlorine spike that you mentioned.

 

[pularvik]

If you keep your pool clean and the chemicals balanced you may never need shock. That being said, in 10 years we had to use it once. Fortunately a pool store in Sosua ( no longer in business)had two small bags. Other pool stores tried to sell us other chemicals but we wanted shock. one little bag and it cleared up the cloudiness.
I would not be putting stuff in my pool that it doesn’t need.
Brush well weekly , and vacuum. Test your water twice a week at the start, once a week thereafter. Taylor makes a nice kit (Order online) .

 

[cavok]

Doesn't anybody here sell liquid chlorine? Use that to shock the pool.

 

[cavok]

As an alternative, you can use household bleach. You'll need 2-3 times as much household bleach, but it only costs around 89 pesos/gal. Years ago I had a pool service in Florida and I used about one gallon of sodium hypochlorite for a 10,000 gallon pool. Adjust accordingly.

 

[Man?el]

Doesn't anybody here sell liquid chlorine? Use that to shock the pool.

Ooooh great call!

 

[cavok]

Ooooh great call!

Some places do have liquid pool chlorine with stabilizer added(cyanuric acid). Don't buy that! Make sure it's straight sodium hypochlorite.

 

[Man?el]

Yes exactly. Much cheaper than algaecide!

 

[cavok]

Yes exactly. Much cheaper than algaecide!

Even with the liquid chlorine it will take a while for the levels to drop to normal, but faster than if you use stabilized chlorine granules. Plus, you will have to add some hydrochloric acid afterwards because the pH will be high..

 

[Man?el]

Yep, I will check and report. Apparently, 90% of chlorine gone within 2 hours of sun light?!

So for those of you who don't shock, how do you fix cloudy pool, algae problems, etc?

 

[cavok]

For a cloudy pool, which happens somewhat frequently at my condominium here, we use a flocculant. Works great. I never had that problem with my personal pool or any of the pools I serviced because most used DE filters which are superior to sand filters.

 

[AlaPlaya]

Yep, I will check and report. Apparently, 90% of chlorine gone within 2 hours of sun light?!

So for those of you who don't shock, how do you fix cloudy pool, algae problems, etc?

You can use algaecides and flocculants (use one that will specifically work for the type of filter you have) and then vacuum and clean filter.

 

[pularvik]

If you buy a Taylor kit ( beware Amazon has some fakes) , it comes with an excellent booklet on maintaining your chemicals. It also has a little wheel that you use to check if your pools chemicals are in balance . A pool is an ever changing thing. Sun, rain and use will affect affect its chemical balance so test accordingly. Also be aware that chemical balance is required for safe swimming AND for all your pipes and fittings and machines the water travels through.
I have never seen liquid pool chlorine in the DR. The chlorine sold for home use is a fraction of pool chlorine strength. For shocking purposes you need to bring the pool to a very high chlorine level and I don't know how much domestic chlorine you would need. Much simpler to order a couple of shock packages to have on hand. IF you have to shock your pool take a good look at your maintenance.
in my financial situation, a pool is a big investment. I take care of it! And it hardly takes any time !

 

[Seamonkey]

I use aluminum sulfate as a flocculant. After 3 months my pool starts getting cloudy, so a small dose of aluminum gets it back crystal clear.

 

[Man?el]

Apparently Clorox is 6% chlorine. While liquid shock is 12.

Copper algeaicide introduce metal to the pool and why I prefer to use shock instead.

Unsure why I was reluctant to use a flocculant. Maybe just because of water wasting?

 

[lifeisgreat]

I use aluminum sulfate as a flocculant. After 3 months my pool starts getting cloudy, so a small dose of aluminum gets it back crystal clear.

Make sure when you vacuum pool after to put filter in waste mode or you will clog your filter..ask me how I found out

 

[Olly]

I have used 3-1 pastilles since November last year after the pool had just been repainted and the sand in the filter changed. It is about 15000 Gls, so a reasonable size pool. I usually keep it slightly on the Acid side of ideal and since May it has only had rainwater off our roof collection system to top it up. Rain here is slightly acid where as Coraapplata water is quite alkaline and I have not had to add any acid. Keeping it slighly acid helps stopping algae growing. There has been very little water from Coraapplata since May and it cannot be relied upon!
Only once since May has there been any cloudiness in the pool and that was cured by adding some additional Chloro Granules and using Al Sulphate to clear the cloudiness. As we only run the pool pump for about one and a half hours every other day to save electricity I am very pleased with keeping it crystal clear.
As I use a floater to put the 3-1 pastilles in, and the need for the pump is much less than if you have to dissolve the chlorine using water flow from the pump.

To answer your question Manuel, no you don't need to order "shock". You may have been studying the US codes for pool use and Cavok will jump all over me for saying what I have about keeping pools crystal clear but it comes from 15 years here so I thought I would share it. My system is Economical in that it only using about 30 kWh per month for the pump and using rainwater helps the Coraapplata Bill and the acidity and using a floater with 3-1 really works!

Olly

 

[Man?el]

Yes I'm using the tri chloro pucks. Previous owner suggested 2, that's over chlorinated to me. 1ish+ seems just right but water was clouding especially with lots of people. It's bean-shaped about 9mx3m and 5' deep.

From this, I had been wanting to shock. So I tried with granules, etc. Let's see how things go, I may try bleach next time if I need.

Yes the idea is keeping it cheap and simple. Do you have lots of traffic? Sun exposure? Previous owner had it run like 2-3h per day! Pump is strong i was thinking 9h30-11, 12-13h30, and 14h-15h something like that.

 

[Man?el]

Yoohoo... A quick update. Was tired of having the algae mess. Threw in 4oz of Copper based Algeaicide and voilà, problem solved.

Now I monitor the cloro and the pH hardly anymore. Vacuum much less and use the pump a couple of hours.

Let's see how things turn out in the summer.
Thanks folks!

 

[Drperson]

Yes exactly. Much cheaper than algaecide!

that is smart