What kind of bleach do you use in pools
Joseph Russell
Updated on March 24, 2026
Clorox® Regular Bleach2 — a 6.0% sodium hypochlorite solution containing approximately 5.7% available chlorine by weight — is a convenient, economical source of chlorine for water
Can you use regular bleach in a pool?
Clorox itself recommends using between 100 and 200 ounces of regular-strength bleach per 10,000 gallons of pool water — one gallon is 128 ounces, and many bottles of bleach are available in one-gallon or half-gallon sizes. Pool professionals tend to recommend more conservative amounts of bleach.
What is the difference between pool chlorine and bleach?
Typical pool chlorine is actually a chemical compound made up of 65% calcium hypochlorite with the remaining 35% made up of calcium and other inert ingredients. … Bleach is composed of sodium hypochlorite, water, and a bit of salt to keep the chlorine gas in its liquid form.
Is pool bleach the same as household bleach?
They are identical in every way, with the exception of strength. Household bleach is usually a 6% concentration (although some of the cheaper stuff is 3%), while pool chlorine can typically be found in strength between 10% and 12%. All of this is sodium hypochlorite, and works the same in sanitizing your water.Can you use Clorox for pool shock?
The CDC recommends 5 tablespoons of regular bleach per gallon of water to properly disinfect a surface. When using liquid pool shock, dilute it at a rate of 2.5 to 3 tablespoons per gallon of water.
How long after you put bleach in a pool Can you swim?
It is a good idea to wait at least 20 minutes after adding the water balancing chemicals. If you use calcium chloride in your pool, you should wait at least 2 hours to swim.
Can you put bleach in a vinyl pool?
High concentrations of chlorine (above 1.5 ppm) will attack the liner and bleach it, thus damaging it. Any level below this range will weaken its ability to kill off bacteria. … The best practice is to dissolve chlorine tablets in a bucket of water, and then pour the solution into your pool.
What is the difference between Clorox and chlorine?
Bleach and chlorine are the same chemical, and both will keep your pool sparkling. … In truth, bleach contains the same base chemical as pool chlorine. That chemical is, of course, chlorine, and the only major difference between the two products is the concentration strength.What is stronger chlorine or bleach?
Chlorine is much stronger than bleach. To get your pools chlorine level to the point it needs to be to keep the pool looking clean and bright; you will need to use more bleach than you will chlorine. Bleach is also going to come in a liquid form only, and chlorine is most commonly sold in tablets.
Is bleach and Clorox the same?Bleach is a chemical product that is used in nearly all households around the world. … Clorox is a company based in California that makes many chemical products, but it is most famous for Clorox, which the name is given by the company for its bleach sold in the market.
Article first time published onWhat can I use instead of chlorine in my pool?
- Bromine: Bromine is used as an alternative to chlorine. …
- Ozonation: You can easily install an ozone generator. …
- Reduction in Water Temperature: …
- PHMB: …
- U/V Light: …
- Ultrafiltration: …
- Mineral Water Pool Systems: …
- Pristine Blue:
Can you put too much bleach in a pool?
Of course, too much chlorine in pool water can be dangerous. Exposure to over-chlorination can provoke asthma, lung irritation, and potentially skin and eye irritation. As well as being potentially bad for you, it’s bad for your pool. High chlorine levels lower the pH of the water.
What does baking soda do to pool water?
Baking soda, also known as sodium bicarbonate is naturally alkaline, with a pH of 8. When you add baking soda to your pool water, you will raise both the pH and the alkalinity, improving stability and clarity. Many commercial pool products for raising alkalinity utilize baking soda as their main active ingredient.
Is shock and chlorine the same?
1) What is the difference between chlorine and shock? … Shock is chlorine, in a high dose, meant to shock your pool and raise the chlorine level quickly. Chlorine tabs (placed in a chlorinator, floater, or skimmer basket) maintain a chlorine residual in the water. You do need to use both tabs and shock.
Will bleach clear a green pool?
Green algae, unlike its black counterpart, is a true algae; it isn’t resistant to chlorine, so you can control it by shocking the pool. If you don’t want to spend a lot of money on expensive pool chemicals, you can shock with household bleach.
How many bottles of bleach do you need to shock a pool?
What is this? If you need to calculate how much bleach or Clorox you need to shock your pool, you will have to use 1/2 gallon of bleach per 10,000 gallons of water to raise the chlorine levels by 5 ppm.
How much bleach do I add to a 15000 gallon pool?
Pools Water VolumeAmount Of 6% Bleach Needed To Raise 1 PPM10,000 Gallons21 Ounces15,000 Gallons31 Ounces20,000 Gallons41 Ounces25,000 Gallons52 Ounces
Can you shock pool with bleach?
The best time of day to add bleach to your pool is at sunset. The purpose of shocking a pool is to quickly increase the concentration of free available chlorine. … You can also simply add more chlorine, and pouring household bleach into the pool is one way to do this.
What does adding bleach to a pool do?
The goal of adding chlorine to a pool is simple: kill microorganisms such as bacteria and algae. … Once the bleach is added to water, the hypochlorous acid molecule turns into a negatively charged hypochlorite ion and goes to work killing microbes and sanitizing your pool.
How often do I add chlorine to my pool?
Depending on your chemical needs, you probably need to add chlorine shock every two weeks. The pools that I’ve worked on, average backyard pools in Oklahoma that use a floater; 3 tabs every week on the same day. Four tabs when the outside temperature stays above 80 overnight all week.
Is all bleach chlorine bleach?
Bleach is one of the most common household chemicals. Bleach typically means chlorine bleach, but any chemical combination that removes color, cleanses or disinfects fabrics and surfaces can be considered bleach. Non-chlorine bleach doesn’t contain chlorine, an oxidizing agent.
Is OxiClean a bleach?
Oxygen bleach (like OxiClean) is an alternative to chlorine bleach, and it’s safe for many fabrics. You can use it to remove stains on colors, as well as whites. It doesn’t contain scary chemicals and it won’t ruin most fabrics—though you should avoid using it on silk or leather.
Which is better bleach or Clorox?
Clorox Germicidal Bleach, for example, contains a concentration of 8.25 percent sodium hypochlorite, making it more effective at killing viruses and bacteria than even Clorox standard bleach. If you can’t find Clorox Disinfecting or Germicidal Bleach in your area, there are other products you can use instead.
Are there different types of bleach?
There are only two main types of bleach to choose from when you are deciding which bleach to use on your laundry: chlorine bleach and oxygen bleach. However, there are also natural items that have bleaching power and can act as bleaching agents.
Does regular Clorox have chlorine?
Brief history of bleach First there was sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl), the bleach that is sometimes referred to as “chlorine bleach” (even though the bleach active is hypochlorite (–OCL), and there’s no free chlorine in a bottle of regular bleach).
Can I use salt instead of chlorine in my pool?
Using swimming pool salt instead of chlorine delivers greater swimming comfort: Swimming pool salt does not give off an unpleasant odour as chlorine does. It is much less harsh on hair and skin. It does not cause your eyes to sting.
Can I use pool shock instead of chlorine?
SKIMMER NOTES: No. Chlorine and shock are not the same thing. Shock has a more intense chemical strength than the traditional chlorine sanitizers, and it also differs in how you should apply it to your swimming pool. Short answer: No. Chlorine sanitizers and shock are similar but different in strength.
What is the healthiest pool system?
Mineral Swim is the only system of it’s kind combining Australian made ozone water purification technology with 100% natural Dead Sea minerals to make it the safest, healthiest swimming pool about.
Can you use Clorox toilet tablets in pool?
It is possible use use the tablets in your large wading pool. However, this is not economical and it will take a large amount of tablets to clean your pool. Unless you have a major supply of these tablets on hand, I would not suggest using them to clean a pool.
How much chlorine do I add to my pool for the first time?
If the water is clean and clear, then add about 3 oz of liquid chlorine per 1000 gallons of water – while the pool filter is running. This should give you a chlorine level of about 3 ppm.
Why is pool still green after shocking it?
When shock chlorine oxidizes the copper, it turns green and that’s what you’re seeing in the pool. To get rid of it you’ll need to raise the pool’s calcium hardness by adding calcium chloride. … Pollen floats around in the water, so it’s easy enough to remove by skimming, filtering, and brushing your pool clean.