Is it necessary to shock a pool?

[Thatcher]

Thanks for the quick response.

One other question-
Are you aware of anyone making some form of chlorine tab that could be used in a chem feeder and does not contain stabilizer- or at least lower levels of it? Trichlor is ideal because of the convenience, but I'm sure I will eventually reach a point where I am forced to switch to bleach to avoid high cya levels. Seems like that would be a good opportunity for some chemical company to sell more pool products.

[Watermom]

Unfortunately, no. If there were, there would be a lot of people interested in using them, though.

[CarlD]

HtH and its sister company (PoolLife? or something) made a cal-hypo tab, first one in a plastic tubethat dissolved, then one without the tube.
The tubeless ones were pure garbage, becoming a pile of mush in less than a day. Never got hold of the tube ones but they were reputed to work much better.

But there are two caveats:
1) Cal-Hypo raises the calcium level in your pool so you have to stop using it at some point, plus it can be a bit alkaline, raising your pH
2) Never, ever put the tabs in a chlorinator or floater that had tri-chlor or di-chlor in it, and never let bleach touch cal-hypo! Very Dangerous!