Chlorine tabs w/o CYA

[zz28zz]

Can they be had? I like the convenience of the dispenser, but don't want to get the CYA levels too high.
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[CarlD]

Sure. There are Cal-Hypo based tablets, that add calcium rather than CYA. Unfortunately they tend to dissolve rather quickly and turn to mush, unless you get the type in a plastic capsule. And you MUST NOT put them in the same feeder as Tri-chlor tabs (the ones that add CYA).

But they are, IMHO, a really lousy alternative to Tri-Chlor tabs.

[PoolDoc]

As Carl noted, cal hypo tabs don't perform as well as trichlor tabs, in a feeder. I've never tried them in a floater, so I can't say how they work.

There are some VERY expensive feeders designed for commercial installations, but they aren't very practical for residential use.

But . . . if you are looking for a 'easy' method, running a pool the way the chlorine gas 'shooters' in Arizona, California and Texas do: adjust the CYA to 100 - 150 ppm and dose weekly with 10 - 15 ppm of chlorine. They used to use various algaecides, but you if you maintain very low phosphates (PO4 < 0.1 ppm) you can accomplish the same thing. (You don't want to have to use chlorine as an anti-algae treatment when CYA > 100 ppm, since that requires FC levels as a high as 50 ppm).

[CarlD]

I put the Cal-hypo tabs in my skimmer once and in 2 hours they were mush and the skimmer was jammed up....Not a fan!

[PoolDoc]

I don't think that's typical of all CH tabs. However, you could work around that in several different ways, such as putting them in a perforated plastic bottle that's resting in the skimmer.

[CarlD]

Interesting idea, but I haven't had to mess with it in years.

[zz28zz]

How does the commercial feeder work?

I have a chlorinator sys in the well house that uses a holding tank I fill with a bleach/water mixture and a chem pump (piggy backing my well pump) that pumps it in. Wondering if I could find some 100% sodium hypochlorite somewhere and use a similar pump to meter it in. I have a RS6 controller with a spare relay I could program to do pretty much whatever.

[FormerBromineUser]

Outta my league here. Just bumping thread cause I see you're checking for responses.

[CarlD]

Bleach is sodium hypochlorite mixed with brine, which is saltwater. Strongest I know of is nominal 12.5%, which, when fresh cam test as high as 14%.

[zz28zz]

I did a bit more reading and discovered 100% sodium hypochlorite is a solid, unstable and very hard to find. Guess that's out.
Wish I could find an alternative to buying gallons and gallons of bleach every week. Seems like there would be a market for CYA-free tabs if they were available.