Changed plans

[PFPAM]

Thanx for help, but don't spit too hard.....walked in to pool store with bag of pool water and walked out empty handed....boyfriend works for pool company, get all chemicals really cheap....they tried to sell me shock and algicide, no sale, thank you very much, have a nice day. When I say shock, catch all for those cute little 1# bags of chlorine, Ca hypochlorite, sanitizer is a Na hypochlorite, liquid, much like regular bleach, only stronger. I am probably being somewhat impatient, have only been running pool 3 days. Have had to turn pump off at night so skimmer doesn't fill with leaves, putting too much work on pump. I had to laugh when you said about the leaf rake....have the oversized leaf net, knew what Robert was talking about. Leaves are so dirty, think most important thing is to just keep working at getting them out, then get chemical in balance, and keep adding bleach. Love this forum, really good advice and great people, thanx for quick responses.

[CarlD]

Ah.....I'll bet THAT's why it turned gray--all that cal-hypo at once...It CAN do that...So "sanitizer" is what? 12.5% Sodium Hypochlorite? One gallon then is about equal to 2 gallons of regular bleach (But that's on 5.25% you say and double is 10.5%...) Yup. Odds are the 12.5% has degraded--it does that a lightning speed at higher concentrations and if it costs more than 2 gallons of regular, don't waste your money. In my part of the country, reg. bleach is about $1.70-$1.80/gallon. But "Sanitizer" (they call it "Liquid Shock" here but it's the same stuff) is $3.99/gallon. So, unless you MUST have fewer jugs, it wll cost you between $.20 and $.30/gallon more to use the "sanitizer".

I don't see the point. Even 6% bleach is cheaper on an ounce by ounce basis.

Just use two gallons of bleach where you would have used one of the fancy stuff.

[PFPAM]

thanx again for reply....with bf getting chemicals at his price, not sure which is cheaper, but if higher percent is breaking down faster, will switch to regular bleach. would just love to see bottom to see what I am dealing with, leaves or a dead animal, willing to go into pool to clean better if just leaves, don't want to share the pool with Rocky, the dead flying squirrel.

[CallMeIshmael]

Welcome PFPAM,
FWIW, I found this forum when we faced a totally green pool opening this year. I came across a whole lot of problems due to the various additives of commercial pool chemicals, as have plenty of owners here. Just my .02 I wouldn't use several of the products I used even if they were free! The idea behind using bleach, and the other household chems encouraged here, isn't just to save cash. It's that they work in the pool with much fewer "side-effects". You can easily monitor what's going on & act/ add accordingly. In my case, I'd already added too much stabilizer/ clarifier/ shock packets by the time I found this site, but within 3 days, the calculated bleach additions got both the algae & the cloudiness out & its been crystal-clear since. Trust the seasoned folks here & you really will see as quick as possible as turnaround of your pool.
PS- I hope you don't run into Rocky, Bullwinkle or any other ex-pests in the deep end-LOL! Good luck!