Why Should you Shock your Pool
When you add chlorine to your swimming pool it helps to fight off the bacteria in your swimming pool. After that process is finished, it’s time to add pool shock to your swimming poo. The pool shocking process helps clear out any of the left over bacteria and chloramines, which are created once the chlorine treatment is completed. This is why it is so important to properly balance all of the chemicals in your swimming pool. With unbalanced chemicals, bacteria forms and the process to fight the bacteria becomes longer and more of a hassle. You have to go through several steps to get your swimming pool back to its original state of clean water. That is another reason why it is important to keep up with your swimming pool maintenance.
What types of Shock you can use
There are three different types of pool shock chemicals you can you to treat your swimming pool. Each one is used differently or to a different degree.
Calcium Hypochlorite is the most commonly used pool shock, you have to mix it into a five gallon bucket of water before pouring it into your swimming pool. This pool shock dissolves quite slowly, so you’ll have to wait eight hours before swimming in your pool again; therefore, we recommend pouring the shock into your swimming pool the night before.
Lithium Hypochlorite is commonly used in areas with high calcium in your swimming pool water. This shock doesn’t include calcium and uses 35% chlorine. You don’t have to pre-dissolve this pool shock, but you’ll need to wait eight hours until you go swimming again.
Grandular Chlorine is a pool shock that contains 60% chlorine that you can put straight into the water. You’ll again have to wait eight hours before swimming, which is why adding it at night is the most effective. There is cyanuric acid in this type of pool shock, which means it is protecting the chlorine from the sun.
How to shock your pool
When shocking your swimming pool you’ll want to follow directions carefully. You should always have gloves and eye protection when dealing with chemicals. Do not forget to always add shock to water and not water to shock. Depending on which shock treatment you get, you might have to wait for the shock treatment to dissolve and others you can add to your swimming pool. It is a good idea to always shock your pool at night time. Shock treatment should be added to your pool every week along with weekly maintenance checks on chemical balance to ensure an algae free pool.
