Trichlor tablets worked great in my round above ground because there was significantly more splash out thus fresh water replacement thus keep CYA at nominal levels but since moving to a new home with inground pool it is difficult to keep CYA below 100 ppm even though I drain close to half the water yearly for winter closing. I am seriously considering a switch to the 4th unmentioned option, A salt water chlorine generator.
I use liquid chlorine, stabilizer, and muriatic acid. The chlorine is put in a tank and sent to the pool via a Stenner pump. My pool never turns green and I never need to shock it. I have complete control over FC, CYA and PH levels.
I have an automatic chlorinator and the 3in tablets but how often do I add tablets to the chlorinator? It is always suppose to be full? Do I just add just 2 per week? My chlorine runs on the higher side it seems and I have no idea about my CYA levels, etc. or how to test that, I do have test trips. I’m new, just bought a house with a pool this year 😅
If you live in a drought area where you shouldn’t do a water dump every spring using the tablets only can cause a lot of trouble with high CYA levels. I’m using a combination method of one chlorine tablet to get some conditioner in my pool but supplementing it with liquid chlorine, it’s working ok but there doesn’t seem to be a perfect solution.
I wish I had seen this and other comments warning about this very thing. As a new pool owner, I struggled with high CYA levels and “chlorine lock” this entire first season. Now that I’m using Cal Hypo chlorine granules instead of the stabilized pucks, the water is crystal clear.
Thank you for all the effort you put in to deliver great content all the time. I’ve read that the CYA and FC levels are related and that the FC must proportionally increase based on your CYA level. For example, my 11k gallon pool has a CYA level of 70ppm and because of that the FC must match that, which is actually 8ppm (my pool) instead of 3. What do you think about that? Thank tou!
That's correct about the proportional increase, but your proportions are incorrect. Your free chlorine levels should be about 7.5 percent of your CYA levels. That means if your CYA is at 70 ppm, your chlorine should be around 5 ppm.
I would keep it in the range of 7.5% and 12% of your CYA level. It is a myth that chlorine level should be between 1 and 3. Don’t use trichlor, it’s loaded with CYA and will gradually increase over a season. If you’re maintaining your pool yourself use liquid chlorine or plain house hold bleach.
@@huwowen9722 thank you. That’s what I thought. I drained my pool this morning and it’s getting filled with fresh water. I’ll test my CYA this evening again. It was 110 and I’m trying to get it to somewhere between 50 and 90.
@@SwimUniversity awesome. Thanks a lot! And again, I appreciate the videos. Your videos are a big part of my self taught journey that allowed me to take care of my pool without paying somebody. It’s not been fun but definitely worth it.
I would like to know your opinion on pool ionizers. I recently bought one (solar coil that floats) and it has reduced the amount of Chlorine needed by about 80%. Pool water has stayed clear and no algea... yet.
Continually using tablets will push your CYA levels to the point where the chlorine becomes ineffective. Your only choice then is to drain the pool and start over. Use tablets until the CYA level is acceptable then switch to liquid chlorine. If you keep the CYA level stable, add liquid chlorine as needed and keep the PH balanced, your pool water can last up to 5 years.
Liquid and adding my own stabilizer will always be my choice to avoid chlorine lock, stabilizer doesn’t go away as fast as chlorine. There for causing chlorine lock and a nasty smelling over chlorinated pool like tablets cause, test your water every couple days, use Muriatic acid to control PH, and a stabilizer you add as needed, that’s it 3 things and pool is ideal
It should be said that you really shouldn’t rely on triclohr Tablets as a primary sanitizer. It will cause your CYA Levels to rise too high unless you have a lot of splash out or evaporation. Most pool builders/ pool service companies won’t tell you that.
Thanks for calling this out. It can be a great option for some pools, but not everyone knows what stabilizer is and its easy to get into trouble with cyanuric acid if you keep adding trichlor tablers without keeping your CYA in check. We just put out a video about high CYA ua-cam.com/video/J8kLH3BtZpU/v-deo.html
I made the mistake of buying chemicals before I knew what I was doing and now I have those tiny 100g trichlor tablets, and I can't find anything that provides a conversion. How many of these asprin sized chlorine tablets are needed to be the equivalent of a 1 inch puck?
They're also called granules or granular chlorine. And they're not the same as a tablet because you wouldn't want to add them to a chlorinator or floater because they dissolve too fast.
When I add house hold bleach, the pool turns green after. What am I doing wrong? I am just raising the chlorine level with it, and already using stabilized chlorine tablets and ph is 7.6 or 7.4
My husband and I are new to pool ownership. We’ve been struggling so much with keeping chlorine in our pool. No matter how much shock we use, the free chlorine level is almost always 1 or zero. The people at the pool store keep telling us to add hundreds of dollars of pool chemicals and nothing is working. It’s been very stressful so far and no one is helpful to us. 🤦🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️It’s sad because I wanted to enjoy the pool but I don’t even want to swim in it because I’m so stressed about it.
Went through the same thing last year with our pool (new homeowners). Bought Pool RX (a mineral system) this year and it totally changed our experience. It’s a little pricey for what seems like “just another chemical,” but it works miracles.
check that the total chlorine isn’t too high. If it is, check if the stabilizer is high or in range because you might have a chlorine lock situation. In that case the only thing you can do is lower your pool water to around 1 feet then refill it. Or, wait a few days of sun for the chlorine to be burned away if the stabilizer isn’t too high.
@@SwimUniversity ok, I’ve been watching some of your videos and I agree the CYA could be the problem. We had the water professionally tested because we’ve been using the test strips. It says the cya is a little over 100. It also says the phosphates are 700. And of course we’ve been using stabilized liquid chlorine. The old owner told us that’s what she used along with tablets. The people at the pool place also did a chlorine test and told us that we need to dump about 13 gallons of shock in our pool. Our pool is 25000 gallons and I’m not about to dump that much liquid shock. We are going to drain some and replace and try using the cal hypo shock. Our city pumps the water full of phosphates and that’s what we’re using to fill the pool so I don’t think we can really do much about the phosphate thing.
WHY would you advise people to put chlorine tablets into the skimmer? A skimmer is NEVER RECOMMENDED (even the container that they come in states that). Placing chlorine tabs in a skimmer causes damage to anything you may have plumbed inline after the skimmer (heater, pump, filter, etc) because you’re drawing concentrated 90% chlorine directly into the system (undiluted). Those people who have chlorine tablet feeders have 1-way check valves to prevent chlorinated water from flowing backwards into their systems (as recommended by chlorine feeder manufacturers).
Pool skimmer is the worse for chlorine tabs. Will clog your flex lines over the years. Just went thru it last year. Had to replace skimmer line. I use purr liquid shock now. Add a touch maybe 1 or 2 times a week depending on weather or rain.
We have a pool at work that will never be used again. We just need to maintain it so it doesn't go all green. What's the easiest laziest affordable way for this? haha
Can you make a video of fiber clear (or any DE alternative of that nature) vs DE and the benefits of each. I heard that they are going to stop doing DE eventually. Need that video 🙏
I like granules. I just got my pool resurfaced and one of the guys mentioned NOT using granules because it could stain the pool. Makes sense but has anyone else seen this happen?
Hello I'm new to the pool world I just purchased a house recently and it have a above ground pool I went to the pool store to ask them what do I need to get it up and running they asked if it was salt or chlorine me not knowing what's the difference I told them I didn't know they said I have to hire someone to come out and check they wanted to charge me 250$ just to tell me if it's salt or chlorine iknow they trying to take advantage of my literacy of pools bcz i seen some of thier reviews online and more than enough people left them bad reviews for similar gready moves so I'm here to see if anyone can tell me how can I tell if my pool salt water or chlorine system.. Is there anything in specific that's visible I be able to tell by?? I would appreciate any help
@@SwimUniversity i Googled them and no I don't have any of them.. So you mean to tell me Leslie pool supplies on street road Bensalem in Pennsylvania should've been able to tell if it's salt pool or chlorine pool if I showed them pictures of the whole set up yet they made me buy salt water test kit for no reason other than greednes.. That's very nice to know.. Thank you very much
Adding tablets to the skimmer is a bad idea if you have a pool heater, Do not even consider this because it sends concentrated chlorine through the heater which will damage the heat exchanger and this will shorten the life of the heater greatly. This would be like adding a chlorine dispenser between the heater and the filter which is not done it is always after the heater and the heater should have a check valve so when the heater isn't running the fumes from the chlorine don't creep up the pipe and back to the heat exchanger. I have been installing and repairing all brands of pool heaters for 43 years for all the manufactures. I service North East Ohio
Honestly, I’d avoid stabilized chlorine entirely… it’s caused me nothing but problems. High CYA levels in your water will cause “chlorine lock” and make the chlorine absolutely useless. Because of if, I struggled with algae my entire first season as a new pool owner. After having to massively dilute the water to bring the CYA levels down, I’ve been using nothing but Cal Hypo chlorine granules and the water has been crystal clear.
There is warning on tablets not to be used in skimmers. Shame on you for suggesting skimmers lol. You will do lots of damage in the long run if you follow this tip.
![POOL MAINTENANCE For Beginners [Step-By-Step ACTION PLAN]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/UocaSS2Jxmg/mqdefault.jpg)
![POOL MAINTENANCE For Beginners [Step-By-Step ACTION PLAN]](/img/tr.png)
Trichlor tablets worked great in my round above ground because there was significantly more splash out thus fresh water replacement thus keep CYA at nominal levels but since moving to a new home with inground pool it is difficult to keep CYA below 100 ppm even though I drain close to half the water yearly for winter closing.
I am seriously considering a switch to the 4th unmentioned option, A salt water chlorine generator.
I use liquid chlorine, stabilizer, and muriatic acid. The chlorine is put in a tank and sent to the pool via a Stenner pump. My pool never turns green and I never need to shock it. I have complete control over FC, CYA and PH levels.
Big thanks. First stop for all my pool Q’s
Happy to help!
I have a 17,000 gal pool. So, I assume I would need 4 three inch tablets (up to 5,000 gal each), correct?
Wasted so much money on chlorine last year what are your thoughts on a ionizer and what type of chlorine should I use with it
I spent $100 in that device, get stained my on ground pool no matter my chemicals were ok.
I have an automatic chlorinator and the 3in tablets but how often do I add tablets to the chlorinator? It is always suppose to be full? Do I just add just 2 per week? My chlorine runs on the higher side it seems and I have no idea about my CYA levels, etc. or how to test that, I do have test trips. I’m new, just bought a house with a pool this year 😅
If you live in a drought area where you shouldn’t do a water dump every spring using the tablets only can cause a lot of trouble with high CYA levels. I’m using a combination method of one chlorine tablet to get some conditioner in my pool but supplementing it with liquid chlorine, it’s working ok but there doesn’t seem to be a perfect solution.
I wish I had seen this and other comments warning about this very thing. As a new pool owner, I struggled with high CYA levels and “chlorine lock” this entire first season.
Now that I’m using Cal Hypo chlorine granules instead of the stabilized pucks, the water is crystal clear.
another question. should you shock even with stabilizer is high or in range? How long will it take for chlorine to go back to normal?
which chlorine/shock affects PH and up or down? i need to increase PH often.
The Pool Care Cheat Sheet (Free): swimu.com/cheatsheet
The Pool Care Handbook: swimu.com/book
The Pool Care Video Course: swimu.com/poolcourse
Thank you for all the effort you put in to deliver great content all the time. I’ve read that the CYA and FC levels are related and that the FC must proportionally increase based on your CYA level. For example, my 11k gallon pool has a CYA level of 70ppm and because of that the FC must match that, which is actually 8ppm (my pool) instead of 3. What do you think about that? Thank tou!
That's correct about the proportional increase, but your proportions are incorrect. Your free chlorine levels should be about 7.5 percent of your CYA levels. That means if your CYA is at 70 ppm, your chlorine should be around 5 ppm.
I would keep it in the range of 7.5% and 12% of your CYA level. It is a myth that chlorine level should be between 1 and 3. Don’t use trichlor, it’s loaded with CYA and will gradually increase over a season. If you’re maintaining your pool yourself use liquid chlorine or plain house hold bleach.
@@huwowen9722 thank you. That’s what I thought. I drained my pool this morning and it’s getting filled with fresh water. I’ll test my CYA this evening again. It was 110 and I’m trying to get it to somewhere between 50 and 90.
@@SwimUniversity awesome. Thanks a lot! And again, I appreciate the videos. Your videos are a big part of my self taught journey that allowed me to take care of my pool without paying somebody. It’s not been fun but definitely worth it.
Be careful using the tablets after you refill your pool. most stabilized chlorine tablets have CYA and CYA just keeps building up in your pool.
I would like to know your opinion on pool ionizers. I recently bought one (solar coil that floats) and it has reduced the amount of Chlorine needed by about 80%. Pool water has stayed clear and no algea... yet.
Awesome! That's exactly what it's intended to do
So I bought 1" tablets but have Approx 4,000 gallon pool so how many tablets should I put into the floater?
Continually using tablets will push your CYA levels to the point where the chlorine becomes ineffective. Your only choice then is to drain the pool and start over. Use tablets until the CYA level is acceptable then switch to liquid chlorine. If you keep the CYA level stable, add liquid chlorine as needed and keep the PH balanced, your pool water can last up to 5 years.
Amazing video! thank you so much
Glad you liked it!
Liquid and adding my own stabilizer will always be my choice to avoid chlorine lock, stabilizer doesn’t go away as fast as chlorine. There for causing chlorine lock and a nasty smelling over chlorinated pool like tablets cause, test your water every couple days, use Muriatic acid to control PH, and a stabilizer you add as needed, that’s it 3 things and pool is ideal
Last year I used Clorox products and pool was constantly cloudy and hazing .
But used HTH this year and pool stayed crystal clear.,
for the Chlorinator whats the best setting to keep it on (1-5)
It depends on how many tablets you've added. Lower if you have a bunch, higher if you have one or two.
Thank you
question, what if you have the stabilizer in the recommended range but your chlorine levels are low, do you add unstabilized chlorine?
You may want to consider shocking your water to refresh your chlorine (and shocks like cal-hypo are unstabilized)
It should be said that you really shouldn’t rely on triclohr Tablets as a primary sanitizer. It will cause your CYA Levels to rise too high unless you have a lot of splash out or evaporation. Most pool builders/ pool service companies won’t tell you that.
I’m learning it the hard way 🤦🏼♂️. I’ve been using liquid 10% chlorine for 3 weeks now. I’ll use the pucks only when traveling for more than 1 week.
@@alancotaes do you have any other suggestions on pool care on vacation?
Thanks for calling this out. It can be a great option for some pools, but not everyone knows what stabilizer is and its easy to get into trouble with cyanuric acid if you keep adding trichlor tablers without keeping your CYA in check. We just put out a video about high CYA ua-cam.com/video/J8kLH3BtZpU/v-deo.html
@@SwimUniversity Great! You have been one of my main sources since I became a pool owner 4 years ago! Keep up the great work!
Actually it’s my understanding that CYA doesn’t leave your pool through evaporation. The water evaporates but leaves the CYA behind.
How can I increase my pool chlorine and ph
great video
I made the mistake of buying chemicals before I knew what I was doing and now I have those tiny 100g trichlor tablets, and I can't find anything that provides a conversion. How many of these asprin sized chlorine tablets are needed to be the equivalent of a 1 inch puck?
They're also called granules or granular chlorine. And they're not the same as a tablet because you wouldn't want to add them to a chlorinator or floater because they dissolve too fast.
What if 1” chlorine tablets are very hard to find?
When I add house hold bleach, the pool turns green after. What am I doing wrong? I am just raising the chlorine level with it, and already using stabilized chlorine tablets and ph is 7.6 or 7.4
Did you know what was the cause? I have the same issue
My husband and I are new to pool ownership. We’ve been struggling so much with keeping chlorine in our pool. No matter how much shock we use, the free chlorine level is almost always 1 or zero. The people at the pool store keep telling us to add hundreds of dollars of pool chemicals and nothing is working. It’s been very stressful so far and no one is helpful to us. 🤦🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️It’s sad because I wanted to enjoy the pool but I don’t even want to swim in it because I’m so stressed about it.
Went through the same thing last year with our pool (new homeowners). Bought Pool RX (a mineral system) this year and it totally changed our experience. It’s a little pricey for what seems like “just another chemical,” but it works miracles.
check that the total chlorine isn’t too high. If it is, check if the stabilizer is high or in range because you might have a chlorine lock situation. In that case the only thing you can do is lower your pool water to around 1 feet then refill it. Or, wait a few days of sun for the chlorine to be burned away if the stabilizer isn’t too high.
What kind of shock are you using? And what are your CYA levels? If they're too high or low, that could be the issue.
@@SwimUniversity ok, I’ve been watching some of your videos and I agree the CYA could be the problem. We had the water professionally tested because we’ve been using the test strips. It says the cya is a little over 100. It also says the phosphates are 700. And of course we’ve been using stabilized liquid chlorine. The old owner told us that’s what she used along with tablets. The people at the pool place also did a chlorine test and told us that we need to dump about 13 gallons of shock in our pool. Our pool is 25000 gallons and I’m not about to dump that much liquid shock. We are going to drain some and replace and try using the cal hypo shock. Our city pumps the water full of phosphates and that’s what we’re using to fill the pool so I don’t think we can really do much about the phosphate thing.
WHY would you advise people to put chlorine tablets into the skimmer? A skimmer is NEVER RECOMMENDED (even the container that they come in states that). Placing chlorine tabs in a skimmer causes damage to anything you may have plumbed inline after the skimmer (heater, pump, filter, etc) because you’re drawing concentrated 90% chlorine directly into the system (undiluted). Those people who have chlorine tablet feeders have 1-way check valves to prevent chlorinated water from flowing backwards into their systems (as recommended by chlorine feeder manufacturers).
Pool skimmer is the worse for chlorine tabs. Will clog your flex lines over the years. Just went thru it last year. Had to replace skimmer line. I use purr liquid shock now. Add a touch maybe 1 or 2 times a week depending on weather or rain.
We have a pool at work that will never be used again. We just need to maintain it so it doesn't go all green. What's the easiest laziest affordable way for this? haha
Can you make a video of fiber clear (or any DE alternative of that nature) vs DE and the benefits of each. I heard that they are going to stop doing DE eventually. Need that video 🙏
I can't keep chlorine up to 2ppn what do I do?
Water could be old, maybe no stabilizer(cya)
Maybe a leak if you're adding water all the time
I like granules. I just got my pool resurfaced and one of the guys mentioned NOT using granules because it could stain the pool. Makes sense but has anyone else seen this happen?
Quick dissolving granules, like dichlor chlorine, shouldn't be an issue. But you can always brush it around so it doesn't settle on surfaces
Hello I'm new to the pool world I just purchased a house recently and it have a above ground pool I went to the pool store to ask them what do I need to get it up and running they asked if it was salt or chlorine me not knowing what's the difference I told them I didn't know they said I have to hire someone to come out and check they wanted to charge me 250$ just to tell me if it's salt or chlorine iknow they trying to take advantage of my literacy of pools bcz i seen some of thier reviews online and more than enough people left them bad reviews for similar gready moves so I'm here to see if anyone can tell me how can I tell if my pool salt water or chlorine system.. Is there anything in specific that's visible I be able to tell by?? I would appreciate any help
If you have a salt water generator, you have a chlorine pool. Google that to see if any of the images match what you have!
@@SwimUniversity i Googled them and no I don't have any of them.. So you mean to tell me Leslie pool supplies on street road Bensalem in Pennsylvania should've been able to tell if it's salt pool or chlorine pool if I showed them pictures of the whole set up yet they made me buy salt water test kit for no reason other than greednes.. That's very nice to know.. Thank you very much
@@abusamra47 hmm that’s a greedy move. They’re crooks.
Adding tablets to the skimmer is a bad idea if you have a pool heater, Do not even consider this because it sends concentrated chlorine through the heater which will damage the heat exchanger and this will shorten the life of the heater greatly. This would be like adding a chlorine dispenser between the heater and the filter which is not done it is always after the heater and the heater should have a check valve so when the heater isn't running the fumes from the chlorine don't creep up the pipe and back to the heat exchanger. I have been installing and repairing all brands of pool heaters for 43 years for all the manufactures. I service North East Ohio
Perfect
liquid chlorine is cheaper? It's not true. it's rather very expensive among them.
What are the best chlorine tablets?
Look for a well-known brand, like In The Swim or Leslie's
Honestly, I’d avoid stabilized chlorine entirely… it’s caused me nothing but problems. High CYA levels in your water will cause “chlorine lock” and make the chlorine absolutely useless. Because of if, I struggled with algae my entire first season as a new pool owner. After having to massively dilute the water to bring the CYA levels down, I’ve been using nothing but Cal Hypo chlorine granules and the water has been crystal clear.
ok i know this video is about chlorine but has anyone every actually used ph increaser ever i don't think i ever have in my entire life only decrease.
I use baking soda to increase the alkalinity and ph
Adding tablets inside the skimmer is so horrible for your pipes and equipment i dont know why you keep showing and recommending this!!
Like we said, if your pump isn't running, it can be the worst option
Do not add tabs to the skimmer. You will slowly cause expensive damage over time. Terrible recommendation
There is warning on tablets not to be used in skimmers. Shame on you for suggesting skimmers lol. You will do lots of damage in the long run if you follow this tip.
Metal in your pool