There are many different types of pool shock on the market today. Luckily for you, it is not necessary to familiarize yourself with all of them. The four most basic types are as follows:
Calcium Hypo
Lithium
Non-Chlorine
BaquaShock
It is important to undestand the difference between these four types of shock as they all work differently. For instance, if you have either an in-ground pool or a vinyl lining above ground pool and you are using chlorine then you are probably using either calcium or lithium pool shock. Both of these kinds of shock work for the pools mentioned above however, they do work differently. The difference between the two is that with a calcium shock you have to pre-dissolve the shock. If you do not pre-dissolve a calcium shock you will bleach your liner. If you are using a lithium shock however, there is no need to pre-dissolve because this particular shock will not bleach your liner.
Non-chlorine pool shocks are another option as well. Non-chlorine shocks are used if you are using bromine or another sanitizer for your pool. As non-chlorine shocks are coupled with bromine and other sanitizers baquashock is used in conjunction with baquacil. If you have a pool with a vinyl liner and are shocking your pool with Calcium Hypo you must pre-dissolve each individual bag of shock in seperate containers of water. This stops the pool shock from laying on your liner and bleaching it. Here are a few tips to follow when shocking your pool with a Calcium Hypo Shock:
- Always Use Gloves
- Take one 1lb bag of shock and pour it into a warm or cold 5 gallon bucket of water about 3/4 full. Note: Always add shock to water not water to shock.
- Wear clothes you don't care about because they might get bleached.
- Warm water dissolves shock faster than cold, its your choice.
- Use a wooden stick and stir around the pool shock making sure it dissolves completely or as much as your can.
- Pour the bucket of shock all around your pool or heave some in the middle. You may have some undissolved shock at the bottom of your bucket. In this case just dip your bucket in some pool water give it a swish around and pour it back into the pool to help dissolve some of that shock. If you have a bigger pool or a problem and you need to add more bags of shock repeat this procedure for as many bags as need.
- DO NOT mix all the bags together in one bucket.
- Always Shock At Dusk or Nighttime. This allows the shock to reach breakpoint oxidation. If it were during the day the sun would burn off 1ppm of shock every hour causing it only to reach breakpoint for an hour instead of 8-10 hours.
- Note: most shocks require at least 8 hours with no one in the pool read the label before adding pool shock. Also some dealers will tell you to add shock directly to your skimmer. This is not a good idea especially if you have chlorine or an automatic chlorinator. Reason being is that calcium hypo and tri-chlor, which can be found in chlorine tablets, creates a harmful chlorine gas. To get to the point, your automatic chlorinator could explode. It's happened.
- Shock should also be added every week to ensure a clean and green free pool.
How to shock a pool with lithium or non-chlorine pool shock
This one is easy. Just sprinkle the bag of pool shock all around your pool as many times as needed. These two kinds of shock do not require a pre-dissolve and do not require them to be put in at night. But they aren't as effective at killing algae and are more expensive per bag than calcium.
How to Shock a Pool with Baquashock
Again this one is easy too. Just pour the gallon bottle into your pool. You should do this once a month but more is required if your pool test shows otherwise
