Purchasing Pool Chemicals/How to select what type is best ?

[parkinsmith]

Hi

I have a question about the purchasing of pool chemicals. I am a new pool owner and have been learning from Trouble Free how to care for my pool water myself and following the TFP method . Here are a few questions

When it comes to purchasing the most often used pool chemicals are all brands equal ? Are some better than others ? Do I need to watch out for other ingredients in what I am buying that I do not want or need?

When it comes to Liquid Chlorine
I would like to keep liquid chlorine on hand in case I need it or I need to ever do a SLAM etc. Is all liquid chlorine the same ? Here is a picture of what I bought at Ace Hardware is says 10/% Sodium Hypochlorite and 90.0% OTHER ingredients. What do they mean by other ingredients? When it comes to buying liquid what do I need to look for when purchasing?

Other items on my list to purchase
Stabilizer ( dry )
Calcium Chloride to raiase CH
Muriatic Acid ( I have been using 31.45% Baume ) I see on the list on the Pool Math app there are a lot of choices of percentages . What is best to use ? Does it matter which percentage MA you buy ?
Whatever I need to have on hand to raise TA
Any suggestions of what else to keep on hand?

Thanks
Jennifer

 

[ajw22]

When it comes to purchasing the most often used pool chemicals are all brands equal ? Are some better than others ? Do I need to watch out for other ingredients in what I am buying that I do not want or need?

You can’t go by brands. You have to read the ingredients.

When it comes to Liquid Chlorine
I would like to keep liquid chlorine on hand in case I need it or I need to ever do a SLAM etc. Is all liquid chlorine the same ? Here is a picture of what I bought at Ace Hardware is says 10/% Sodium Hypochlorite and 90.0% OTHER ingredients. What do they mean by other ingredients? When it comes to buying liquid what do I need to look for when purchasing?

That is good 10% liquid chlorine. The other ingredients are largely water and some salt.

Liquid Chlorine - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

Other items on my list to purchase
Stabilizer ( dry )

You want 100% cyraniuc acid.

CYA - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

Calcium Chloride to raiase CH

You want as close to 100% Calcium Chloride as you can get.

Muriatic Acid ( I have been using 31.45% Baume ) I see on the list on the Pool Math app there are a lot of choices of percentages . What is best to use ? Does it matter which percentage MA you buy ?

Best to use 31.45%. Lower % end up using more and costing more.

Acid - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

Whatever I need to have on hand to raise TA

You should never need to raise TA unless you mess up your acid additions.

CYA - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

Chemicals suggested for raising TA. Their effects are:

• Baking Soda = big TA change, small pH change
• Borax = big pH change, small TA change
• Soda Ash/Washing Soda = big pH change, big TA change. Probably more TA change than you want.

Salt if you have a SWG.

Salt - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[YippeeSkippy]

Hellooooooo!!
No need to buy any more liquid chlorine than that which you immediately need...perhaps after a party or some reason. SWGs work slow so there are times I *will* use liquid when I want instant response.
You won't buy it in advance of a future SLAM process because it loses strength over time.

-Calcium.... I buy which ever brand I find at the Lowes/HD pool section. Walmart's pool section should also have some.
-I buy my Muriatic Acid also at Lowes, in the paint section. When you buy low strength stuff, you end up having to use twice the amount. SO just continue getting the one you've been getting. Its fine. Do not store near chlorine or metal tools.
-Nothing else needed to keep on hand . Let the grocery store or big box do you storage for you. IF you ever need to tweak your pH or TA, then you can easily buy what you need in the laundry aisle.

Maddie

 

[JJ_Tex]

10% Chlorine is good... the other 90% is water. The main thing to look for is a date on the bottles, usually a Julian date. Make sure you get the freshest you can get, no more than a few months old.

For MA the 31% is perfect, good job.

I took a peek at your pool math logs and all your numbers look good and the CYA, Salt and Calcium are not consumed so you really just have to replace what is splashed out/backwashed out of the pool.

One note about Salt, I avoid the Chlorox brand since that can be dirty. I usually use Morton's, but someone had an issue with them recently. Bottom line, take a peek at your salt before you dump it in your pool. White is good, tan/brown not so good.

 

[parkinsmith]

You can’t go by brands. You have to read the ingredients.


That is good 10% liquid chlorine. The other ingredients are largely water and some salt.

Liquid Chlorine - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

You want 100% cyraniuc acid.

CYA - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

You want as close to 100% Calcium Chloride as you can get.


Best to use 31.45%. Lower % end up using more and costing more.

Acid - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

You should never need to raise TA unless you mess up your acid additions.

CYA - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

Chemicals suggested for raising TA. Their effects are:

• Baking Soda = big TA change, small pH change
• Borax = big pH change, small TA change
• Soda Ash/Washing Soda = big pH change, big TA change. Probably more TA change than you want.

Salt if you have a SWG.

Salt - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

THANKS for the info and the links! Very helpful .

 

[parkinsmith]

Hellooooooo!!
No need to buy any more liquid chlorine than that which you immediately need...perhaps after a party or some reason. SWGs work slow so there are times I *will* use liquid when I want instant response.
You won't buy it in advance of a future SLAM process because it loses strength over time.

-Calcium.... I buy which ever brand I find at the Lowes/HD pool section. Walmart's pool section should also have some.
-I buy my Muriatic Acid also at Lowes, in the paint section. When you buy low strength stuff, you end up having to use twice the amount. SO just continue getting the one you've been getting. Its fine. Do not store near chlorine or metal tools.
-Nothing else needed to keep on hand . Let the grocery store or big box do you storage for you. IF you ever need to tweak your pH or TA, then you can easily buy what you need in the laundry aisle.

Maddie

Thanks for the feedback ! Super helpful .

 

[parkinsmith]

10% Chlorine is good... the other 90% is water. The main thing to look for is a date on the bottles, usually a Julian date. Make sure you get the freshest you can get, no more than a few months old.

For MA the 31% is perfect, good job.

I took a peek at your pool math logs and all your numbers look good and the CYA, Salt and Calcium are not consumed so you really just have to replace what is splashed out/backwashed out of the pool.

One note about Salt, I avoid the Chlorox brand since that can be dirty. I usually use Morton's, but someone had an issue with them recently. Bottom line, take a peek at your salt before you dump it in your pool. White is good, tan/brown not so good.

Thanks for taking a look at the logs and for the feedback . I have been using something called Aqua Salt. I noticed when the PB did the salt start up that is what they put in so I have bought a few bags of that . A bit expensive .

 

[VinnyinNJ]

Pool chemical brands are not created equal. From what I've read here stay away from Clorox brand for most of their stuff but stabilizer can be OK.

I bought 100% Clorox stabilizer (at least that's what the label said!) but haven't used it yet.
I see you have a chlorine feeder - stay away from anything that is not just trichlor but since you have a SWG as well stay away from trichlor totally!
Pool salt - some people have been complaining about the Morton pool salt at big box stores, quite a few people have used Diamond Crystal water softener salt that's "natural" - made by solar evaporation. I haven't bought salt yet but I believe when I do this is what I'll buy.
Liquid chlorine does lose it's strength. As far as LC is concerned you can use plain bleach (without any fragrances or any other "stuff" in it) and there's 10% and 12.5% liquid chlorine.
For acid - I just bought the Home Depot HDX stuff that's in their building supply area ... don't know how good/bad it is.

 

[parkinsmith]

Pool chemical brands are not created equal. From what I've read here stay away from Clorox brand for most of their stuff but stabilizer can be OK.

I bought 100% Clorox stabilizer (at least that's what the label said!) but haven't used it yet.
I see you have a chlorine feeder - stay away from anything that is not just trichlor but since you have a SWG as well stay away from trichlor totally!
Pool salt - some people have been complaining about the Morton pool salt at big box stores, quite a few people have used Diamond Crystal water softener salt that's "natural" - made by solar evaporation. I haven't bought salt yet but I believe when I do this is what I'll buy.
Liquid chlorine does lose it's strength. As far as LC is concerned you can use plain bleach (without any fragrances or any other "stuff" in it) and there's 10% and 12.5% liquid chlorine.
For acid - I just bought the Home Depot HDX stuff that's in their building supply area ... don't know how good/bad it is.

Thank you for your feedback !

 

[BDY]

Recommended Pool Chemicals

Which should I buy? TFP's recommended pool chemicals are cheap, easy, and won't unbalance your pool water.

www.troublefreepool.com

This guide helped me Starting out