Stabilized, unstabilized. Potato, potahto. It’s all the same stuff, right? Sure, until you can’t figure out why your pool is growing algae and smells like it’s full of bleach instead of water. Here's the difference between stabilized and unstabilized chlorine.
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⏰ Timestamps:
00:00 - Introduction to Stabilized Vs. Unstabilized Chlorine
00:43 - Chlorine Sanitizer and Chlorine Levels
01:27 - What Is Unstabilized Chlorine
04:31 - What Is Stabilized Chlorine
05:53 - CYA or Cyanuric Acid Levels
06:38 - Which One Should You Use: Stabilized s. Unstabilized?
07:44 - Chlorine Levels
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Swim University®️ has made swimming pool and hot tub care easy for more than 10 million homeowners. And each year, we continue to help more people with water chemistry, cleaning, and troubleshooting. We know taking care of a swimming pool or spa can be difficult. And it’s hard to find a trusted source of information. We get it! This is the reason we created Swim University®️.
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⏰ Timestamps:
00:00 - Introduction to Stabilized Vs. Unstabilized Chlorine
00:43 - Chlorine Sanitizer and Chlorine Levels
01:27 - What Is Unstabilized Chlorine
04:31 - What Is Stabilized Chlorine
05:53 - CYA or Cyanuric Acid Levels
06:38 - Which One Should You Use: Stabilized s. Unstabilized?
07:44 - Chlorine Levels
📺 Subscribe to our channel if you want more information on swimming pool and hot tub maintenance: https://www.youtube.com/swimuniversity
Swim University®️ has made swimming pool and hot tub care easy for more than 10 million homeowners. And each year, we continue to help more people with water chemistry, cleaning, and troubleshooting. We know taking care of a swimming pool or spa can be difficult. And it’s hard to find a trusted source of information. We get it! This is the reason we created Swim University®️.
😎 Visit our website for more in-depth information on swimming pool maintenance: https://www.swimuniversity.com/
So one of the questions we get asked the most is: what's the difference between stabilized chlorine and unstabilized chlorine? Well, I'm glad you asked because we're finally going to answer that. Will we beef answer the question before on our website, but in this video we're gon na answer the question which one should you use? What's the difference, let's find out all right, just a quick disclaimer. Everybody is a different way of taking care of a pool. This is just our way of doing it and based on my many many years in the pool industry and the research that we've done here at swim University and if I missed anything in this video, please leave a comment below and we'll clear things up.
Alright. So, first, what is chlorine? Chlorine is a sanitizer, it is a halogen sanitizer. It is one of the most effective sanitizers for your swimming pool and it is the most common. Normally we want to keep our chlorine between one and three parts per million.
If you have a normal chlorine pool or a saltwater pool, both of those should stay roughly around three parts per million of chlorine at all times, to make sure that your pool is completely sanitized. Now there are two different types of chlorine: there is and you'll commonly see them referred to as stabilized and unstabilized chlorine. So unstabilized chlorine is generally just chlorine. It is what it is and the reason it's unstabilized is because when you add it to your pool, the UV rays from the Sun will burn off the chlorine very fast and so chlorine that's unstabilized, tends to come in a powder form or a granular form similar To shock, or just like chlorine granulars that you would throw directly into the pool, in fact, if you buy something called shock, then it's probably unstabilized chlorine, but you want to check the label because again there are so many different types of shocks out there, but commonly Shock is unstabilized chlorine and what that means is that the chlorine is susceptible to the Sun burn.
There is no protectant is not stabilized, which is the opposite of unstabilized. We're stabilized chlorine protects it from being burned off by the Sun, not a hundred percent, but it protects it now. Why would you add unstabilized chlorine to a pool if the Sun is just gon na burn it off? Well, typically, you would add it because you want the Sun to burn it off, meaning it's a short burst of chlorine, that you're trying to add to the pool and then - and you want it to be super high. So this is what shocking is shocking, is really just a method of chlorination, and so, when you add shock to a pool or a bunch of unstabilized chlorine to a pool, you are raising the chlorine level of that pool to a very, very high level, which is Killing bacteria and oxidizing the current chlorine that's in there, and so when you do that, you want the Sun when it comes out to burn that chlorine off as fast as possible, so that you can be back down to a normal level.
So typically shock or any granular chlorine is unstabilized chlorine, meaning that it is susceptible to the Sun. And so, if you watch our shocking video, which we have on this channel, you'll know that shocking your pool, or at least we recommend shocking your pool at night so that you get the most out of that shock because the sun's on out it's not gon na Burn off chlorine, you have it mixed into the pool. It's gon na be high chlorine for a very long period of time. When really no one is swimming in it I mean, unless you're swimming in the middle of the night, but if you're shocking it do not swim in it and the chlorine will be high and then, when the Sun comes out the next day, it'll start to burn It off now, if you want to use unstabilized chlorine to sanitize your pool, you can certainly do that. They actually make a chemical called cyanuric acid, which is what makes chlorine stable. It is an acid that you would put into the pool that is also known as chlorine stabilizer see and the chlorine stabilizer will actually protect the chlorine from being burned off by the Sun. Now, typically, you won't see anything labeled, unstabilized chlorine, like you're, not gon na, go and see a bag of shocked or any bucket of chlorine. That says unstabilized chlorine.
When you look for shock, you want look for calcium hypochlorite, which is essentially unstabilized chlorine. Okay. So what is stabilized chlorine? Well, it's the opposite of unstabilized chlorine. Add uh, I'm sorry that was mean.
It usually comes in the form of a tablet. So if you're buying a chlorine tablets at your local pool, store or online and it's the active ingredient is tricor, then chances are. You have stabilized chlorine, which means it has sine arc acid in it which protects it from being burned off by the UV rays of the Sun, and this is great too, because you can use shock or unstable eyes. Chlorine, if you want to super chlorinate your water and kill a lot of bacteria, and then you can use stabilized chlorine to keep the chlorine at around three parts per million at all times, and the stabilized chlorine usually lasts about three to five times longer than unstabilized Chlorine and when you add these pucks to your pool, you can add it via a chlorine floater or within your skimmer basket, or what we recommend is to add them to a automatic chlorinator.
That is your best bet for adding chlorine, pucks and keeping the water at three parts per million on a classic chlorine pool. But if you're, adding chlorine, pucks or chlorine tablets - and they are stabilized because they're try klore, then it is adding chlorine, stabilizer or sine arc acid to your water in very, very low amounts, because it's stabilized chlorine, that's what that means, but either way you're gon na Want to add chlorine, stabilizer or sine arc acid to your water, whether you're, using just unstabilized chlorine or a mix of unstabilized and stabilized chlorine, just to make sure that both of those things are kind of stabilized together. And you want to keep your sine arc acid. At a very specific level, we want to keep the sine arc acid between 30 and 80 parts per million. Ideally, you want to keep it at around 50 parts per million. If your sine arc level goes too high, it can cause problems with your sanitizers. Speaking of chlorine and the only way to lower sine arc asset is to dilute your pool water. Okay, so hopefully you know the difference between stabilized chlorine and unstabilized chlorine.
It's pretty simple! So the final question is well, which one should you use if you have an outdoor pool, you're gon na want to use a combination of both unstabilized and stabilized chlorine, unstabilized chlorine for shocking and high chlorination for oxidation in your water and stabilized chlorine for just general. You know keeping your pool at around 3 parts per million, because it's just gon na last longer with the tablets and they're easier to add than constantly adding unstabilized chlorine to your pool. Now, if you have a saltwater pool, you are constantly adding unstabilized chlorine to your pool and you can use cyanuric asset to help the Sun not to burn off the chlorine that you're generating and whenever you super chlorinate it again you're just adding a bunch of unstabilized Chlorine to the pool, because you're not generating cyanuric asset with a salt water system, you're gon na need to add that separately and then, if you have an indoor pool, you really are not bothered by the UV rays of the Sun too much. If you have a, you know cover, if you have the Sun peeking through well, then you're gon na have to worry about it, and if you have an indoor pool, I recommend keeping your cyanuric acid or your chlorine stabilizer level at around 10 parts per million.
Okay, again taking care of a pool, everyone's got a different way of doing it. There's different ranges when it comes to how much cyanuric acid to add to a pool how much chlorine to add to the pool and generally that's why we like to give a large range, but but tell you what the ideal is and that's what we gave you Here so the ideal for chlorine is around three parts or three parts per million and with Synar Cassatt you want it at about 50 parts per million, real quick. I also want to mention that we have a very, very in-depth course on how to take care of your swimming pool. If you just go to some university comm, slash pool care handbook, we have a 35 lesson, video course and Counting, and we have a full 300 plus page digital ebook.
It's all together in one package teaching you really in-depth stuff everything that you need to know about. Taking care of a pool just wanted to put that out there for you in case, you were interested in something like that, and everyone's got a different way of doing it, and this is just our way, and I hope that answers your questions. But if we didn't, if we miss something, please leave a comment below and we'll definitely get it cleared up and perhaps do a future video. Also, thank you so much for watching. Please subscribe to our channel. You can get more pool and hot tub care. Videos like this every single week, whenever we publish them all season long and check out some of our other videos, you might find them useful. You might learn something about your pool and we're just trying to help.
So thanks again for watching. That's it as always. Happy swimming.
Can I use oxygen tablet instead of ozonator to my pool capacity 150000 liters. the oxygen tablet is used in fish forming if so what level of ppm of oxygen
I can’t get my cya up past 20 ppm. Some said it my be because of bacteria. I use in unstabilized chlorine. Should I switch to stabilized ?
what if your cya is high and you use stabilized chlorine..just dilute the water?
This is an amazing video. Thank u Are you in Ottawa ?
I just use bleach and baking powder.. Pool is covered hen not in use. Auto robot runs 90 min daily… Pool has never been so clear over past 5 years. Ther is zero stuff in my skimmer of filter basket all year. I use cotton balls instead of sand. This is the cheapest and the cleanest my pool has ever been..EVER.. The only reading that shows low is stabilizer, but chlorine is 100% always perfect.. no need for stabilizer.. I have spent $30 all year for crystal clear pool.
You rock! Ty!
It appears I may be having a Chlorind Demand issue for the first time in 10 years. I tried increasing the chlorine with extra tablets in the return basket and some floaters along with the inline dispenser. Despite all the tabs disproving the chlorine level is still less than 0.5 but I am worried that my Cyanuric acid is getting too high as it approaching 80ppm where it is normally around 50ppm. Normally 2 bags of shock in my 25,000 pool in the evening takes care of the issue and leaves the pool chlorine at around 4ppm the next morning, but now the chlorine is still staying below 0.4ppm. PH and alkalinity are fine.
I am going to try some liquid chlorine, significantly less expensive than bags of shock, but I am not sure how much to add. I noted a recommendation of "You'll need about 52-104 oz of liquid chlorine per 10,000 gallons of water. This amount should get the chlorine level to between 5 and 10 ppm." So I am thinking approx 200oz or about 1.5 gallons. Any suggestions? If the liquid chlorine works, I will post an update. Service area Orleans??
If I add CYA to my pool and shock it, will the shock still burn off in the sun or will the CYA protect it from evaporating?
I don’t under why anyone would give you thumbs down?? So weird. Great job of explaining this stuff! I’m new to this and have learned a lot from your videos!
Great information and great job.
bro it will all burn off unless the pool has 30-50ppm Service area Kanata??
Is liquid shock effective as the bag???
What I realized is chlorine/pool chemistry is just crazy. Trichlor is mostly tablets but it does exist as granules and vice versa for dichlor. Calcium hypochlorite increase CH. dichlor increases cya. There’s stabilized and unstabilized chlorine in forms of granules/ shock and I bet even in forms of tablets. And then there’s completely different forms of “chlorinating” such as bromine, salt, and probably a whole lot more I don’t even know about. I give up, it’s just crazy.
Is "Sodium Dichloroisocyanurate": Dichlor or trichlor or is it dichlor with cyanuric acid? Service area Barrhaven??
What does it mean when my chlorine is high 10
But stabilizer zero
Stick readings
Also ph zero
"commonly shock is unstabilized chlorine".
If the shock lists "calcium hypochlorite", then it doesn't contain any CYA (cyanuric acid/stabilizer).
If the shock lists di-chlor… it does contain CYA/stabilizer.
My first time purchasing a 10 by 30 pool what should you recommend for cleaning products?
Only way to lower cya is to dilute water? What about a cya reducer?
Hi,can I stabilized and shock my pool at the same time? Thanks..!! 🙏
What about Ozone Pool System
Hey Matt. I understand that Stabilizer tabs help protect the chlorine in my pool. I was told that the water temp needs to be at least 70 degrees F in order for it to work properly. My water was tested the other day and results showed slightly low levels of Calcium Hardness. So I bought some Calcium to increase the levels to normal range. Does the water temperature also need to be above 70f in order for it to work? Thanks!!
Great info, you speak well…however…put you hands in your pocket and stop the hand movement…tks
Nothing like swimming late at night with a full moon out..get it?
My cyanuric acid test strip is yellow and the pool is cloudy but the chlorine and everything else has the right numbers.🙄 we use stabilized tablet chlorine Are you in Nepean ?
Thank you!!! Service area Nepean??
Your video makes it sound like the straight NaClO doesn't benefit from the separately added Cyanuric Acid. I have found with my heated water (95F) and SoCal UV exposure that I can burn 1 gallon worth of dilute NaClO in 2-3 days even with 40ppm Cyanuric Acid. I've run 2 stabilized tablets at a time and found no improvement in levels. The liquid seems to be the only thing that can keep my free Cl levels in the proper range. I do have rather hard water, and I also usually add about ½ gallon of Muriatic a week to keep the pH 7.5. Should I be using stabilized Cl or is the manually added Cyanuric granules to hold 40-60ppm sufficient with the liquid Cl to get the most bang for the buck out of sanitizer?
Since you said the only way to lower CYA is to dilute your water, does that mean once your CYA gets to 50 ppm you can stop using tablets forever and just use unstabilized chlorine? I know pool water evaporates but other than that, does CYA work indefinitely as a stabilizer?
Your hat is crooked
Good videos ¡¡ podria hacer algunos videos en español x fvr sobre estos temas muy interesante y de mucha ayuda ¡¡ thankyou
Not a fan of using pucks or any stabilized chlorine at all. All they do is continue to increase your stabilizer levels (CYA) and before you know it, your pool is green and you need a partial or full drain to make the chlorine effective again. It's better to set your stabilizer level to where you want it (50ppm) and then just use liquid chlorine or a salt water generator exclusively. Most clean pools will burn 2 – 4 ppm of FC (free chlorine) daily during the swimming season depending on location and a few other factors. It's simply a matter of replacing what the pool loses daily or every other day if you keep your chlorine level a bit higher. I don't even have to shock my pool using this method.
Also, all solid forms of chlorine are STABILIZED chlorine except for Cal Hypo. Trichlor, Dichlor, Pucks, Granules and all shock as well. Cal Hypo can be a problem as well if you live in an area with hard water because you will continue to raise your calcium hardness (CH) by using it. CH, like CYA, can only be reduced with partial drain and refill, so it's not much better of a solution.
Stick with liquid chlorine, or get a salt generator. Those are the two best solutions. I took over my pool care from a pool guy 5 years ago and haven't had a single algae outbreak using these methods. The only other thing I add to my pool is muriatic acid to lower the pH when it climbs near 8.0. That's it!!!
Great video though. Very informative
Please don't tell people to place chlorine pucks in their skimmer! Are you in Orleans ?
Great video. If you use stablized chlorine, how do you prevent the CYA levels from building up and ultimately becoming too high? Would it not be inevitable?
Thank you for mentioning indoor pools (in my case, indoor hottub) I've been trying to scour videos for more tips on indoor use, very little results.
Which to use first? Is it chlorine first then muriatic acid?
Is calcium hypochlorite the only dry form of unstabilized shock?
Wich chamical you have to if water is solt water
"Burn off"? Since this is chemistry can we clarify what exactly is happening to the various components? I'm trying to figure out what turns into gas, what precipitates, etc. so would be helpful if more scientific terminology was used. Thanks.
my question is, i live at north I use HTH shock for my pool, now with the weather going up and down when I check my pool reads no chlorine is the cold weather eating the chlorine or why I'm reading no chlorine? Please help 🙄 Service area Ottawa??
Dont Add Tablets to your skimmer is will eat your heater and other equipment!!
Thank you for your videos! I am new a new outdoor owner! For my chlorinator, I have Nature2 Vision Pro Vessel that uses a chlorinator canister. I have the V-Pack Chlorinating Canister that has the tabs inside. The canister label states that it limits chlorine exposure. Every time I test the pool water, my chlorine level is low. Do you know if this could be because of the cartridge? The water looks clear, but I'm just wondering if it is safe to swim even though the reading is low. 🙂
Is granulated chlorine for your spa/hot tub the same as granulated chlorine for pool? Every website seems to sell them as if they're different products and the spa chlorine is always more expensive. They're the same right?
My pool looks very good but cyanuric acid level is 2000 . When I add UNSTABILISED Chlorine to the pool water , will it burn off just as fast as if the
normal UNSTABILISED chlorine without any cyanuric present ? In other words , does the presence of cyanuric acid have to be in chemical combination
with chlorine to achieve its full effect or as a separate entity ?? Thx for your good work& help . > jblue75252@yahoo.com< Are you in Kanata ?
Can I please ask, you say you can use un-stabilised chlorine to shock pool, and then normal stabilised chlorine to keep the pool sanitised on a daily basis..
I’ve read some websites warning that if you use both un-stabilised and stabilised chlorine in the pool it can explode!?
Is this true??
Very good video and help
Great review, but which Chlorine tablet do you use if you CYA is 150 ppm, and your hardness is over 800 ppm. This is my case. I know the answer is to drain the pool, but we are under server water restrictions. I do plan to drain the pool, but after we are off water restrictions. I am now using Sodium Hypochlorite liquid for chlorinating my pool. It does not leave extra CYA in the pool, and does not add to my Calcium hardness problem. It is not that expensive.
Matt have a question salt pool 21k gallons I shocked last nite at 15ppm used 8.25% Clorox bleach what's your thoughts on ppm when shocking this amount of gallons weekly ????
I have a floating chlorine dispenser so Is it safe to swim while its in use?
If we add stabilize chlorine to the pool we can swim
Which type of chlorine do you use in your pool?