What exactly is pool shock and what does it mean to shock a pool shocking is the process of adding a powerful concentrated dose of chemicals, usually chlorine to your pool water. This helps get rid of contaminants like algae and helps revitalize your pool's. Regular sanitizer shocking is really useful at the beginning of pool season or after your pool's been heavily used, and it can also be helpful to shock your pool once a week as part of your regular pool maintenance routine. But there are lots of types of shock on the market and, depending on the type of pool that you have or the water problems you're dealing with some pool shocks are a waste of time and money.

So here's everything you need to know about finding and using the right shock in your pool, let's dive in real quick before we continue. If you want more help taking care of your pool, be sure to grab our free pool care cheat sheet at swimuniversity.com cheat sheet. It's totally free and will help keep your pool clean and clear all season long. First, what does shock do to your pool water when you're shocking your pool, you're, adding enough chlorine or oxidizer to refresh the sanitizer and destroy the buildup of chloramines chloramines form when your regular chlorine mixes with the nitrogen in things like sweat and body oil? It's the byproduct of your chlorine.

That's done its job when chloramines are present, it means your chlorine has been used up and there's less available chlorine or free chlorine to sanitize your water and less free chlorine means less sanitizer. Keeping your water clean, adding shock to your pool, raises your free chlorine levels to the point where contaminants, like bacteria and algae are destroyed. So what are the different types of pool shock pool shock comes as either a super concentrated dose of chlorine, aka chlorine shock or as an oxidizer, aka non-chlorine shock, chlorine-based pool shock is best for treating algae and cloudy water, but it can affect your other water chemistry Levels like cya and calcium hardness, on the other hand, non-chlorine shock isn't as harsh and is a great weekly treatment for refreshing, your free chlorine levels, but it's not strong enough to tackle big algae issues. Okay, so what's the best type of shock for your pool? Not all pool shocks are right for every type of pool or for every situation, and some will impact your other levels.

So before shocking, your pool test and balance your pool water and keep an eye on your ph, calcium, hardness and cya levels. Before and after adding shock to your pool. Okay, here are three common pool shocks and when to use them one cal, hyposhock, calcium, hypochlorite, shock or cow hyposhock is the most powerful form of chlorine shock out there with the highest percentage of available chlorine use, cal hyposhock. If you have algae issues or as a powerful weekly treatment, if you have problematic pool water, because it's such a high, concentrated dose of chlorine, you'll need to wait at least eight hours before swimming and it's best to use cal hyposhock at night.

This shock doesn't contain any cyanaric acid, which means it's unstabilized and can be destroyed by the sun's uv rays. Finally, be careful using cal hypo shock in salt water pools, since it contains calcium and can cause scale buildup in a saltwater generator and cal. Hypo might be too powerful for pools on the smaller side, like intex pools, 2. dichloroshock, sodium dichlor aka dichlor shock is another chlorine shock, but it's less potent than cal hyposhock.

It's still an effective treatment for algae issues, contaminant buildup and weekly pool maintenance and because it contains sodium it dissolves quickly and can be used in all types of pools, including vinyl plaster painted and salt water pools. However, dichloroshock is a stabilized shock, which means it contains. Cyanic acid, so it will raise your cya levels, and that means you can add it to your pool during the day since it's stabilized and protected from the sun's uv rays, but it can drastically increase your cya levels. Three non-chlorine shock non-chlorine shock works as an oxidizer, which means it helps revitalize your existing sanitizer.

However, it does not super sanitize. Your water and kill contaminants on its own, so non-chlorine shock isn't effective at tackling larger issues like algae. On the other hand, since it doesn't contain harsh levels of chlorine, this is a great shock for weekly treatments or, if you want to swim shortly after shocking your pool, and it won't affect your calcium or cya levels. So what kind of shock should you use for algae if you've got algae or green water? We recommend using cal hyposhock.

This is the strongest version of chlorine shock and can quickly kill contaminants that have built up in the water, because non-chlorine shock isn't a sanitizer. It won't eliminate a severe algae problem, but, depending on how bad the problem is, a non-chlorine shock can help revitalize your existing sanitizer enough that it will do its job, killing the algae spores. What shock should i use in salt water pools while cal hyposhock is the most effective shock for treating algae it does contain calcium and that calcium can build up in your water over time causing scale buildup in your saltwater generator? So if you have a saltwater pool, use this type of shock sparingly and monitor your calcium, hardness levels or consider using dichloroshock if you're, okay, with an increase in your cya levels. Now what about the super chlorinate setting on your salt water generator? While this adds more chlorine to your water, it only raises free chlorine levels gradually over a long period of time.

So shock is best for quick, effective treatments to tackle algae and bacteria. What kind of shock should i use for a smaller pool if you have a smaller above ground pool traditional chlorine based shocks like cal hypo might be too strong, because this shock is sold in doses for 10, 000 gallons. It may contain too much chlorine for smaller pools and take too long to dissipate. You may want to consider using liquid chlorine like bleach to shock a smaller pool.

Household bleach can be powerful enough to kill algae, but it's easy to overdo. It so be sure to take things slowly. Finally, when should i add pool shock, we recommend shocking your pool once a week, or at least every other week to help maintain sanitized water and, if you need help deciding when to add shock to your pool, be sure to check out our other video all about When to add shock, and that's it, if you need more help with pool maintenance, be sure to grab our free pool care cheat sheet at swimuniversity.com cheat sheet, and if you found this video helpful leave a comment hit the like button and subscribe for more pool maintenance. Tutorials throughout the season, that's it thanks again and happy swimming.