Mix required amount of Clorox® Regular Bleach2 with 2 gallons of water and scatter over surface of pool. Mix uniformly with pool water. Empty small pools daily. (Clorox® Regular Bleach2 will not harm plastic pools.)
Household bleach, Clorox and liquid chlorine can all be used to sanitize a pool. They are all types of chlorine. Household bleaches such as Clorox usually contain about 5-6% available chlorine, about half that of pool liquid chlorine. Household bleaches often have unwanted fragrances and colors.
In fact, bleach is often recommended for emergency water disinfection, so reasoning suggests it can work well in a kiddie pool. However, not much bleach is required to properly sanitize a given amount of water.
Dilute ½ cup of household bleach (5.25%–8.25%) in 1 gallon of room-temperature water. Do not use “splash-less” bleach. Apply bleach solution to all surfaces.
Chlorine In Small Inflatable Pools
For small inflatable pools that you don't want to empty and refill so often, you can add a small amount of bleach to the water to sanitize it. Add about a 1/4 tsp for every 10 gallons of water, or for medium sized inflatable pools, add 2 1/2 tsp for every 100 gallons.
For most inflatable pools or plastic kiddie pools following the guidelines listed above, the water should be changed every two weeks at a minimum. If you are not adding chlorine to kill bacteria, drain the pool every other day. Stagnant water without chlorine can become unhealthy water in as little as 24-48 hours.
Clorox itself recommends using between 100 and 200 ounces of regular-strength bleach per 10,000 gallons of pool water -- one gallon is 128 ounces, and many bottles of bleach are available in one-gallon or half-gallon sizes. Pool professionals tend to recommend more conservative amounts of bleach.
They are identical in every way, with the exception of strength. Household bleach is usually a 6% concentration (although some of the cheaper stuff is 3%), while pool chlorine can typically be found in strength between 10% and 12%. All of this is sodium hypochlorite, and works the same in sanitizing your water.
When chlorinating wading pools, use 1/8 cup per 100 gallons of new water. Mix required amount of Clorox® Regular Bleach2 with 2 gallons of water and scatter over surface of pool. Mix uniformly with pool water. Empty small pools daily.
To clean an inflatable pool, you will need to drain the water, scrub the lining with a cleaning solution, and refill every few days. Typically, larger inflatable pools will not need to be drained. Instead, you will sanitize the water and balance the pH regularly with chemicals such as chlorine and pH balancers.
Clean and disinfect the kiddie pool after each use: Drain or empty the pool after each use. Leaving the pool full overnight is unsafe, both because it is a potential drowning risk and a potential waterborne disease risk.
“It's important to change the paddling pool water every day – drain it and let it dry at the end of the day and use an anti-bacterial spray to kill any germs so it is safe to use the next day.”
While the quart or so of water that was setting in the hose may have some chemical contaminants in it, by the time that is diluted into thousands of gallons of water, it's of no concern. That is of course assuming that your swimming pool is not your primary source of all drinking water.
You can use either a chlorinated product or a non-chlorine shock oxidizer to break down combined chlorine in the water. Shocking the pool can also remove excess bather waste and visible algae. Shocking should be done when combined chlorine levels exceed 0.5 ppm.
I think the answer to your question is about 3-6 days. The problem is that the chlorine that you need to keep the bacteria in check is used up more quickly as the temperature rises, the activity increases, and as sweat and other body stuff is put into the pool.
Like water in any other swimming pool, a Bestway pool's water has to be consistently sanitized. For chemical water disinfection, you can use either chlorine or bromine in a Bestway aboveground pool. Maintain Bestway aboveground pool chlorine levels at 1 to 3 parts per million (ppm) or bromine levels at 2 to 4 ppm.
Use 1 part bleach to 20 parts water. Soak your rag in the solution and wipe the pool clean. Avoid using paper towels when using a bleach solution to clean the pool. They won't hold up very well and will just create a bigger mess for you to clean up.
Salt is often presented as a healthier alternative to adding chlorine to a kiddie pool, since saltwater is gentler on the skin.