YOU CANNOT OVER SHOCK A POOL ! The more you add, the quicker it will clear ! Note… shock is available in liquid or powdered form, but we recommend using liquid (it works faster).
Can you put too much shock in a pool? SKIMMER NOTES: It's unlikely but it could happen. It would take a lot of shock to really make the water unsafe for swimming. The best way to make sure you're safe to swim is to test your pool water and make sure free chlorine levels are between 1-4ppm for healthy swimming.
If you have shocked the pool, and it is still green, you missed the mark. Just keep adding shock until the water turns a blue-grey color, with no hint of green, then add another pound just to be sure. This 'blue-ing' should occur within 5 or 10 minutes of adding the shock, if not, add more.
Light Green or Teal Pool Water:
In this case, you should double shock your swimming pool water. To double shock, you will need to add 2 pounds for every 10,000 gallons of water. For instance, if you pool is 20,000 gallons, you will add 4 pounds of shock.
When the levels are properly balanced, chlorine will keep the algae at bay, but the water will slowly begin to turn green as the algae take over if there's not enough. But be careful—adding too much chlorine in pool water can cause those metals to oxidize and turn the pool a different shade of green.
Although, if you overdo the shock treatment, you risk getting green hair from chlorine due to the excess chlorine oxidizing the copper in the water. You can execute a shock treatment with a few different types of pool shock, just be mindful of how much you're using.
Pools can immediately turn green after shocking when they have metals like copper in the water. These metals oxidise when exposed to high levels of chlorine which makes the pool water turn green. Adding a metal control product such as Zodiac Metal Remover will help to restore the pool water.
Algaecide should be used after each shock treatment, so it has a better chance to support your chlorine as it works its magic. Be sure to shock your pool first, then when the chlorine levels of your pool return to normal, add the correct amount of algaecide to several places around your pool while your pump is running.
You need to raise the level of your chlorine – shock the pool – and maintain that high level until all the algae is dead. This may take 3 to 4 days.
A pool filter should be run for a minimum of 6 hours after shocking a swimming pool. This is to allow the filter to clean the water and give the shock enough time to fully mix with the pool water. Running the filter after shocking for 24 hours to 7 days is necessary if the pool has a large amount of algae.
After Shocking Your Pool
It is safe to swim once your chlorine levels are around 5 ppm or after 24 hours. It is always best to test first!
Give the shock a good 12 to 24 hours to work it's magic. If the algae hasn't cleared up after 24-48 hours, clean and brush the pool and add another shock treatment.
1) After shock - Sometimes pool water looks cloudy right after you apply shock granules such as cal-hypo, or liquid shock, but rest assured it's only temporary. This could be due to change in water balance – meaning your pool water temporarily goes off balance when adding these products.
Despite how it sounds shocking a pool has nothing to do with electricity or with revealing something completely unexpected. Shocking is the process of adding chemicals (usually chlorine) to your pool to: break apart chloramines, also known as combined chlorine. quickly raise your chlorine level.
When the chlorine has completely finished working, the algae in the pool will turn a white/gray color and will either settle to the bottom of the pool or be suspended in the water. There shouldn't be any more green color and the water visibility should be improving. Run the filter 24/7 and backwash as needed.
Add Pool Water Clarifier
After your pool water has circulated and your shock has dissipated, it's time to add your clarifier. Clarifier helps bind tiny particles into bigger particles that your filter can capture.
So if the pool water isn't cloudy and the 'dirt' is clinging to the walls after brushing, the problem is likely be yellow/mustard algae. Yellow/ Mustard algae is very resistant to even high chlorine levels and will grow and thrive in a chemically well-balanced pool.
Baking Soda and Green, Blue, or Yellow Algae
You'll need to use an algaecide to kill the algae and superchlorinate your pool to clear the water. After this treatment, test your pH and alkalinity and add baking soda to raise alkalinity to at least 100 ppm and pH to between 7.2 and 7.8.
And how long do you have to wait before you can swim? You should wait one hour per pound of shock product added, and then test the water to confirm the pH and chlorine are in the proper range before letting anyone enter the pool.
While shocking and adding algaecide is effective in getting rid of algae, it should not be done together. This is because when you mix chlorine and algaecide together, it renders both of them useless. Hence, you should first shock the pool and wait for the chlorine levels to fall below 5 PPM.
Shock is chlorine, in a high dose, meant to shock your pool and raise the chlorine level quickly. Chlorine tabs (placed in a chlorinator, floater, or skimmer basket) maintain a chlorine residual in the water. You do need to use both tabs and shock.
There are a few different types of algaecides that contain various chemicals to suppress and fight off algae. Many of them include copper or copper sulfate. It's this copper that oxidizes in the water. And when copper oxidizes it turns a green color causing your pool to look green.