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.
High concentrations of chlorine (above 1.5 ppm) will attack the liner and bleach it, thus damaging it. Any level below this range will weaken its ability to kill off bacteria.
Short answer: yes. Longer answer: it depends on the formulation. The label on every bleach bottle should tell you the ratio of sodium hypochlorite (and available chlorine) in the bottle to everything else. A higher percentage is generally better, as you'll need to use less bleach to treat your pool.
Liquid chlorine
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%.
Bleach is safe and the only chemical you should be using in your pool unless cleaning pool tile with baking soda. So yes, you can use bleach to keep your pool water chemistry balanced.
WADING POOL DISINFECTION
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.
It is a good idea to wait at least 20 minutes after adding the water balancing chemicals. If you use calcium chloride in your pool, you should wait at least 2 hours to swim.
There are alternatives to chlorine including bromine, ionizers, and ozonators, though with each you'll still need to use some chlorine. A fourth alternative is PHMB, which doesn't require the use of any chlorine. All four have drawbacks, including cost.
The main difference between bleach and chlorine is their strength. Chlorine is much stronger than bleach. To get your pools chlorine level to the point it needs to be to keep the pool looking clean and bright; you will need to use more bleach than you will chlorine.
Liquid chlorine is a safe choice to use for shocking a vinyl liner pool. It distributes very quickly and is unlikely to bleach or damage your pool liner like cal-hypo or trichlor will.
Below is a list of common pool chemicals which you can choose to use for your above-ground pool and they can all be found at Discount Pool Supply. Sanitizers: liquid chlorine and chlorine tablets/sticks to disinfect the water. These can be added to an automatic chlorinator or chlorine floater.
Baking soda, also known as sodium bicarbonate is naturally alkaline, with a pH of 8. When you add baking soda to your pool water, you will raise both the pH and the alkalinity, improving stability and clarity.
The benefits of swimming pool salt
Using swimming pool salt instead of chlorine delivers greater swimming comfort: Swimming pool salt does not give off an unpleasant odour as chlorine does. It is much less harsh on hair and skin. It does not cause your eyes to sting.
Of course, too much chlorine in pool water can be dangerous. Exposure to over-chlorination can provoke asthma, lung irritation, and potentially skin and eye irritation. As well as being potentially bad for you, it's bad for your pool.
Green algae, unlike its black counterpart, is a true algae; it isn't resistant to chlorine, so you can control it by shocking the pool. If you don't want to spend a lot of money on expensive pool chemicals, you can shock with household bleach.
To superchlorinate, add AT LEAST 2.5 ounces (5 tablespoons, 75 grams) of chlorine for every 100 gallons (400 litres) of spa water or part thereof. Adding more is fine and never a bad idea.
Liquid chlorine and granular shock have the same active chemical that sanitizes your pool, what changes is the strength and the way you use it. Liquid chlorine is less costly, unstabilized and comes in liquid form. Granular shock is stabilized and comes in a solid form that dissolves in your pool.
Common unscented household bleach (sodium hypochlorite) works well to shock a pool.
Pool Cleaning
You can use OxiClean's Versatile Stain Remover to clean the tiles surrounding your swimming pool. However, OxiClean does not recommend using this product to clean your swimming pool or using the OxiClean Versatile Stain Remover as a substitute for pool chemical disinfectants.
It is possible use use the tablets in your large wading pool. However, this is not economical and it will take a large amount of tablets to clean your pool. Unless you have a major supply of these tablets on hand, I would not suggest using them to clean a pool.