Simply add salt and your pool's salt chlorinator will do all the work of making chlorine. While all pools require chemicals to maintain clean, clear water, salt water pools are more stable than traditional chlorinated pools, so they require fewer chemicals.
Pros of Saltwater Pools
There's less chlorine and less of the heavy chemical scent and content. They're gentler on the skin, with less irritation to the eyes, hair and swimsuits. The water has a softer, silkier feel to it compared to chlorine water. They have lower maintenance costs than chlorine pools.
Common unscented household bleach (sodium hypochlorite) works well to shock a pool.
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.
Just like you run vinegar through your coffee pot to get rid of calcium buildup, white vinegar can wipe away this eyesore in your pool. Mix a 50/50 solution of vinegar and water, dip a sponge or soft cloth into it, and scrub that residue away.
To mix chlorine bleach combine 5.25 percent sodium hypochlorite and 94.75 percent water. To mix non-chlorine bleach, combine equal parts hydrogen peroxide and water. Pour mixture into the plastic container, and secure tightly. Shake to mix ingredients.
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.
The Bottom Line about Pools and Chlorine
As mentioned above, you could probably swim in a pool without chlorine without any major health issues. However, long-term use of a pool lacking chlorinated H2O could make you sick or, at the very least, contribute to rashes and other types of skin irritation.
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.
It is important to know what exactly bleach is before you put it in your pool. 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.
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.
Bleach is sodium hypochlorite and I was reading I can make my own bleach using a formula of 2 tablespoons of calcium hypochlorite (shock 70%) and 3 cups of water to make the concentrate. The add 8 drops of this concentrate to a gallon of water to create the standard 6% off the shelf bleach.
At a 12.5% concentrate, liquid pool shock is approximately 2x's stronger than Clorox bleach. The recommends 5 tablespoons of regular bleach per gallon of water to properly disinfect a surface. When using liquid pool shock, dilute it at a rate of 2.5 to 3 tablespoons per gallon of water.
It takes a lot of chemicals to make pool water safe for swimming. Untreated water can accumulate harmful Escherichia coli and Salmonella bacteria and protozoans such as Cryptosporidium parvum and Giardia lamblia.
Maintenance is critical when it comes to the quality of your pool water. Well maintained pool water can last up to 5, maybe even seven years before you need to replace it. This means weekly cleaning, functional filters, and checking ph levels every day. Usage is a huge determining factor.
Mineral Swim is the only system of it's kind combining Australian made ozone water purification technology with 100% natural Dead Sea minerals to make it the safest, healthiest swimming pool about.
In theory, if you have a cloudy swimming pool, you can add chlorine to “shock it” and clear things up. Chlorine will get the job done. But, the amounts may vary and you may have to really pound the pool with chlorine to get the water totally clear.
Excessive levels of pool chemicals can cause your water to become cloudy. High pH, high alkalinity, high chlorine or other sanitisers, and high calcium hardness are all common culprits.
Salt systems are actually chlorine generators, using a process called electrolysis. Electrolysis happens by sending electricity through saltwater (sodium chloride, or NaCl), which interacts with the chloride ion in the salt. This creates chlorine in the water, and a very high-pH byproduct called sodium Hydroxide.