After shocking, test your water chemistry. Make sure all the levels – chlorine, pH, alkalinity, calcium hardness and CYA – are within the correct range. Adjust if necessary. If chlorine levels are too high, let the sun evaporate it.
Yes you can backwash the morning after shocking. My rule of thumb is back wash until clean, rinse 10 seconds, backwash again, rinse 10 seconds, Obviously turning off the system between each step. Set filter to Filter and open pressure valve.
If you used liquid shock, it is fine to go ahead and vacuum. If you used powder shock I would still give it 24 hours before vacuuming. Hopefully I have answered your question to your satisfaction. If not please reach out and we can discuss further. Have a great day and thank you for choosing JustAnswer!
Shocking is crucial for removing any pathogens in the water and making a pool safe for swimming. It also involves using heavy-duty chemicals, including chlorine, so it's best to wait at least 24 hours after you shock a pool to go swimming. Going in too soon can potentially cause skin, eye, and even lung problems.
After shocking your pool, it's generally recommended to leave the cover off for about 2-3 hours. This allows the oxidizer to fully circulate and break down any contaminants. After that, you can run the jets for another 30 minutes to ensure proper distribution.
Is it possible to shock your pool too much? Yes—excessive shocking of your pool will keep it at an elevated chlorine level. This will cause irritation of the skin and eyes as well as excessive wear and tear on your pool filter system, including excessive corrosion of all metal parts.
Ideally, you should shock your pool at night, so the sun cannot interfere and destroy the active chemicals before they can do their job. Then, you can add your chlorine post-shock after the chlorine levels have fallen below 5 ppm.
How Long Should I Run My Filter? With non-chlorine shock, 15 minutes is sufficient with the pump running. With using a chlorine shock, it depends on how, and what, you were “shocking” for. A maintenance dose per say, one would only need to wait approximately 4 hours with the pump running.
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.
But when is the right time to add shock? The answer: at night. Chlorine pool shock is unstabilized, and the sun will burn off the chlorine before it has time to do its job. And wait at least 8 hours after shocking to go swimming again.
After shocking, test your water chemistry. Make sure all the levels – chlorine, pH, alkalinity, calcium hardness and CYA – are within the correct range.
To ensure chemicals are dispersed evenly in the pool, most suppliers recommend you run your pool pump while adding chemicals to the water.
Add sodium thiosulfate
Sodium thiosulfate is another chlorine-neutralizing compound. It works similarly to hydrogen peroxide by reacting with the chlorine from the water. The quantity you'll need will depend on the size of the pool and the current chlorine levels.
1) What is the difference between chlorine and shock? Do I need to use both? Chlorine is a sanitizer, and (unless you use Baquacil products) is necessary for maintaining a clear and healthy pool. Shock is chlorine, in a high dose, meant to shock your pool and raise the chlorine level quickly.
Brush after Adding Chemicals: Many powdered or granular pool chemicals don't dissolve right away when added to the pool water. Brushing helps dissolve and disperse the chemicals so that they aren't able to stain, scale, or etch the interior surface.
Backwashing too often can reduce the filter's effectiveness. The sediment layer helps improve filtration by trapping finer particles.
If the water turns green to cloudy blue, you have successfully eliminated the algae and can now add the clarifier. If the water is still green after shocking, redo the steps and wait another twenty-four hours. Finally, when the water becomes blue/grey, you can add the pool clarifier and let it run for twelve hours.
Learn More About Balancing Your Pool
For safe and accurate results, you should always test in the following order: Start by testing alkalinity and making adjustments as needed. Next, test and adjust pH levels as needed. Third, test and adjust calcium hardness as needed.
When shocking, the pH level can firstly be reduced (to 6.8) as sodium hypochlorite will raise the pH level so that the water will later return to an acceptable level of between 7.2 and 7.4.
Vacuuming After Shocking
As mentioned, you should vacuum your swimming pool as much as possible to keep the job manageable. However, after shocking the pool, you shouldn't vacuum for at least 24 hours. Running the water pump during this period will allow the shock to do its job.
Don't worry, your treatment has not gone into waste. Even if you shock your pool properly, it takes a while for the natural microorganisms to do their job. This can take up to 12-24 hours, as opposed to a couple of days with harsh chemicals. Thus, the pool water takes time to get clear.
On average, you should run your pool pump around 6-8 hours per day during winter and 10-12 hours per day during summer. Note that you need to run your pool pump longer during summer because algae grow more in warm temperatures.
Can I add algaecide and shock at the same time? No. Let the shock try to fight the algae first. Add algaecide about 24 hours after shock to finish the job and prevent future algae blooms.
Begin the pool start-up process by adding some scale or stain preventative before any other chemical. If your pool consists of new plaster, this step should always go first. Make sure that the water is properly tested to determine how much chemicals you should add.