When shocking the pool can you use Cal Hypo powder shock rather than the liquid shock if you need something stronger?

Answer 1

You can use cal hypo, which is only 65% chlorine (and should be dissolved in bucket of water before adding, leaving residue out of the pool) but better to use 90% chlorine such as Di-Chlor.

Liquid chlor. 12% acts faster. If you are in a high calcium water area the use of Cal Hypo just adds to you water problems. ( in other words if your tap water is high in calcium)

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the key is to understand first what is the brand of chlorine you're using. not all chlorine brands are equal even if they say the same things ie; cal-hypo, shock, 3" tabs etc; for example most mass merchants, wal-mart, Home Depot, lowes etc; sell a brand of cal-hypo shock that's only 45% available chlorine. that's a huge difference between another brand that may be 65% available chlorine. generally as a rule, professional pool stores sell a better quality brand of chlorine than the mass merchants. to answer you're basic question, assuming you have a good brand of chlorine, granulated tri-chlor, which is ground up tablets in essence, also known as algae kill, is stronger than cal-hypo and won't cloud your pool up. the drawback however, is tri-chlor has a very low pH 2.8 and will lower your pH if you keep using alot of it. the key is to maintain your pool, vacuum etc; have a good filter and keep the chemicals balanced. your local pool store can help you out with that.