Overall, despite being called shock, it works in a fundamentally different way from traditional chlorine shock and certainly doesn’t replace it. If chlorine shock is a nuclear bomb for your pool, non-chlorine shock is more like a tactical air strike. In doing so, it alleviates stress on your chlorine and allows your residual chlorine level to focus on more serious contamination in the water. Instead, it breaks down non-living organic material such as sweat, saliva, urine, etc. While chlorine is both an oxidizer and a sanitizer, MPS is only an oxidizer, meaning it’s unable to kill living organics like bacteria, viruses, or algae. Non-chlorine shock, or monopersulfate (MPS), is the only shock treatment that isn’t chlorine. There’s always an exception to the rule, and this is it. Overall, while it is possible to use shock in place of other chlorine products, it’s not nearly as convenient due to how shock is marketed and sold.

The packaging also won’t provide instructions for regular daily use as they’re meant to spike the chlorine level far beyond a residual level. While liquid shock comes in jugs with resealable caps, they’re often sold in larger quantities and aren’t suitable for long-term storage. Yes, shock is just chlorine - but using it to maintain a residual chlorine level will likely present some challenges.įor example, when using a granular shock, the bags usually aren’t resealable as they’re intended to be single-use. Of course, this doesn’t discount the cyanuric acid already in your water, so that always has to be accounted for. This is why recommended chlorine shocks-such as calcium hypochlorite-come without cyanuric acid, or unstabilized, as it allows the chlorine level to drop back down with a little help from the sun. While this is incredibly useful for maintaining a residual sanitizer level, a shock treatment only needs to last a few hours (or left overnight) to get the job done. In fact, stabilizer is such an important chemical for residential pools that most chlorine products contain cyanuric acid right out of the box giving it the name stabilized chlorine. Without it, an outdoor pool can lose up to 90% of its chlorine in just 2 hours. Shock Generally Isn’t stabilizedĬhlorine stabilizer, or cyanuric acid, protects free chlorine from breaking down under the sun’s UV light. Tablets or pucks would never be considered shock treatments as they dissolve far too slowly to reach the required level for breakpoint chlorination. Liquid shock (sodium hypochlorite) typically comes in 1-gallon jugs, and can be poured directly into the water as needed since it comes pre-dissolved. Granular shock (dichlor, trichlor, or calcium hypochlorite) typically comes in 1 lb bags that are first dissolved in a bucket of water prior to adding it to the pool.Īs a general rule, you would use 1 bag of granular shock per 10,000 gallons of water, though more severe issues may require a double or triple dose. Since shocking requires such a high concentration of active sanitizer, it’s always in the form of granular or liquid chlorine because they dissolve and disperse more quickly throughout your pool. These characteristics don’t make them any less chlorine, but they do make them more appropriate shock treatments. Are There Any Other Differences?Įven though chlorine and shock are one in the same, chlorine products marked as “shock treatment” tend to have certain characteristics. The goal of using a ton of chlorine (known as shocking) is to reach something called “breakpoint chlorination”, where all contaminants are oxidized and effectively removed from the water.įrom a chemistry perspective, it’s like dropping a nuclear bomb on your water but without the fallout to follow. Scenarios like this lead to significant and/or unexpected levels of contamination that overwhelm your sanitizer, leaving your pool vulnerable to bacteria, algae, and other unfriendly visitors. You have a buildup of chloramines (used chlorine).You have a lot of people using the pool.Little Jimmy decides to pee in the water.There’s heavy rainfall and the pool is uncovered.Lots of leaves or other debris get into your water.You find an animal in your pool (dead or alive).Where your normal/residual level of chlorine is usually enough to keep your water in check, high levels of contamination often call for a much heavier dose. Note: There is a type of shock treatment that isn’t chlorine. Where you might typically add 1-3 parts per million (ppm) of chlorine to your water as part of your daily maintenance routine, a shock treatment would contribute many times that - possibly up to 10x times the amount. While you might find some products labeled as chlorine and others labeled as shock, they’re really both chlorine with different dosage requirements.īasically, if you add enough chlorine to your water, you’re shocking your pool. Pool shock, or shock treatment, is simply a high concentration of chlorine.

Liquid pool shock