Chlorine tablets are a great way to maintain your swimming pools chlorine levels throughout the pool season. You can place the tablets in a floating dispenser or automatic chlorinator for them to dispense the chlorine gradually while keeping your water sanitized and clear.
The first thing you must do is determine how many tablets your swimming pool will need on a weekly basis based on the pools water capacity. For every 5,000 gallon of water in your pool, you will need to use 1 chlorine tablet. It is also important to always round up to the nearest 5,000 gallons.
For example if you have a relatively small swimming pool that only holds 8,000 gallons of water, when adding chlorine you would add the appropriate amount for a 10,000 gallon pool. When rounding up this will always ensure you are getting the correct amount of chlorine levels.
| Pools Capacity (In Gallons) | 3 Inch Chlorine Tablets (Per Week) |
| 5,000 | 1 Tablet |
| 10,000 | 2 Tablets |
| 15,000 | 3 Tablets |
| 20,000 | 4 Tablets |
| 25,000 | 5 Tablets |
How Often Should You Add Chlorine Tablets?
You typically will only need to add chlorine tablets one time per week. It is best that you pick a day that you will be able to perform some weekly maintenance and replenish chlorine tablets on a set schedule. This will become routine and make your pool care much easier.
If you have a 16,000 gallon pool, you would need to add 4 tablets one time per week. When you add the tablets each week it is also a good time to clean your skimmer and pump skimmer basket if you have one. Check to see if you need to clean your filters or backwash your pool and take care of all your pool care at once including testing your pool water.
Pro Tip! When it is your weekly schedule to add more chlorine tablets, look at how much chlorine is remaining. If the total amount of tablets equal 1 tablet by estimate you can count that tablet. Therefore if you add 4 tablets each week, you can add only 3 to bring the total back up to 4 making your chlorine last longer during the season. During the cool months when you water is cooler, this may occur from time to time. When the water gets warmer, chlorine will be dissolved at a much quicker rate.
Where Should You Place The Tablets In The Pool?
It is important that you do not place your chlorine tablets directly in the skimmer. I have another article you can read by clicking here explaining in more detail the main reasons to not add chlorine into your pool skimmer.
Chlorine Floater Dispenser
This is one of the easiest and least expensive methods to disperse chlorine gradually throughout your pool all season long. You place the chlorine pucks into the floater and let it float on the surface of the water. You can also adjust the opening on most models to raise or lower chlorine levels that need adjusted.
Automatic Chlorinator
The more advanced option which is also more expensive is an automatic chlorinator. It will require some installation efforts to install it in your swimming pools pipe lines. There are two different types of automatic chlorinators that you can choose from if choosing this method.
Inline Chlorinator
If you install an inline chlorinator it will be installed in the permanent pipe or hose after the pool pump and filter that leads to the jet return as it flows water back into your pool. This will require fitting the pipe lines so that it will be the right size to hook into your chlorinator. This is the best option if you have not yet completed the plumbing of your pool pump and filter.
Offline Chlorinator
Already have your plumbing setup and just now deciding to add a chlorinator to your pool? The offline chlorinator will the best option for you. All that you need to do to install an offline chlorinator is attach the lines from the automatic chlorinator to the pipe that is returning water to your swimming pool. You can do this by drilling a small hole in your PVC pipes and adding the line. Check your manuals installation directions for exact drill bit size for the perfect fit.
For an even better understanding of chlorinators for your pool, check out my article Floating Chlorinators vs. Automatic Chlorinators by clicking here.
Cyanuric Acid (CYA)
When you are using chlorine tablets as the primary source for sanitizing your pool, they will add cyanuric acid in your water. This is necessary to help maintain proper chlorine levels. If your water does not have any CYA in it, the sun will burn off the chlorine too fast and prevent proper treatment of the pool.
If you do not have CYA it will lead to algae forming and unwanted bacterial being able to survive in the water. In instances where you have extremely low or no CYA you can add stabalizer to raise the CYA levels or when using other methods of chlorine sanitation such as bleach.
Too Much CYA
This can at times cause your swimming pool to have too much stabilizer or CYA in the water. When your water has too much the chlorine will not exit the pool fastest enough leading to cloudy water and less effective chlorine. The recommended levels for Cyanuric Acid in your water is between 30 and 75 PPM. Also depending on your pool location can affect the required levels. An indoor pool can have much lower levels, while an outdoor pool in direct sunlight will need to have the higher 50 – 75 PPM levels.
If you need to lower your CYA simply drain some water. This the best way to reduce the levels in your pool. If you regularly backwash your pools filter, you are reducing the CYA each time you perform a backwash.
Each week when you add chlorine tablets to your pools water, you should also be checking the CYA levels. This is often called stabilizer on some pool testing strips.
If you drain a portion of your swimming pools water at the end of each season you are lowering your CYA levels with this process each year. Drug Accutane. Also keep in mind that your chlorine tablets will add stabilizer as they are dissolving. For this reason, if you have low CYA levels be cautious on how much stabilizer if add, if you decide to add any at all.
Final Thoughts
Chlorine tablets is the most used form of sanitizing swimming pools everywhere. Pick one day a week to check and add chlorine tablets as necessary, bringing the total tablets required for your water capacity to stay chlorinated properly.
During this time do basic pool maintenance including checking filters, testing water and removing debris from skimmers. This is also a good time to add water to your pool from evaporation if needed.
If you are running low on chlorine tablets, click here to see my recommended chlorine tablets which are the ones I use for my 24 foot round swimming pool.
