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Pool Chemical Dosage Chart
Every common dose for 10,000 gallons. For 20,000 double it, for 5,000 halve it.
This pool chemical dosage chart shows how much of each common chemical to add, so you can fix your readings without guessing. All the doses are for 10,000 US gallons of water. If your pool holds 20,000 gallons, use twice as much. If it holds 5,000 gallons, use half.
Quick reference for a 10,000 gallon pool:
- To lift free chlorine by 1 ppm: 10 fl oz of liquid chlorine 12.5%
- To bring pH down to 7.5, starting at 7.8: 9 fl oz of muriatic acid 31.45%
- To bump alkalinity up 10 ppm: 1 lb 6 oz of baking soda
How much to add for each 10,000 gallons?
Strips and test kits report in parts per million, written ppm. That just tells you how much of something is dissolved in the water. Each amount in the table moves the reading by the number shown, per 10,000 US gallons.
| Product | What it changes in 10,000 gallons | Amount | Metric |
|---|---|---|---|
| Liquid chlorine 12.5% | Free chlorine up 1 ppm | 10 fl oz | 305 mL |
| Liquid chlorine 10% | Free chlorine up 1 ppm | 13 fl oz | 380 mL |
| Cal-hypo 65% | Free chlorine up 1 ppm | 2.1 oz | 60 g |
| Dichlor 56% (adds 0.9 ppm stabilizer) | Free chlorine up 1 ppm | 2.4 oz | 70 g |
| Trichlor 90% in a floater (adds 0.6 ppm stabilizer) | Chlorine fed by tablets, per 1 ppm | 1.5 oz | 40 g |
| Liquid chlorine 12.5% | Shock, free chlorine up 10 ppm | 102 fl oz | 3.03 L |
| Muriatic acid 31.45% | pH 7.8 down to 7.5 | 9 fl oz | 270 mL |
| Dry acid 93.2% | pH 7.8 down to 7.5 | 12 oz | 350 g |
| Soda ash | pH 7.2 up to 7.5 | 1 lb 1 oz | 495 g |
| Baking soda | Alkalinity up 10 ppm | 1 lb 6 oz | 635 g |
| Muriatic acid 31.45% | Alkalinity down 10 ppm | 26 fl oz | 755 mL |
| Cyanuric acid | Stabilizer up 10 ppm | 13 oz | 380 g |
| Calcium chloride 77% | Calcium hardness up 10 ppm | 1 lb 3 oz | 545 g |
Acid doses for pH assume your alkalinity is in the normal range. The two chlorine rows are two options, so use whichever product you have.
Add half, let the pump mix it, test again, then add the rest: 30 minutes for chlorine, acid and soda ash, a day for baking soda and calcium, and up to a week for stabilizer. Acid always goes into water, not water into acid, and acid never meets chlorine. For your own gallons, use the pool chemical calculator.
Download: Doses (CSV) · Test log (CSV) · Print this page
Target ranges to aim for
Stabilizer, or CYA (short for cyanuric acid), shields chlorine from sunlight so it does not get used up too fast. How much free chlorine you need depends on your CYA level.
| Check | Aim for |
|---|---|
| Free chlorine | 3 to 5 ppm when CYA is 30 ppm; 4 to 6 ppm when CYA is 40 ppm |
| pH | Keep between 7.4 and 7.6 (7.2 to 7.8 still works) |
| Alkalinity (total) | 80 to 120 ppm |
| Hardness (calcium) | 200 to 400 ppm |
| CYA (stabilizer) | 30 to 50 ppm, or 70 to 80 ppm if you run a salt cell |
| Salt | Use what your cell manufacturer recommends, usually somewhere between 3,000 and 3,500 ppm |
Free chlorine for your stabilizer level
| Stabilizer (CYA) | Never below | Keep it at | Shock level |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 ppm | 1 ppm | 2 to 4 ppm | 10 ppm |
| 20 ppm | 2 ppm | 2 to 4 ppm | 10 ppm |
| 30 ppm | 2 ppm | 3 to 5 ppm | 12 ppm |
| 40 ppm | 3 ppm | 4 to 6 ppm | 16 ppm |
| 50 ppm | 4 ppm | 6 to 8 ppm | 20 ppm |
| 60 ppm | 5 ppm | 7 to 9 ppm | 24 ppm |
| 70 ppm | 5 ppm | 8 to 11 ppm | 28 ppm |
| 80 ppm | 6 ppm | 9 to 12 ppm | 32 ppm |
| 90 ppm | 7 ppm | 10 to 14 ppm | 36 ppm |
| 100 ppm | 8 ppm | 11 to 15 ppm | 40 ppm |
Free chlorine follows the Trouble Free Pool chart. Salt pools run stabilizer at 70 to 80 ppm.
Adding chemicals safely
Put in one chemical at a time while the pump runs, and add it near a return jet. That way it gets mixed around instead of sitting in one place.
- When diluting acid, the acid goes into the water. Adding water to acid can cause splashing.
- Keep acid and chlorine apart. Mixed together, they react badly.
- After you add acid or soda ash, give it half an hour, then check pH again to see the true result.
- At normal doses, liquid chlorine is safe for swimming after about half an hour.
- After shocking, stay out of the water until free chlorine drops back to its normal range for your stabilizer, 10 ppm at the very most.
Working out your pool's volume
You need to know how much water your pool holds before the chart can help. Not sure how many gallons you have? Match your pool to one of the typical sizes, or enter its length, width and depth in our volume calculator, which remembers the answer and fills it in on every dose calculator for you. If your floor slopes, add the shallow depth to the deep depth and divide by 2 to get the average.
Here are a few typical sizes, assuming an average depth of 4.5 ft:
| Pool (ft), 4.5 ft average depth | Gallons | Liters |
|---|---|---|
| 12 x 24 | 9,690 | 36,700 |
| 14 x 28 | 13,200 | 50,000 |
| 16 x 32 | 17,240 | 65,200 |
| 18 x 36 | 21,810 | 82,600 |
| 20 x 40 | 26,930 | 101,900 |
A US gallon works out to 3.785 liters; a cubic meter holds 1,000 liters.
Bringing stabilizer down
Stabilizer doesn't wear off and your filter can't catch it, so the only way to lower it is to swap out some water. To go from 100 ppm to 50 ppm, you would need to replace roughly half the water.
Weekly test log
Note each reading and every chemical you add. Within a month or so, you will start to see patterns. A basic table is all it takes:
| Day | Chlorine, free | pH | Total alkalinity | CYA level | What went in |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monday | |||||
| Tuesday | |||||
| Wednesday | |||||
| Thursday | |||||
| Friday | |||||
| Saturday | |||||
| Sunday |
| Day | Free chlorine | pH | Alkalinity | CYA | What I added |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monday | |||||
| Tuesday | |||||
| Wednesday | |||||
| Thursday | |||||
| Friday | |||||
| Saturday | |||||
| Sunday |