Household bleach works, but pool chlorine is easier.

Yes, you can use regular household bleach (sodium hypochlorite) to shock or sanitize a pool. But the dosage math is annoying, and without stabilizer the chlorine burns off fast in sunlight.

Household bleach is usually 5–8% sodium hypochlorite. Pool chlorine is typically 10–12% and often includes cyanuric acid (stabilizer) to protect chlorine from UV rays. Without that stabilizer, you’ll be adding bleach constantly.

If you’re set on bleach: for every 10,000 gallons of pool water, about 1 gallon of 6% bleach raises free chlorine by roughly 5 ppm. But you really need a pool calculator or test kit to get it right. Guessing leads to algae or burnt eyes.

For the same price or less, just buy pool-specific liquid chlorine or granules. It’s stronger, stabilized, and the label already tells you the dose. Save the bleach for laundry.

Unless this is a last-minute emergency or a tiny kiddie pool, pool chlorine is the smarter buy.