Hey, guys I just joined your site about a week ago and this is my first post. I have been reading all the post on converting and decided to convert myself. I never realized so many people had the same Baquacil problems I did. I just thought I was bad a taking care of my pool.

My pool is about 26,000 gallons. It is in full sunlight until about 5:00 PM. It is an inground vinyl pool with sand filter.

I just purchased the TF test kit on Wednesday and got it on Thursday. I was suprised at how easy it was to use along with the quick shipment. since I didn't have any reading to post, I didn't post for any help. now I have readings to go by other than the wal-mart test kit. Here is what I have.

FC - 12 ppm I tested this last night at 12.5. It was zero when I got home from work and will be 0 again when I get home today.
CC - 0.5 ppm
pH - 7.0 this was inbetween the 6.8-7.2 color chart
T/A - 120
CYA - 0

My pool is still cloudy looking. It was clear until I brushed it the other day. My sand filter was clogged with Baquacrap and I finally had the chance to change the sand yesterday. Hopefully by doing that it will clear up.

What are my steps from here? I am stopping by the pool place after work to pick up CYA.

With the temp here in the mid 90's my FC will be 0 when I get home.

Do I add bleach to get it in the 4-8 ppm range? (is that the desired range?)
then add CYA to get it in the 30-50 range? (is that also the desired range?)
or vice versa?

Thanks,
David

If your pool is still cloudy, keep your chlorine to shock level, which is 15ppm, until it clears and the numbers hold overnight.

Backwash your filter before you start putting in CYA, or you will just lose some of it thru backwashing. After you backwash, put the CYA in a sock and tie it by a return, run your filter frequently if not nonstop and then don't backwash for a week while the CYA is dissolving. Put CYA about 2/3 of what it says to reach your target, and test after a week. It's easy to overshoot your target and then you'll have too much. You can always drain a little water if you overshoot. Your PH is a little low, do you have a spa or some other form of aeration?

If not, point your return up so that it breaks the water's surface. This aeration will help raise your ph and lower your TA at the same time.

BTW, congrats on your successful conversion....

Hey, David,

Welcome to the forum. I am constantly amazed at the different experiences folks have with conversions....yours' sounds pretty painless. Very nice work.

I am somewhat concerned you may have changed the sand a little too quickly but let's see what develops.

The process is complete when:
A. You hold FC loss to 1.0 or less overnite
B. Your CC's test .5 or less
C. Your water is sparkling

I'd suggest FC of 3-6ppm with a CYA of 40 or so.

I know nothing about sand filters other than what I read on here, Dave, why are you concered about him changing the sand so quickly?

Was my advice to keep the chlorine up wrong, is his cloudy water just a result of conversion?

Thanks for the advice.

I do not have a spa but I do have a tube that goes on my return in the shallow end that is used for aeration. I will install it when I get home.

duraleigh,
The reason I went ahead and changed the sand was because my water flow was really low. You could barelly feel it comeing out of the returns. No mater how much I backwashed. The pressure on the filter stayed in the low 20's. Now it is at 7psi. I had 3 straight days of my FC holding overnight but that was using the cheap wal-mart test and distilled water. I just talked to my wife and she said the water is clearer today than it was yesterday afternoon. So hopefully it will work out, if not I will change it again.

Also, thanks for the quick shipping on the test kit. I ordered it from you on Wednesday and got it Thursday. I am glad I went with your kit. The instructions were very easy to follow.

My bet is you'll be fine. Given what you just added about your flow, I think you had no choice but to change out.

Might not be a bad idea to open the filter back up in a day or two and see if any gunk is on the top of the sand.....hard to say if that would be helpful or not.

Thanks for the good words on the kit and our shipping!

Anytime I get a good product and get it quick, I will pass the word around. I am very happy with my kit

Hey lethalshine,

Congrats on your conversion!


When you have some time, how about some pix!

Welcome to the forum.

I will post pics later next week. My wife has decided that I am leaving tomorrow to go on vacation a week earlier than planned. So with that being said, what do I need to do to keep my pool looking good while I am gone for a week?

Here are my test results as of yesterday afternoon. My CYA is climbing everyday getting closer to being in range.


FC - 5ppm
CC - 0
pH - 7.2
T/A - 110
CYA - 20

I have been gone for a week; I shocked before I left and then added chlorine as soon as I returned (that night) and all was fine.

When I was gone for 11 days I had a friend (pool owner) add chlorine on day 4 and day 8. All was fine.

Anyone around to add chlorine for you? Once is probably good enough, if you shock before you go that might not even be necessary.

Yes, I have someone that can stop by but they are not dependable. That is one of the few problems of living in the middle of now where. They will come over and swim and not do anything to the pool. So I will just shock the pool before I leave and then maybe see if they can stop by in a few days to check the pool.

Thanks,
David

I just got back home last night after being gone for 8 days and the pool still looks good. I can still see the bottom, it is just cloudy. Mainly, I think, from the filter not running some while I was gone. My water level dropped below my skimmer. I was sure before I left I had plenty of water but who knows. With several 100 degree days and the rest in the 90's, I guess I lost a lot to evaporation. My brother in law is also bad to come over with he friends and family while we are gone and treat the pool as theres.

Since the pool was just convereted I shocked the pool right before I left. Ihaven't added any bleach in 8 days. I did a quick test this morning before coming to work and my CL level is still 5ppm plus( maxed out the cheaper test) my ph is at 7.4 I will do a full test this evening along with filling with water. I have the wife adding water today so hopefully witht the filter running it will be nice and clear shortly.

This weekend I plan on adding my pool pics. It goes from green to tea brown, to clear, now just waiting on the sparkle clear pic. Also, I have saved all my bleach jugs and I will get a total count on how many I used. Nothing makes someone happier than to let them know you have 100 catfish jugs.

Glad it went well, other than the evaporation. My friend's inground pool lost 4 inches of water last week from evaporation, she doesn't use a cover.

Hope you enjoyed your week away, if it was a pleasure trip.

I had a great trip. It was my first time going to Ohio, Lake Erie, and Cedar Point Amusement Park.

now the filter has had a chance to run, the water looks perfectly clear. Here are my readings from last night. I have added some CYA and will recheck that tonight. With my water clear and my pool being vinyl, do I need to worry about Calcium. According to the test kit, I do not but it's suggested range is 200-400. Mine is at 370.

Thanks

FC - 4ppm
CC - 0
pH - 7.2
T/A - 100
CYA - 20
Calcium - 370

I think it's only an issue when your PH is either too high or too low...the calcium precipitates out or something. Waterbear posted something about it. Try a search on high CH maybe? I think you are okay tho as long as you keep your other numbers in range.

That CH level should be alright, but you don't want it going up too much more. To find out more about the risks of calcium scaling, and what to do to avoid it, see this article at pool school.

the first photo is of the green pool after I took the cover off but before the bleach was added.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/27928092@N07/2605360391

The second photo is the brown pool 1 hour after adding the bleach
http://www.flickr.com/photos/27928092@N07/2606198734


The 3rd photo is the pool 2 weeks later. This is also what it looked like 1 week after the conversion but I didnt take any pictures before I left.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/27928092@N07/2606200824


Here is the bottom of the pool 8 feet down. WOW there is a drain down there. I haven't seen it in a long time
http://www.flickr.com/photos/27928092@N07/2605375571


and finally a picture of the 77 jugs of bleach used during the conversion and worth every single penny.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/27928092@N07/2605378301


So, if you are thinking about doing the change yourself. lok at picture 1 and picture 3. No question which way I would go.

My test results are staying steady. I must have counted to many drops the first time I did a calcium test. I checked it 2 more time and I was off by 100. Doesn't take much to distract me, so my mind must have wandered off a bit.




FC - 3ppm
CC - 0
pH - 7.2
T/A - 110
CYA - 40
Calcium - 275

Even with a vinyl pool there is still a risk of calcium scaling if the CH level gets too high. With CH at 370 you will be fine as long as you keep PH at 7.8 or below. You are well below 7.8 right now, so you should be fine.