Started the first doses of bleach yesterday afternoon around 2:45ish, tested and topped up bleach every two+ hours until bedtime & got 4 doses in like that. Got up at 6:30ish this morning, tested added more, then again at 8:30. Haven't put any in during the day yet since its really sunny,figured the sun would eat up the bleach. Will start the every two hour thing again around 4:30 ish this afternoon and stay up on it until bedtime again. Tomorrow is supposed to be partly cloudy so I may at least do a mid day dose as well as the early morning and evening doses.

So far no big build up of pressure in the filter. We've brushed a couple of times today and vacuumed once, got some gunk out that way. All in all, looks like its going well when comparing to other poster's progress pics.

Here are some pics. The first one is a before. The color wasn't bad but the water was milky,cloudy looking. Will update with progress pics later.


This is right after the first dose.


This morning at 6:30am. Lovely, huh?


And just a bit ago after a brushing and vacuum to waste. Not as bad.

Hi, Jennifer,

Very good work! I am particularly impressed with your willingness to test and dose as frequently as you are. That will make the conversion go smoothly and as fast as possible.

Thanks Dave! It's not so bad really. It just takes a few minutes to run out & grab water & test. It helps that the hubby is home today and tomorrow and can do the brushing/vacuuming.

I'm using the desire to have a nice sparkly pool as my motivation to keep at it as often as I can.

Am I right in thinking that it won't matter much about adding as much bleach during the day since its so bright & sunny and the sun will probably eat up the bleach too quickly?

Well, yes and no.

Certainly, adding at night is the most effective in that all the bleach consumed goes towards clearing your pool.

The sun gets a good deal of it in the day but the chlorine can still continue to clear the pool even tho the sun is getting a bunch.

I think it was Jason that has recently suggested adding about 20ppm CYA to the pool prior to starting the conversion just to lessen the impact of the sun. That's a good idea but may be hindsight in your case.

I have done almost identical to what you're doing. Put in a big dose in the morning and then not adding any more 'til the UV rays are off the pool. Then I bring it up to shock level and hold it there until I go to bed.

24/7 shock level with or without CYA is clearly best but reasonableness has to enter the equation. It's probably best to brush your teeth 20 times a day but it's not reasonable.

LOL @ the teethbrushing comparison. I get what you're saying though. Will probably just wait a bit then hit it hard tonight. Hopefully it will be cloudy tomorrow and I'll hit hard then too.

Actually, I suggested adding 20 ppm of CYA before fighting algae. Adding CYA before a conversion slows things down enough to be quite annoying.

When doing a baquacil conversion, during the initial stage, when the FC level is falling back towards zero very quickly, sunlight is not significant. The chlorine reacts with the baquacil fast enough that the sunlight does not play a significant role. During the latter stages, when the FC level doesn't go to zero overnight, sunlight becomes significant, and it is more efficient (but slower) to only add chlorine in the evening.

Thanks for the info Jason. Just saw the weather forecast and its supposed to rain a bit in the morning then be partly cloudy all day tomorrow so I'll keep with my every couple of hours schedule most of the day tomorrow.

When I got up this morning the water was still green but clear enough or me to see the pattern on the bottom of the liner. There was a huge spot of goo in the center and we vacuumed that best we could, hit it with some bleach and going to stay on top of it today with bleach, brush, vacuum. Tried to get an up dated pic but the sun was just starting to come up and cause a glare. Will up dated later.

We got a new patio set yesterday & got it assembled so at least we can sit out there and watch the pretty color water show.

Looks like you're nearly there from what you mentioned above. My water cleared pretty quickly after the green tint had gone.
I'm so happy using bleach and have had no complaints from the hundreds of guests I seem to have

Check it out folks. No, that is not Baqua goop you see in the bottom of the pool. That, my friends, is the pattern on the bottom of the pool. We have been doing the brush/vacuum thing 3-4 times today, been topping up the bleach doses every 2 hours and gone from pea soup-ish looking water to murky green to green but clearing water. It gets a bit clearer with each dose and now there's hardly any goo floating around. There's a spot in the middle that we keep running the vacuum over and it gets smaller each time.

We are on our way to a sparkly pool thanks to you guys! :Woohoo!

Won't be too long before you are enjoying your beautiful sparkling water!

An updated pic, from this morning. It's getting much clearer. It still has the green tint but a huge difference in 2.5 days. It's amazing how it can sparkle in the sun even though its not 'there' yet. kwim?
We stayed on an every 2 hour schedule all day yesterday up until bedtime and the FC never dropped below 7. I'm home all day today and going to stick to that schedule again today. Will update with pics this evening.

Keep in mind that in the later stages of a conversion, which you are now in, sunlight is using up more chlorine than baquacil does. Adding chlorine every two hours is the quickest way to finish the conversion, but it uses more chlorine than if you only add chlorine in the evening.

Wow! The later stages of conversion? Really? That is music to my ears. lol. Hmmm...Maybe I should space out the bleach doses a bit then.

I don't have any CYA yet for when I'm done, maybe I should go out to the pool store in the morning and get some just to have on hand.

when I get to that point that I need to start asking questions about what to do next, which forum should I post in? This one, the BBB forum, or the Testing & Balancing forum?

When the conversion is complete, FC holds overnight, CC is 0.5 or lower, and you have replaced your filter media and added CYA, you should start a new topic in an appropriate area, depending on what your questions are about.

When should I start letting the water circulate through my solar panels during the conversion? Someone mentioned before to do it toward the end, should I go ahead and let it circulate today?

Turn on the solar system after adding CYA, which will probably be a few days yet.

Thanks again Jason! Isn't there a chance there's still some Baquacrap in there though? Or you think it'll be so minimal that it won't effect anything?

There is very likely to be just a little tiny bit of baquacil in the panels. There shouldn't be enough to cause any problems for the filter, but there might be enough to depress the FC level. You want to be at shock level when you turn on the panels. You also want to do it after adding CYA, so you aren't subjecting the panels to the really high active chlorine levels used in the pool during the earlier parts of the conversion.