Day 8 Update: Still waiting for the overnight test and the completion of the conversion process.
I have attached the latest pics taken tonight although the water has been clear since day 6, Tuesday.
We have discovered that not adding bleach during sunny days is best as the bleach evaporates to 0 by 4 pm. Also, the FC testing has changed as the levels get closer to the 15 ppm. The R-0870 doesn't always turn the water pink. But, when you add R-0871 it turns pink with one or two drops.
I assume the CYA is very low and that is why the FC is gone so fast during sun. Hoping for completion Saturday or by Monday at the latest, that will be 10 to 12 days total ans I haven't added up the amount of bleach. Again, our process has probably been longer than it could have been because of so many interruptions and not being home to work on it.

Looking very nice!

Looking good!

Wow... you should put some before and after pictures in the same post... an amazing transformation!

Update Day 25:
I don't recommend doing this the slow way as we did, but as noted before we had many interruptions. Just to keep things in perspective, we bought (79) 1.4 gal jugs of 6% bleach, (4) 1 gal jugs of 12% chlorine, and used a gal or two of our existing Clorox. Of that, we still have (6) 182 oz jugs. A total of $240 for bleach. Obviously, this was not the typical conversion and I would suggest anyone doing this to listen to the coaches and make sure you are committed to the time it takes for at least the first week. Also, I don't plan to do this conversion again so the price is not bad considering what the water looks like now.
Current numbers:
FC - 4, but is not holding in the sun, waiting to get the CYA up to 30
CC - 0.5
PH - 7.5
TA - 130
CH - 140
CYA - appears to be about 15 so added more stablizer.
Question: when testing CYA, it says when you can't see the black dot. Does it mean can't see or does it mean when it turns gray? I've added 30 oz on 5/16, 10 oz on 5/17, 20 oz on 5/22 when I checked CYA and I could see the dot when the tube was full. Seems like a lot of stablizer 60 oz. when the pool calculator said 50 should do it? I've checked CYA twice and the first time the water stayed clear, second time it was cloudy, but could see the dot.

Pool still looks great!!

You should give CYA a week to dissolve from when you added it before testing CYA again. It tends not to show up on the CYA test right away. Testing sooner than a week tends to give results lower than what you actually added and so can be misleading and is a waste of CYA testing reagent.

The black dot gets lighter and the surrounding white ring gets lighter as you add solution to the view tube. Eventually (if CYA is high enough), they appear to be the same gray color, so that it is impossible to tell if there was a black dot there to begin with or not, even if you stare at it for several seconds. When you get to that point, that is your CYA level.

I wonder what would happen if you did a rough calculation of how much bleach it would take to do a whole conversion... and just dumped it all in at one time.

That CYA test is difficult for many of us to read. It takes a little practice.

Have you seen this link from Taylor? Scroll to the bottom for pics:

http://www.taylortechnologies.com/Chemi ... ntentID=36

Just to update, the pool is looking great and have been using bleach all summer. One question, I have been getting 0.5 to 1.0 PPM for FC each day, is this pretty typical. We don't use the pool every day and when we do it is not for long periods of time. I was hoping to get 1.5 to 2.0 PPM. It has been hot in Ohio and mostly sunny.
Thanks.

What is your CYA level these days?

You are right the CYA was 20 so I'm working to get it to 30 and the FC levels came up to 2.0 the last 2 or 3 days.
Thanks.

I was reading about closing a pool and noted that you put PolyQuat in your pool. I've never heard of PolyQuat on this site before. What is it, do I have to use it, and what if I don't?
One other issue with closing, if you have a mess 'loc loop' cover the warranty says you can't lower the water more than 12" from the top. I use a 'gysmo' and it haw been working so far. I do like the idea of the ultimate gysmo with another safe guard.
Thanks,

PolyQuat 60 is an algaecide with the ingredient "Poly [oxyethylene (dimethylimino) ethylene (dimethyliminio) ethylene dichloride]" that is sold under many different brands often called "Algaecide 60" though you should always check the ingredients for 60% of the chemical itself.

It is optional, but can help prevent algae growth even when there is no chlorine in the water, especially when the water is cold. Many people simply close their pools when the water gets cold, especially 50ºF or below, and then shock with chlorine which will last a long time in cold water. If you then open the pool in spring before the water warms up, you will rarely have algae. If you do want to use PolyQuat and chlorine, then the procedure for doing so is in this post.

Just wanted to update my thread since last years conversion. Today I looked at my pool and took some pictures. There has been some discussion about different types of winter covers. Mine is a full mess cover and I love it. I debated on getting a solid cover, I'm glad I didn't get one. As you can see from the picture with the cover on, I have not cleaned anything from the cover since winter. With a mess cover the water filters through to the pool and the leaves and dirt blow off. I briefly opened the pool to see what it looked like and add a little bleach to keep any green from growing with the warmer weather. I think any time you can see the bottom, the pool has done well over the winter. A little vacuuming and the pool will look like when it was closed in October. I'm looking forward to a good year and a much less expensive year with our trouble free pool maintenance.

Congratulations!

I have been having problems keeping the FC up. Here is what I have:
5/29/11 8 PM FC 1.0 added 2 gal 2 cups of bleach 6% to get to 12 shock
5/30/11 7 AM FC 14.0
5/30/11 7 PM FC 1.0 add 2 qt 1 cup,
CC 0.5
PH 7.5
TA 100
CH 50
CYA 30
5/31/11 7 AM FC 3.0
5/31/11 7:30 PM FC 0.0 add 3 qt to get to 4.0
5/31/11 9 PM FC 4
6/1/11 7 AM FC 4
6/1/11 6 PM FC 0.0 add 3 qts.
6/2/11 6 PM FC 0.0 add 3 qts.
6/2/11 8:30 PM FC 4
Pool looks clean, CYA is at 30 for FC of 4, The only think I see is when I clean my skimmer sock it usually has a yellow fine coating and sometimes like jelly. The filter is slightly higher pressure than last year, was 10 psi now I can get it as low as 12 psi after backwashing.
I have backwashed several times in the last 2 weeks and tried some sand filter cleaner which I didn't see any improvement. I had been getting at least 0.5 FC but now 0.
Do I need to shock for several days to see if that clears it up?
I am in Ohio and the last week has been clear and in the 90's.
Thanks.

If I am reading correctly, you are only losing chlorine during the day, but not at night. If I have that right, all you need to do is bring CYA up to around 50.

Why doesn't FC of 4.0 and CYA of 30 work as it did last year? Also, I may not have had the pump running between 10 Pm and 10 AM. I think I'll try running all night an see if it still holds. I'm wondering if the filter or pipes have something in them.

The most likely explanation is that your CYA level isn't really the same as it was last year. The CYA test isn't all that precise.