Hi JoyfulNoise,
Thanks so much for your encouragement! I really appreciate that. So far I have not heard back from the guy at the company that sells the AquaFinesse product. I had talked to him at length about a week ago but haven't heard back since. Not sure if that's a good sign or not!! I wouldn't go so far as to say I "know the TFP method". I have not delved too deeply into the whole conversion to chlorine and the maintenance involved with that since I'm not yet certain that is the direction I'm going, but I am starting to read and learn more about it. It does seem that there are advantages to liquid chlorine over the various sticks and pucks, etc. I even checked with my plasterer and he agrees with the use of liquid chlorine. So if I DO convert, which seems a likely possibility, I think I'll opt for liquid over the solid forms.
Keith
You're welcome.
Check out
this thread by user
JimIowa. I helped out on his thread (if by "help" one means being a cheerleader
). His is an example of a Baqua-to-chlorine conversion that took a long time. What we eventually learned is that the CDX product can sometimes really mess up a conversion either by causing a huge chlorine demand to destroy it all OR, in the case of Jim Iowa's conversion, causing excessive cloudiness that would not clear. What finally worked for him, and not something that TFP typically recommends, was the one-time use of a flocculant to force the particulates to settle to the bottom so he could vacuum to waste. Now, this example is not meant in anyway to discourage you, but just to show you that Baq conversions can be tricky. However, there are also plenty of examples where the Baqua-to-chlorine conversion was completed without incident in a week's time. Since you have used the CDX products, I might expect a particulate issue BUT you also have a DE filter which is the best filtration method for fine particulates, so it may not be a problem for your pool.
Also, I totally agree with your current plan of just finishing out the year and closing the pool down. I'm sad you have to swim in yucky water, but I see no reason to drive yourself nuts trying to convert a pool you won't be swimming in for months. A more useful use of the time would be to study and read on the TFP forum all about the TFPC Method of pool care. Basically it boils down to this - testing your own water with a high quality, professional test kit to eliminate the random readings that can often be associated with pool store testing AND understanding what the chemicals are that you put into your pool and what effect they have on your water. That's really it.
This isn't about forcing people to use bleach or powders or salt-water chlorine generators or anything in particular. It's about knowing what chemicals will work the best for your pool. And the definition of what is "best" is this - whatever regimen of testing and chemical dosing that gets you crystal clear water and the least amount of trouble!
For example, your pool is a seasonal pool. Therefore, depending on how long your swim season is (pool open to pool close), it is entirely possible that you could use some solid forms of chlorine in your pool at least for a portion of the swim season and then switch over to liquid chlorine (bleach) to finish out the swim season. The only thing to be careful with regarding the solid chlorine chemicals is that they either add calcium along with the chlorine or stabilizer (cyanuric acid). Both of those can get too high and cause lots of problems. But, if you drain a good amount of water at every closing and open with some fresh fill water and/or have some rain dilution over the swim season, then it's not a very difficult task to manage those solid forms of chlorine. I, like many TFP practitioners, have a salt-water chlorine generator. I love it! It makes my pool care very boring. But it's not for everyone.
So spend some time on TFP and look over all the info. Think about it and ask any question you would like. Everyone here is super-nice and really just want to help as much as possible. If/when you're ready to ditch the Baquacil, you can count on many users to come right along side you and develop the best plan of attack for converting your pool. Then you too can have a
very boring pool care routine
Cheers,
Matt
