I have an individual that is needing to convert their pool from chlorine to bioguard softswim for medical reasons... I am not having much luck in researching this conversion as most people go the other way... Questions are... Do we need to completely drain the pool and refill for conversion and does filter sand need changed? Pool has yet to be opened this season and so I'm guessing there's no FC in the water at this point.. Input is appreciated...
Converting TO biguanides
- Thread starter stebs
- Start date
Well, this is certainly a rare thread 
While we have a lot of people coming here claiming chlorine allergies, they are usually not and are reacting to a poorly maintained pool. Are they 100% certain chlorine is the problem? I would hate for them to have to deal the hassle and expense of the Baq if not really needed.
To answer your question, I am not sure. I would think once the FC dropped to zero, you could just convert, but I am not sure if any CYA in the water would cause problems or not.
Hopefully Lee will chime in as he had this stuff in his pool for a long time.
While we have a lot of people coming here claiming chlorine allergies, they are usually not and are reacting to a poorly maintained pool. Are they 100% certain chlorine is the problem? I would hate for them to have to deal the hassle and expense of the Baq if not really needed.
To answer your question, I am not sure. I would think once the FC dropped to zero, you could just convert, but I am not sure if any CYA in the water would cause problems or not.
Hopefully Lee will chime in as he had this stuff in his pool for a long time.
I'd like to first off echo Jason's question of are they sure they have a reason to avoid chlorine? Baqua is very difficult to use and VERY expensive to maintain a clear pool. Before doing anything.......double check the reason to switch is due to a legit medical reason.......not just cause they itch after using some pools.
That said, onto your questions.............
The conversion from Chlorine to Baqua is a very simple one compared to Baqua to chlorine. The first thing you will need to do is to fully neutralize ALL chlorine in the water. This will allow you to "reuse" the current water you already have. So to answer your first question........no you will not need to drain the water.
Second off, the user will not need to change the sand for the product to work correctly. Just make sure you have ALL the chlorine neutralized before adding any Biguanides though otherwise you could create the "BaquaGoo" that would require you to change the sand. I would though suggest that you "deep clean" the filter and make sure the user knows how to do this. There's a good chance you will frequently end up cleaning the filter as time goes on.
Question for you now......have you peaked at the water yet? If so.....what does it look like?? We can start here and then I'll give you some advice on how to maintain the pool if needed.
That said, onto your questions.............
The conversion from Chlorine to Baqua is a very simple one compared to Baqua to chlorine. The first thing you will need to do is to fully neutralize ALL chlorine in the water. This will allow you to "reuse" the current water you already have. So to answer your first question........no you will not need to drain the water.
Second off, the user will not need to change the sand for the product to work correctly. Just make sure you have ALL the chlorine neutralized before adding any Biguanides though otherwise you could create the "BaquaGoo" that would require you to change the sand. I would though suggest that you "deep clean" the filter and make sure the user knows how to do this. There's a good chance you will frequently end up cleaning the filter as time goes on.
Question for you now......have you peaked at the water yet? If so.....what does it look like?? We can start here and then I'll give you some advice on how to maintain the pool if needed.
I have not.... I live an hour away from the pool and only open and close it for them...
How would you go about neutralizing all the chlorine... I thought once it's used its gone... Only thing I can think of is using a non-chlorine oxidizer to get rid of any of the cc that may be present...
How would you go about neutralizing all the chlorine... I thought once it's used its gone... Only thing I can think of is using a non-chlorine oxidizer to get rid of any of the cc that may be present...
Use a FAS/DPD kit to test for chlorine. It will read as low as 0.2 when you use a 25ml sample. A test strip or OTO test will not read chlorine with that much precision. If you do find small amounts of chlorine use sodium thiosulfate to neutralize it.
Common Hydrogen Peroxide will also neutralize chlorine, and may be easier to find than sodium thiosulfate. Common drug store (dollar store) hydrogen peroxide neutralizes chlorine on about a 1 to 1 ratio with the rate that common 8% bleach raises it. So if a 8% gallon of bleach / liquid chlorine raises FC by 5 ppm, then a gallon of Hydrogen Peroxide will lower it by roughly 5 ppm. It is not an exact match, but is close enough for our purposes.
Ike
p.s. around here Dollar General sells quart bottles of hydrogen peroxide for about $1 each
Ike
p.s. around here Dollar General sells quart bottles of hydrogen peroxide for about $1 each
In addition, Biogaurd Oxidizer is also simply hydrogen peroxide. You can use this to rid the pool of the chlorine before adding any biguanides.
Just assuming a 20,000 gal pool, if I have a cc of 2 (just hypothetically), I would need 61oz of hydrogen peroxide to neutralize the chlorine? (I'm assuming 0 FC right now).
I'm also assuming a cya level north off 100... Would that be of issue for the conversion?
I'm also assuming a cya level north off 100... Would that be of issue for the conversion?
Before you worry much I'd check what the water looks like and what the levels are testing at. It's likely going to be MUCH cheaper to clean the pool using chlorine THEN switch to Baqua.