Converting 2016-progress and problems

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pookiesunshine

pookiesunshine

0
Gold Supporter
May 12, 2016
705
Cincinnati, OH
Pool Size
33000
Surface
Vinyl
Chlorine
Liquid Chlorine
Got tired of pink slime with Baquacil.
I have a safety mesh cover so have just a few worms and a little silt when i open. This year, i had a new experience. noticed some white coating on the walls and light fixture that i at first thought was white mold. After failing to remove it with vigorous brush scrubbing, i have no idea what it is. On the walls, it starts about 2/3rd up the vertical side walls, and widens out as it gets closer to the bottom of the walls. At the light, it surrounds the fixture and goes all the way to the bottom of the side wall. I have not yet tried scrubbing with straight chlorine, but during conversion, it has not loosened up at all. Any insights on this would be appreciated.

At the start of the conversion using a target FC of 15, i had drops down to 2 to 4 FC and similar CC. After 3 days my FC is dropping overnite to around 8-12 FC but my CC is up to 5 to 6 and not dropping off. Last night I upped my target FC to 20. This morning FC around 9, CC 4. So maybe some progress. Is this typical progress or lack thereof? My Baquacil levels at the start were around 30. i could not believe it held that level all winter as i did not add any in the fall in preparation for the conversion. I did add a few pounds of MSP to try to reduce the baquacil level before adding Cl but not sure how much that helped.

I have vacuumed to waste a lot of yellow goo and no longer notice immediate conversion upon adding Cl, so i think the conversion should be close but my high CC is bothering me.

What NOT to do for others attempting to convert. My water level was low after vacuuming a lot to waste, so i switched the vacuum to filter (sand). I think most of the material, or at least a great deal of it was so fine that it went right through the filter back into the pool and made the water cloudy. In fact, the water has been somewhat cloudy the whole time and i can hardly see the goo at the bottom of the deep end. Vacuuming that area has been guesswork so far.

Any ideas are welcome.

I have read the instructions on converting and alot of the other information here. I appreciate the helpful info. Based on the instructions, i have not added any CYA yet and dont expect to for a while. No algaecide yet either. I do have the TFT test kit.

Thanks.
 
frustratedpoolmom said:
First question - calcium scale?

How often are you topping off to 15?

Did you set the filter to "rinse" before you returned it to the "filter" setting?
Click to expand...

i dont think it is calcium scale, it seems organic in natures rather than mineral, but i'm not a chemist.

i top off Cl at least every evening and morning plus 1 to 3 times a day.

i have backwashed several times and always rinse after each b/w.

I need to update my first post since i did it from memory not my notes. The lowest CC reading of 4 most recently was in the evening before i started targeting 20 ppm instead of 15; the CC following that are back up to 5, so no progres in removing CC.

- - - Updated - - -

pabeader said:
Where are you in the procedure?

Pool School - Convert Your Baqua Pool to Chlorine
Click to expand...

I would say step 6 and a half. Since i was not getting noticeable amounts of goo any more and the water was not clearing up, i changed the sand and put in glass today. This should help clear up the water at any rate. I still need to fight the high CC, but i think that is not related to the baquacil any more, but to the white mold-looking coating that doesn't want to brush off. my current plan is to keep targeting 20ppm FC and see if that loosens up the coating so i can remove it. i may add CYA tomorrow depending on tonight's progress.
 
Progress update. A little headway in removing what i will refer to as Stubborn White Mold (SWM). My first attempts to brush off the SWM caused me to doubt it was really white mold because my experience with it has shown it to be slimy and easily removed. After another day of high chlorine, though, i noticed clouds of SWM when i brushed it. I also changed to a stiffer brush but that didnt show much progress yesterday. today it did. so making progress. two pictures are attached trying to show the SWM. the one titled pool coating was yesterday morning around 11. PC 2 was taken today around 1pm. If you zoom in you might be able to see the difference. I can tell you that there was extremely little progress from the first time i attempted to brush this off on Saturday 5/7 and the first picture.

After about 12 hours of filtering with new glass media i can see noticeable improvement in water clarity. I brush/vacuumed today trying to remove the last bit of baqgoo and there seemed to be very little. I think therefore the conversion should be near completion. I know i need to get rid of the remaining mold, pass the OCLT, and hold 0.5 CC before finally done, but i wonder if i should now add the CYA? Any advice? thanks.

Still targeting 20ppm Cl. Today, sunny, dropped to about 7 FC in 4 hours. CC still hovering around 5. Thanks

link to pool coating:
pool coating.jpg - Google Drive
link to pc2:
pool coating 2.jpg - Google Drive
 
Last night CC down to 3 two times in a row, started first attempt at OCLT. not expecting to pass, just trying. Prior to last chlorine addition i b/w filter even though only 1 day just to see if i could see any more yellow goo coming out: none-just off white cloudy like a normal one.
ps. Mr. Bruce-thanks, that is why i was asking since i think now the high CC is not related to conversion but to white mold and i think i am now in more of need to slam than worry about remaining baquacil. and yes, i know the conversion is basically a slam, but without CYA.

is anyone having trouble seeing the pictures via the links in previous post? if so, i can just insert them directly. thanks.
 
OCLT 6 bad news; good news? CC still 3, did not increase. rainy and cool today, will brush more SWM deposits later. Based on FC measurements just before starting OCLT last night, either one hour was not long enough to distribute CL or my pool volume is higher than 27k. might bump that to 30k.
 
after 3 hours, FC cut in half, CC down to 2.5. i changed my pool volume to 30k and reduced target FC back to 15; also brushed SWM, a little more removed. very stubborn stuff. pool is clear.
 

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Do you have any accessories in the pool (ladder, light, stairs, etc.)? You CC level will be elevated until you get ALL the goo out. Take a look at my conversion last year. The heavy lifting took 2 weekend days and 2 work days. I distinguish between the two because I I was able to boosted my NaCl level back to 15 almost every daylight hour on Saturday and Sunday. I couldn't do that on Monday or Tuesday, but by Tuesday evening my pool was virtually crystal clear. On the other hand, I kept on failing the OCLT. There was a lot of gunk in the pool light cavity. There was also some stubborn "mold/mildew/black algae on the ladder, stairs behind the screwguards that cover the screws attaching the liner to the stairs. Clean the ladder with a bleach solution and if you have any stains, Mr. Clean Magic Eraser spongers work quite well.
 
yes i have a light. probably a lot of gunk in there too. i have not put the ladder in yet, plan to clean it first. i do have some gunk around the stair screw guards, will take them off when the water is a little more tolerable temperature. thanks
 
CC has been 0 to 0.5 for several days in a row. Still showing FC loss overnight about 4ppm. but i am no longer attempting to keep at SLAM levels, just normal level around 6 ppm. was using way too much chlorine.

not sure what is going on but obviously something is consuming FC. only a very little black residue around water level inside the skimmer; yellow goo has not been seen after first several days of conversion.

CYA about 40-50 but FC still drops to zero during daytime even while solar cover is on. I am now adding chlorine only at night and morning. I did brush/rinse solar cover with bleach solution before putting on pool. Only two small areas seemed to produce any gook from baquacil residue.

Also took apart ladder to clean more easily the underpart of step treads. Still had some dried pink slime there and on bolt fittings. Inside of tubes coated with SWM. very hard to clean, tried soaking with bleach solution, removed only about half of it with tube brush. but no yellow goo.

have not removed light or stair panels to clean behind them. waiting for warmer water. i know there is a ton of stuff back there.

pH is around 7. i need to bump this up a little, will get some borax, as ALK is around 130. Used soda ash before to raise both pH and ALK.

water looks great.
 
Does anyone know how to remove the cover panels around the steps? They cover the screws. I want to remove them to get at the gunk back there. Looking at the edge of the covers, they are slightly curved, with short sides that angle back inward. Looks like would slide out but would have to be very flexible to bend around coping. I'd rather not do it the wrong way and break them.

Here is a link to a closeup of the top of one side panel. hard to see, have to zoom in. Thanks.

pool steps panel cover.jpg - Google Drive
 

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