Baquacil conversion

[Larry]

We have been using Baquacil for a year and I, like so many others, have spent too much money/time fighting with it (mainly algae). When everything was perfect, the water looked/felt great but those days were few.

My question: Can a Baq-to-BBB conversion be done slowly? What I mean by this is instead of raising the chlorine level to 15 and having to deal with the slime and goop, can the conversion be achieved by keeping the chlorine at a lower level for a longer period of time. The reason I ask is that I have added about two gallons of Walmart’s “Ultra-Bleach” over the past three days just to see the reaction…cool color at first...but then the water turns VERY milky but no floating slime, etc. The chlorine level gets to about 2ish.

I tested for baq. just before adding bleach and it was not measurable on the test strips. Maybe I will not see the slime that others see since my baq. level is so low?

Basically I am concerned about blowing through hundreds of dollars in filters and plugging up my in–floor system with Baquagoop.

Thanks in advance!


11K in-ground gunite w/PebbleTec, cartridge filter, A&A in-floor cleaning system

 

[JasonLion]

Welcome to TFP!

If you do the conversion slowly it will take longer but otherwise the results will be very similar. The same chemical reactions will occur, the same residue will be produced, etc. How much goo you get depends on your initial baquacil level. If you had a very low level to begin with there will be far less goo than for someone who had a much higher level to start.

 

[Larry]

Jason,

Thanks for the reply.

I am on bottle number 3 (174oz). The water is VERY cloudy. Can't see the bottom of the 6' deep end but no crud floating on the surface. Removed the filters and they looked ok...cleaned and reinstalled.

This site is too cool!

 

[The Mermaid Queen]

You know, I was thinking about the slow conversion... you are in effect killing off the baqua with the bleach, and the bleach is at low levels (2ppm that you reporrted) so there is not enough of either to keep algae at bay. So then not only will you have to clear the baqua, you will then have to clear more algae, also.
Can you just bypass the floor system for now? At some point you will have to run some bleach through it to kill off any baqua, but you can wait until the conversion is almost done for that.
You don't need to clean your filter until the pressure goes up.

 

[Larry]

Yes I can bypass the in-floor system. Didn't think I could...thanks for the suggestion.

Bad timing for a conversion though. Came home to a noisy filter pump...an intermittent screeching sound so the pump is off. Need to call pool company tomorrow. This might get interesting since our 1 year warrranty on the pumps ended two weeks ago.

 

[The Mermaid Queen]

Sorry to hear about your pump... hope you get it fixed or a new one soon!

 

[Larry]

Spoke with pool builder today and our pumps have a 3 yr warranty not a 1 yr like the manual states...SWEET! The service guy will be out next Wednesday...today is Thursday. Having to wait a week with no filter or bleach might create quite the algae problem. So I stopped by the local tool rental to see about a sump pump to drain the pool and just start over with the water. They have a pump...$12 a day. So I plan to pick up the pump tomorrow and start draining Friday night. Should be able to have the pool refilled by late Sunday evening.

 

[The Mermaid Queen]

sounds like a plan!

 

[Larry]

I decided to completely drain the pool instead of dealing with the conversion. Actually drained 80%...refilled...drained 90% and refilled. I am glad we don't water meters. Installled new filter catridges. And got my TF100 test kit. We have been Baquacil users, 3 yr w/vinyl and 1 yr/ IG plaster, so what are some suggestions for starting out with BBB. The only thing that I have added is MA...PH was 8ish yesterday after refill finished.

Today:
PH=7.5
T/A=110
CH=60
Baquacil=never again!

Thanks in advance for the advice.