Baquacil conversion underway in Florida....

BullGator · Mar 6, 2012

Update:

I have completed the conversion, and I have had successive overnight results with 0 FC loss and CC of .5 or less.

It was wavering between .5 and 1 for about a week or so, and now finally finished!!

I will be converting to a SWG in the very near future, any recommendations would be great (I have a 10,000 gallon plaster pool)

I just wanted to thank everyone again for all the help and encouragement. My pool has never looked better, thanks to the TFP team!

linen · Mar 6, 2012

Congrats Bullgator :cheers:

though I wished you had more cool colors

Bama Rambler · Mar 7, 2012

Congrats!

When looking for swcg's, look for sizes between 1Â½ - 3 times the pool volume. All the brands make fairly good units but some have more bells and whistles than others.

Leebo · Mar 7, 2012

Now enjoy the ease of the pool. I swapped last year and ran the last 2 months on bleach rather than baqua. Total cost for the 2 months chemicals were under $50.....and the pool looked great.

I too wished for more colors.

BullGator · Mar 7, 2012

I can't wait for the weather to warm up a bit so the kids can get in there, that pool sparkles now!

Wife still has reservations on this whole thing. My daughter would have rashes on her legs when the pool was on chlorine several years ago (we always used pucks, LOTS of them). She is concerned that my daughter will break out again if she swims in chlorinated water.

For giggles, I tested a sample of our tap water. FC is 2, CC is 0. I advised the wife that when the SWG is in, the water will be nearly the same as our house water regarding chlorine content. No rashes for my daughter when she uses our tap water.....so....we shall see

It is my understanding it is the CC that causes skin irritation, so if that is nearly zero in our pool before they swim, there should be minimal irritation.

Just knowing what I know now by reading this forum, our chlorine in the pool back then was thru the roof, as well as the CYA. That meant we had to add a ton of chlorine to kill any algae, a never ending spiral upward. The switch to Baqua was incredibly expensive, I was spending $100 every 2 weeks it seemed to keep the thing clean.

Leebo · Mar 7, 2012

BullGator said:
Wife still has reservations on this whole thing. My daughter would have rashes on her legs when the pool was on chlorine several years ago (we always used pucks, LOTS of them). She is concerned that my daughter will break out again if she swims in chlorinated water.

For giggles, I tested a sample of our tap water. FC is 2, CC is 0. I advised the wife that when the SWG is in, the water will be nearly the same as our house water regarding chlorine content. No rashes for my daughter when she uses our tap water.....so....we shall see

About 20 years ago my in-laws were in the same boat. Whenever my sister-in-law would swim in a hotel pool....she would break out. They thought it was the chlorine, thus the reasoning for Baqua as it was the latest greatest thing. The last year after the swap she got in the in pool a few times, with no problems what-so-ever. In fact several users stated that they always remembered their eye's "burning" when the pool used Baquacil....and not with chlorine.

Using as little chemicals to keep the pool perfect is what this site teaches....and it works 100%. She'll eat her words...and you'll save a TON of cash!

BullGator · Mar 17, 2012

Update 3/17

I successfully installed my SWG yesterday, a CircuPool RJ30 unit.

The part I wanted to share with everyone is this: I used the Pool Calculator to determine that I would need ~ 293 pounds of salt for my 10,000 gallon pool to raise the salinity to 3500 PPM. Doing things how I normally do, I poured in 4 bags (160 pounds total), and then let it circulate until dissolved, about 4 hours. After it dissolved, I checked the water with salinity test strips to see where I was at, and I was stunned to find out my reading was 3800 after adding only 1/2 of the salt I expected to add. In further reading the Pool Calculator at the bottom, I saw the part about adding chlorine causes an increase in salt in your pool. Having put in so much chlorine in my pool over the past 2 months, that had to make my salinity much higher than my assumption of zero!!!

Just wanted to share this with anyone who might do a Baquacil conversion and then decide to go SWG. Check your salinity FIRST just to be safe. I got EXTREMELY lucky I did not put way too much salt in the water!!!!

The RJ30 reports SALT OK, and the unit is working like a champ, very easy to install!!!!

Hope this helps someone out there, wanted to try to give something back to the great community here on TFP!!

JasonLion · Mar 17, 2012

Keep in mind that your salt level is never zero to start with, if you use chlorine or not. Many different pool chemicals add salt to the water. Directly after a fresh fill the salt level can be fairly close to zero, but after a few years of use it is almost always over 1,000, and sometimes more like 2,000 (or even more).