Convert from baqu to chlorine

[chances]

I have been writing your forum on how to convert from baqu to chlorine. I opened my pool 3 days ago and tested the baquacil with testing strips. Had a small amount of baqu oxidizer and no baqu sanitizer showed up. Following the advice on this forum, I began putting in bleach and have been doing so for the last 3 days. I also have been backwashing several times a day. At first the pool turned a bright pea green and the last couple of days has had tons of yellow baqua goo floating on top. I have put between 5 and 8 gallons of bleach a day. The first 2 days I couldn't hardly get a reading on Chlorine or FC. Tonight I got a reading (my test strips have different numbers than a test kit). So test strips say:
TC 3
FC 5
PH 7.8
Alk 120
Same reading 3 hours later.
The water has a little more bluish green color now with a finer layer of goo on top..not at thick and clunky as it was at first. Still can't see the bottom at all so haven't done any vacuuming yet. My pool is an above ground 30ft round, 52" deep, 2 hp pump large sand filter (holds 400 lbs). about 27,000 gallons.
My questions are when do I stop pouring in bleach and when do I start shocking? I have 50lbs of granulated chlorine to shock with. Do I start shocking while still putting in the bleach or only shock after you stop the bleach? I have used about 28 gallons of concentrated bleach so far and am hoping I won't have to use much more.

 

[heikejohn]

When I converted, it took A LOT of bleach!!!
I kept adding, until there was no more stuff floating, and my water was crystal clear, and no more than .5 CC. In the mean time I tried to keep my FC at about 15 the whole time. (You keep the water at shock level during the whole conversion process) Only then do you change the filter medium.

 

[duraleigh]

Welcome to the forum. :lol: You should diligently read Pool school......"How to Shock Your Pool".

Give those test strips to someone you really don't like. You need a good drops based test kit to convert and maintain your pool correctly.

 

[JohnN]

Also, you need to know what type of "shock" is in those bags. If it is Cal-hypo, you will be adding calcium. Since you don't have a CH number, you don't know if you need CH. If it is di-chlor or tri-chlor, you will be adding CYA. That builds up quickly, and the only way to lower it is to replace water. For shocking, stick with bleach until you get your own test kit.

 

[Richard320]

:nopics:

It's not fair to read the forum without paying us back with interesting pictures of your technicolor pool!

 

[chances]

:nopics:

It's not fair to read the forum without paying us back with interesting pictures of your technicolor pool!

I know I should have. THis is day 5 and almost all the gunk is gone and water is a bluish green. I am still pouring in the bleach and backwashing a couple of times a day. The backwash stuff looks much better. I don't have bags of shock I have 50 lbs of granulated chlorine which I believe is stablilized. So again, my question is do you wait until the water is clear to start putting it in or do you put it in before that to help make the water clear...along with the bleach?

As far as the numbers go right now I'm just concentrating on the FC, TC PH & ALK. I'll worry about the rest when my pool starts clearing.




30' round pool 2hp pump

 

[JohnN]

Again, I wouldn't use any of that stuff until you know what type of chlorine it is and what all of your levels are.

 

[zea3]

Stick with liquid bleach until the conversion process is complete. The most common forms of dry chlorine contain either CYA or Calcium. Too much of either one will require you to partially drain the pool and replace the water to lower those levels.

The conversion process is complete "When you lose 1 ppm of chlorine, or less, overnight it is time to clean out your filter and change the media. Once the filter is cleaned up, add enough CYA to reach 30 ppm. Continue to maintain FC at 15 ppm. Your conversion is complete when CC's are 0.5 or less two days in a row." (steps 7 and 8 from the Pool School article Convert your Baqua pool to Chlorine )

 

[chances]

Stick with liquid bleach until the conversion process is complete. The most common forms of dry chlorine contain either CYA or Calcium. Too much of either one will require you to partially drain the pool and replace the water to lower those levels.

The conversion process is complete "When you lose 1 ppm of chlorine, or less, overnight it is time to clean out your filter and change the media. Once the filter is cleaned up, add enough CYA to reach 30 ppm. Continue to maintain FC at 15 ppm. Your conversion is complete when CC's are 0.5 or less two days in a row." (steps 7 and 8 from the Pool School article Convert your Baqua pool to Chlorine )

I lost less than 1 ppm last night and today but I can't even begin to see the bottom of the pool...nowhere near it... I've used about 56 gallons of bleach and have been doing this for 5 days. Shouldn't I be at least seeing partial pool bottom? I do see about 8 or 9 inches of blue from the walls out.

 

[M&B]

I replied to you in my post as well.
Get a good test kit asap. Drops. Strips are not accurate, just a ballpark.
I had a sand filter too. Backwash twice a day.
Add a little DE or similar product to the skimmer to aid in the small particle removal.
Don't add any granulated until your very sure your only loosing 1ppm over night.
You need a good test kit. Need to see what FC really is and then CC. If CC is not .5 or less you still have something in the water.
You will need to change out the sand when you pass the test.
You also have to net all that Crud out, vacuum to waste, and brush the heck out of the pool during the process.
Post a pic, we need to see what it looks like now. It helps.

 

[chances]

I replied to you in my post as well.
Get a good test kit asap. Drops. Strips are not accurate, just a ballpark.
I had a sand filter too. Backwash twice a day.
Add a little DE or similar product to the skimmer to aid in the small particle removal.
Don't add any granulated until your very sure your only loosing 1ppm over night.
You need a good test kit. Need to see what FC really is and then CC. If CC is not .5 or less you still have something in the water.
You will need to change out the sand when you pass the test.
You also have to net all that **** out, vacuum to waste, and brush the heck out of the pool during the process.
Post a pic, we need to see what it looks like now. It helps.

Ok I ordered a taylor 2004? should be here tomorrow. In the meantime...I have found out that liquid chlorine (if you can find it for a good price will work better and faster because it has a higher sodium hydrochloride content. I have already used 60 gallons of bleach and liquid chlorine. I found liquid chlorine at Rural King (a farm supply store) with a content of 10% SH for 2.50 a gallon!!! That is cheaper than the walmart bleach I have been buying at a 6% SH content. So if I could start over I would use nothing but the liquid Chlorine and it would have been cheaper that the 3.00 a gallon bleach.

I have backwashed twice a day and added a backwash filter agent. I have vacuumed and brushed the walls. The pool is a blue green and just today (7th day) I was able to see about 2 1/2 feet down. Still can't see bottom. All the baqua goo specs are pretty much gone. According to the test strips which I am using until my test kit gets here..in the evening I add enough chlorine to take it up to 20ppm but by morning it is pretty much gone. The test strips check for free chlorine and chlorine but I keep reading about total chlorine and CC ..I don't know what CC is so please explain the difference. The PH and Alk are holding pretty good.

So as stated I have already used 60 gallons of combo bleach and liquid chlorine and am on day 7. The outer edge all around pool is clear blue. So when my test kit comes tomorrow where do I go from here? I will take a pic tomorrow.

 

[JasonLion]

Regular chlorine, measured as FC, is the active chlorine that fights algae and disinfects the pool. Combined chlorine, or CC, is an intermediate breakdown products, where an active chlorine has found something to attack and bound to it, but not fully broken it down yet. You want FC, you do not want CC. Total chlorine, or TC, is simply the sum of FC + CC.

In the process of a baqua conversion the first indication you get of progress is being able to measure a non-zero FC level in the morning, after not adding any chlorine for several hours. Once that becomes routine, you switch to watching the CC level, which will tend to start fairly high and come down slowly as you get closer to getting rid of all of the baqua.

 

[chances]

Regular chlorine, measured as FC, is the active chlorine that fights algae and disinfects the pool. Combined chlorine, or CC, is an intermediate breakdown products, where an active chlorine has found something to attack and bound to it, but not fully broken it down yet. You want FC, you do not want CC. Total chlorine, or TC, is simply the sum of FC + CC.

In the process of a baqua conversion the first indication you get of progress is being able to measure a non-zero FC level in the morning, after not adding any chlorine for several hours. Once that becomes routine, you switch to watching the CC level, which will tend to start fairly high and come down slowly as you get closer to getting rid of all of the baqua.

That helps a lot thank you. It does seem that I am only part way through the process but still have used over 60 gallons of bleach/liquid chlorine. That seems an awful lot. My pool does hold 27,000 gallons though so maybe not? By the time it's done I probably will have used 80! The only progress I see the last few days is being able to see deeper into the pool. Today I could see about 3/4 of the way down though very foggy.

 

[chances]

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Here are pics of where I am in the conversion process.

 

[JohnN]

How often have you been back washing? We recommend doing it when your PSI goes up 25% of you clean pressure. I think it might be too early for you, but when you get closer to the end you may want to consider adding DE to your sand filter.

 

[linen]

My pool does hold 27,000 gallons though so maybe not?

A 30' round 52" wall pool will hold ~ 20300 gallons.

Ok I ordered a taylor 2004?

I am not familiar with this one (and I find no mention of it on taylor's site)...hopefully you ordered the K2006 (or better yet the tf-00) since that has the tests you need.

 

[chances]

My pool does hold 27,000 gallons though so maybe not?

A 30' round 52" wall pool will hold ~ 20300 gallons.

Ok I ordered a taylor 2004?

I am not familiar with this one (and I find no mention of it on taylor's site)...hopefully you ordered the K2006 (or better yet the tf-00) since that has the tests you need.

I made a mistake it is a taylor 1004. I thought my pool held about 21,000 but someone on a pool forum said 27,000. The water can go 54" deep so that might make a difference.

I have been backwashing once to twice a day. Just seem not to be making any progress. The taylor kit just gives a chlorine reading..doesn't say FC or TC just chlorine.. Today at 11 am it was reading 10 but at 6pm it didn't even show any color and it was a very cloudy day until about 4pm. Added 3 more gallons of liquid chlorine for a total of 5 gallons today.

 

[JohnN]

That may be too often to be backwashing. You should backwash when the filter increases 25% of the clean pressure. A slightly dirty filter filters better than a squeaky clean one. I'm not entirely sure with the conversion process, but I think if all of the Baqua goo is gone, you could try adding some DE to the filter.

 

[linen]

The water can go 54" deep so that might make a difference.

I am assuming you have 54" walls (originally you said 52"...I assumed walls), then typical sand bottom takes at least 2 inches, and that leaves you with about 4 inches to the top which I would guess is not filled. Even if you could fill to 54" you pool would only be 23500 gallons...but again if it is a 54" wall then the volume would be 21200 gallons unless you have a deep end.

Unless I am missing something, the 27000 estimate is wrong (by quite a bit).

I made a mistake it is a taylor 1004.

Unfortunately that is not one of the recommended test kits. It is missing cya and the fas-dpd test both of which are very important. Also the amount of reagents fo the tests it does do are fairly small in quantity. See: http://www.troublefreepool.com/pool-school/pool_test_kit_comparison. Many of us have the tf-100 since it is the most bang for buck.

The K-1004 measures chlorine using the dpd test. It can measure FC (free chlorine) and TC (total chlorine) but can only measure up to 5 ppm.

 

[chances]

That may be too often to be backwashing. You should backwash when the filter increases 25% of the clean pressure. A slightly dirty filter filters better than a squeaky clean one. I'm not entirely sure with the conversion process, but I think if all of the Baqua goo is gone, you could try adding some DE to the filter.

What DE is safe to add to a sand filter?