Close to end of conversion

[lorsell]

Hello,
I have a 20 foot round above ground pool. I just went through converting from bacquacil which I had help from you. I started the process with out the test kit and just drained pool and refilled and starting adding bleach. Here's where I'm at now and have a few questions. I got the test kit a couple days ago, my pool looks more beautiful than it has for over a year but I know it is missing that sparkling clear water look. Here are my test results after raising it last night to 15 ppm.
This am it was FC = 7, and CC = 1, I then added another 3 quarts of bleach but have not tested again. That was only about 20 minutes ago. I have been cleaning out my cartridge daily and I am running with a new cartridge 24/7. I have stabilizer but have not added it yet. The other test are good, withing the ranges they should be. So my questions are - should I add the stabilizer yet? Do I still keep the water at 15 ppm if possible? There is still a slight cloudiness to the water so I guess that is the reading of the CC. Thanks for your help.

 

[duraleigh]

Lorsell,

Yes. Keep your FC up around 15.

1. The fact that you had an overnight loss of FC indicates you still have baquagoo to burn up

2. The 1.0ppm CC indicates the same thing

3. So does the cloudy water

Go ahead and start the CYA by using the sock method....don't put it in the filter as I think you may still have to clean the cartridge some more.

Your process is complete when:
A. You hold FC loss to 1.0 or less overnite
B. Your CC's test .5 or less
C. Your water is sparkling

 

[JasonLion]

I would not add the CYA yet. You are still losing too much FC overnight. You have gotten to the slower middle phase of the conversion. You will now be losing more chlorine to sunlight than to baquacil. Because of that it is best to try and do two or three checks of the FC level each evening, adding bleach as needed to get back to a FC of 15. You can add more bleach during the day and it will help but much of it will be lost to sunlight so it isn't really worth it.

When the FC remains the same overnight you can add CYA.

 

[MeSue]

HI folks,

Lora is my sister. She drained her pool down to 4 inches of water and refilled. Do you really think she could still be fighting Baquacil??? For several days she did not have the test kit to properly dose the chlorine so the algae came back right away, of course. Her pool is out in the wide open Florida sun, so I wondered if adding the CYA now would be okay for her. Any other thoughts on that?

 

[JasonLion]

Either way will work. Adding CYA now will slow the whole process down. Even though there would be less loss to sunlight each day there would be more days of sunlight. Overall you might save chlorine or you might not.

I think that your best bet for a faster conversion is to test and raise the FC level several times each evening for a couple of days and keep that up until the FC level is much closer to staying the same overnight.

 

[tnthudson]

I got really tempted near the end of my conversion to slow down the chlorine and maybe add CYA or whatever, but I stuck with what Jason and others said and kept up the chlorine (bleach) until my FC was holding overnight. I did have some Baquacil left in my sand filter, so my CC never went below 1.0 or maybe .5 until I cleaned out the filter, but the FC should hold. It's best to kill that Baquacil right now up front.

 

[lorsell]

Thank you all for your help. I originally drained my pool of most all the bacq. except 3-4 inches of water. I believe I've been primarily fighting the algae that was present and remaining in the bottom because I had not added any bacq for a few week and the pool was turning green. Anyway, it is recovering slowly.

I did dose it more with bleach, cleaned out the cartridge and then I put CYA in by the sock method. I'll test again shortly.
Lora

 

[lorsell]

Finally at the end

Well Today is day 7 and my pool is clean to the bottom with a nice sparkle to it.
Yesterday I did add the CYA by sock method. Here are my test results today.
FC = 7.5 ; CC = .5 ; ALk 110 ; PH 7.2 ; CYA = 50-60

If I'm reading this correctly seems like most of my numbers look good. The CC has been at .5 for two days straight now and the pool has no visible cloudiness anymore.

What I wonder now is what should I try to keep the FC at? Do I want to still keep it elevated or is there a level off amount I should keep it at daily.

Should the CC ever be at 0? Seems like I read under 1 is good. I think my PH went down a little when I put the CYA in.
What do you think?
Thanks,
Lora

 

[duraleigh]

Hi, Lora,

The process is complete when:
A. You hold FC loss to 1.0 or less overnite
B. Your CC's test .5 or less
C. Your water is sparkling

With a CYA of 50-60, hold your FC in the 4-6 range.

Nice Work! :lol: :lol:

 

[JasonLion]

Are you losing any FC overnight? If not then you are just about done and can put FC at 4 to 8. But if you are losing FC overnight you need to keep the FC level up at high shock level, FC around 30, until you don't lose any FC overnight.

Ideally CC should be zero, and in a couple of weeks it will be at zero all the time. Right now there is still some residual baquacil goo stuck somewhere that is slowly getting turned into CC on it's way to being broken down completely.

CYA is somewhat acidic and will lower the PH a little.

 

[lorsell]

Thank you all so much! This forum, the test kit, the pool calculater and all this information at TFP has been the bomb! It doesn't feel to bad to spend money on chemicals that work!
Lora

 

[lorsell]

The last two nights I've lost 1.5 which isn't bad, the CC is almost less than .5 so I guess I got a little ways to go. The water is crystal clear and sparkling though. I plan to clean out the cartridge today. That may take care of the rest of it. What is considered a good test reading for swimming? Today I plan to invest in the jugs of chlorine from the pool store which is more potent than the 6% bleach I have been using. What would be a good dosing amount with that?
Thanks,
Lora :-D

 

[heatmisr]

Hi and welcome to TFP!

You may need to get a new cartridge. I know you started with a new one when you started your conversion, but most people that have converted have a lingering amount, 0.5, of CC's until they change out the filter media. Although you are cleaning the cartridge, it is difficult to get all the pleats completely clean. Changing the cartridge may be all that you need to do to get rid of the last of the CC's.

 

[lorsell]

Maintaining

Hello,
My pool has stayed absolutely gorgeous. I have now started buying my chlorine from the pool store which is more potent. I was putting in a half gallon a night but now my CC is at 0 and I am having some questions on what should maintaining be. Here is where my numbers are.
Since the 9th my CC has been at 0 every day. My FC has been about 3-4 with me putting in the half gallon a night. On the 9th my CYA was at 30 so I added a pound I have not checked it again.
PH is 7.6 Alk is 100. Yesterday morning my FC was at 4, I did not add any chlorine last night. This morning it was at 2.5. So with all that said. I would like to know your recommendations for a good FC level. What my CYA is good to have at. I understand PH and Alk. How often should I test the CYA and add? My pool is in broad sunlight from about 11 am till nightfall. Also I have been running my pump 24/7 and adding my chlorine after dark. How long would you recommend running the pump and best time to add chlorine?
I know this is lengthy but I'm just a little confused with what a good maintainance would be.
Thank you

 

[frustratedpoolmom]

1.5 ppm drop from one morning till the next is normal. CYA is recommended 30-50, but you should know your number so you have your target levels.

And to clarify you want your CC to be zero. If it gets higher than .5 you need to shock. So everything seems good.

Everyone runs their pump differently, I run mine on low 24/7 but lots of people have 1 speed pumps and have them set on timers. If you have a lot of trees it's probably a good idea to have your pump running on a 8-12 hour run time, keeping it covered with a solar cover at night if possible. But if you live in Florida, that might make your water hotter than you like? I think alot of the run time / filter issue is trial and error...you have to figure out what works for your setup and weather/enivornment conditions.....

Congrats on your conversion...