18,000 gallon pool inground
Sand Filter
Pebble Tec
Arizona
I wanted to share my story on converting back to chlorine after the terrible Baquacil product! I switched to Baq because of my itching problem after swimming in a chlorine pool. I did not experience too many issues with baq at first. Within a few years my pool developed a nasty white ring around the tile and I started noticing that the water was really never crystal clear. New water was put in before starting up baq. Not being happy with the way my pool was looking and considering the high cost of this JUNK, I decided to make the switch this past January. I drained my pool and I was able to remove the white build up around my tile using my cordless drill with a 3M paint stripper abrasive wheel. Worked fantastic and save me $400 on the glass bead blasting cost they wanted. Filled my pool and started the process with adding bleach. I ended up putting in about 20 gallons even though the water was fresh. After the water stopped turning the milky white color and baq tested zero, I balanced the water but could not keep the chlorine level up. It would get eaten up within a day or two. I was going to be trying a solar powered copper system (Floatron) for algea contol so went ahead and started that up. The idea with that thing is you can keep your chorine level very low like .5 or 1ppm. Everything stayed nice throughout the winter months but could not keep any level of chlorine. I DID NOT change my sand in my filter because I had an expert tell me it was not necessary. Well when the summer started I developed mustard algea. I googled my problem with not holding chlorine and basically understood I needed to put tons of chlorine in. I removed the Floatron but I still kept loosing 3ppm per day. After tons of shock and liquid chlorine I was getting fed up. I finally realized the only variable still in this mix was the sand. I had put in new sand prior to baq. $200 worth of Zeolite. I was very resistant in wanting to change this out so soon. So I finally did 3 days ago. What a surprise! The sand was so gunked up I could not believe it. I was pulling out pieces fused together the size of very large rocks. It was a mess. Took me awhile to get it all out but I did. I acid washed the filter and refilled with regular pool sand for $75. After one day, I only lost .5ppm of chlorine and my pool is so clear I cannot believe it. After 3 days everything is perfect! NOTE: Before my conversion off of baq, I never read anything that indicated WHY you should change your sand. This coupled with an expert telling me it was not necessary gave me what I thought was enough to not do it. Well as far as I am concerned it is probably the most important thing to do! I am wondering if you should do it first? Anyway, will be trying the copper system again soon with reducing the chorine level and see what happens. Good test with the hot summer in Arizona. Anyway, hope this story has enough information it it that may help someone with something in the future. Good luck and thank you for all the information here.
Sand Filter
Pebble Tec
Arizona
I wanted to share my story on converting back to chlorine after the terrible Baquacil product! I switched to Baq because of my itching problem after swimming in a chlorine pool. I did not experience too many issues with baq at first. Within a few years my pool developed a nasty white ring around the tile and I started noticing that the water was really never crystal clear. New water was put in before starting up baq. Not being happy with the way my pool was looking and considering the high cost of this JUNK, I decided to make the switch this past January. I drained my pool and I was able to remove the white build up around my tile using my cordless drill with a 3M paint stripper abrasive wheel. Worked fantastic and save me $400 on the glass bead blasting cost they wanted. Filled my pool and started the process with adding bleach. I ended up putting in about 20 gallons even though the water was fresh. After the water stopped turning the milky white color and baq tested zero, I balanced the water but could not keep the chlorine level up. It would get eaten up within a day or two. I was going to be trying a solar powered copper system (Floatron) for algea contol so went ahead and started that up. The idea with that thing is you can keep your chorine level very low like .5 or 1ppm. Everything stayed nice throughout the winter months but could not keep any level of chlorine. I DID NOT change my sand in my filter because I had an expert tell me it was not necessary. Well when the summer started I developed mustard algea. I googled my problem with not holding chlorine and basically understood I needed to put tons of chlorine in. I removed the Floatron but I still kept loosing 3ppm per day. After tons of shock and liquid chlorine I was getting fed up. I finally realized the only variable still in this mix was the sand. I had put in new sand prior to baq. $200 worth of Zeolite. I was very resistant in wanting to change this out so soon. So I finally did 3 days ago. What a surprise! The sand was so gunked up I could not believe it. I was pulling out pieces fused together the size of very large rocks. It was a mess. Took me awhile to get it all out but I did. I acid washed the filter and refilled with regular pool sand for $75. After one day, I only lost .5ppm of chlorine and my pool is so clear I cannot believe it. After 3 days everything is perfect! NOTE: Before my conversion off of baq, I never read anything that indicated WHY you should change your sand. This coupled with an expert telling me it was not necessary gave me what I thought was enough to not do it. Well as far as I am concerned it is probably the most important thing to do! I am wondering if you should do it first? Anyway, will be trying the copper system again soon with reducing the chorine level and see what happens. Good test with the hot summer in Arizona. Anyway, hope this story has enough information it it that may help someone with something in the future. Good luck and thank you for all the information here.