I'm about to go out and add my first round of bleach for my conversion. I have all new water (although it does look rather yucky since it has been sitting and we've had quite a bit of rain in the last few days) and a new liner. So the only thing that has come in contact with Baq was the pump/filter, skimmer, return jet. I know you guys said it would be a minimal conversion because of this, but I'm not really sure about how much bleach to add to begin with. I want to make sure I add enough, but not too much. I bought 20 jugs (so far). Thanks!

doh! Sorry, I just remembered the pool calculator!

You want to raise your FC level to 15. To raise FC by 15 in 14,700 gallons takes 3 1/2 gallons of 6% bleach. Remember that bleach jugs are not usually gallon jugs.

I just started my conversion yesterday afternoon, around 4:30. Put my last bleach in around 9:00 last night. My test results from this morning (7:30) showed

FC 14
CC ? <.5 (Not sure about this because the water was clear with the faintest shade of pink. Yesterday when I tested it was darker but only took one drop.)

Do I still need to be checking the pH while I'm converting because mine is now 8.2 and it started at 7.2?

Water is still ugly brown. So I don't need to change my filter media yet, just clean it, right?

Try to keep all of your posts about your conversion in one topic. That will make it much simpler for us to answer your questions.

You are doing very well. Since FC didn't fall to zero overnight, you are already past the first phase of the conversion. You want to continue maintaining an FC level of 15 until the water clears up. I wouldn't add chlorine too many times during the day, focus on the evenings if possible. The FC level will fall from sunlight quite quickly, so it is more efficient to add chlorine at night when more of it can go towards clearing up the pool. Still, you should still do at least one mid-day chlorine addition if practical.

Don't worry about the PH while the FC level is high. The test results won't be correct.

Don't replace the filter just yet, keep the old one clean as best you can.

oops, sorry . Can this post be moved?

Yep, merged two of the topics together. JasonLion

Thanks for all your help!

First, the bad news......After 13 jugs of bleach I was really starting to see a difference in my water by Saturday evening, but we had a bad storm come up and I went out to check my water and see if my filter needed cleaning. Water was pouring out from the skimmer around where the seals are (mostly from the smaller seal at the back). We couldn't get it to stop so were immediately started draining the pool below the skimmer so we could remove it. No more conversion for me ! It was too dark and too late to do much else. Took the skimmer and rim off yesterday and what do you know, when they put our pool up they only put in 2 out of the 8 screws that were needed to connect the back of the skimmer to the front. The seal didn't look the best either, it was cracked. The seals weren't replaced with the install because they never told me I needed to when they told me I needed a new liner because you can't reuse a liner (it won't stretch is what they said). So yesterday we replaced all the seals and put in all the screws and started refilling. By the time I started the pump up again my CL was at 0 so I had to add 5 more jugs of bleach. This morning the water looks so good (not perfect, yet, but getting there)....the good news. I'm loving the BBB! Although I've only used one B so far, lol. Anyway I went to check my filter and run my test. While the water was draining out of the pump for me to clean the filter I went ahead and tested. I guess I should have used a little less than 5 jugs last night.....

FC-16
CC-.5
TC-16.5

So I was going back outside to clean the filter and it had started raining again. As soon as my right foot hit the first step my legs went flying out from under me and I fell down 7 steps, my left leg bent behind me the whole way! My hip, knee and foot are messed up pretty bad. I can't put any weight on them without being in excruciating pain. I was lying at the bottom of the steps in the rain screaming for someone to come out and help me for almost 10 minutes. Then I saw my pool net from last night, I had decided not to put it away. I finally reached close enough to grab it and extended the pole out long enough to reach the kitchen window. I banged until one of my kids finally came outside and got me some help to get back in the house. Now my pool is sitting out there without the pump lid on, not running, just waiting for me to come out and fix it. No one else knows what to do until my husband gets home from work. Hopefully things will start going better. This process has been alot more "painful" than I expected, but I just know I am going to be thrilled with the end result. I was ecstatic when I saw my water this morning!

The ugly....well that would be my conversion pics. They are on my desktop and don't have any yet from this morning, but I will hopefully be adding them soon.

Thanks for all the help I have been given so far! You guys/gals are great!

I am so sorry you are having all those problems!

Stephanie, we all feel so bad for you.

But as you said, things will start going better...hopefully soon!

You poor thing! All because of Baqua-gooo.

I hope your leg get's better soon! Everything else just doesn't matter as long as you get better soon!

Stephanie, I hope you went to the doc to get checked out. I'm so sorry for you!

Thanks everyone for your concerns and well wishes. I'm doing better today, just very sore with LOTS of bruising. I didn't break anything, thankfully. My conversion is complete, well I'm hoping because we changed out the cartridge. I'll put pics up soon after I resize them.

Would now be the time to add my CYA?

My most recent test results were around 11:30 am this morning.

FC-.5
CC-0
TC-.5
pH- 7.5
TA-110
CH-80

I'm about to go add some bleach. None has been put in since Sunday evening. Not sure whether to add CYA or how to just yet. I don't have any muriatic acid yet, so what should I do since the TA is high? Thanks!

The next step is to add CYA up to between 30 and 50. I would raise it up to 30, wait a week, test the level again, and then adjust to 50 from where ever you are at that point.

Keep the FC level at 15 for one more night and then check the CC level in the morning. If CC remains at 0.5 or lower then you are done.

I wouldn't worry about your TA level right now, it should be fine. If you have problems with constantly rising PH, then you might want to lower the TA. Otherwise leave it where it is.

Now we have ANOTHER reason why Biguanide is Bad! People can get hurt by doing a conversion in the rain!
(A little humor can be a good thing at times like this!)

At any rate, you converted and survived! good job!

Great news all around. Glad you are ok.

Thanks everyone! I posted my pics in a seperate thread. Hope that was ok?