WI - Want to convert to chlorine, but DE filter keeps clogging

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swargolet

Member
May 28, 2019
20
WI
We recently purchased a house which has an 38x18 oval above ground pool. I've been battling what I thought was algae eating up my chlorine, but have come to realize that the previous owners used Baquacil and that when I added shock, it turned green and the filter clogged because of 'Baquacil goo'. I would like to switch it over to using chlorine and have read the Convert Your Baqua Pool to Chlorine post and a few threads on this forum as well. I plan to purchase the TF-100 test kit today and get started on the conversion this week. With that said, I have one major concern which my title alludes to. The filter for the pool is a Pentair DE filter which only has the 'bump' knob at the top and no backwash valve. This filter constantly clogs up often from what I assume is 'Baquacil goo'. I've cleaned the DE filter out 3 times now thinking it was algae buildup, but definitely know it is the 'Baquacil goo' now after reading a bit (my water turns green instantly with shock being added).

So my question is, what is the best route here. I feel like it will be near impossible to get it converted given that the filter clogs up after an hour or two of running.

EDIT: I should add that I didn't add any Baquacil since opening and the pool has been shocked twice already. The first time the pool was green for a couple days while the second time it was only green for about 3 hours. I also have a chlorinator with chlorine tablets floating around (I know now after reading here that I shouldn't have this) and that doesn't turn the water green. So I'm hoping that there is very little of the Baquacil left.
 
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Welcome! :wave: I have a couple things to note about your situation:
1 - Remove the chlorine tabs. You do not want any stabilzer in the water yet as it will make the conversion process more difficult right now. Stick to just regular bleach.
2 - As for the filter, you're kind of stuck. You don't even have recirculate as an option. Something you may be forced to do is a partial water exchange just to get ahead of the goo situation and the filter issue. You'll still have to do the conversion steps, but it may help speed it up.

@Leebo, what do you think based on that filter? Partial water exchange, or extremely tredious babysitting of the filter?
 
A few quick questions,

1. How many tabs have been dissolved so far?
2. Is a total water replacement an option?
3. If you dump bleach in now, you still get the color change correct?
 
I'll remove the chlorine tabs when I get home tonight and buy some bleach as well.

@Leebo
1. I would guess around 2-3 3" tabs have been dissolved at this point.
2. It is an option. I have city water so no concern about a well pump being overused. Looks like it'd only be about $65 too, so not too expensive. I'd just want to learn more about what is involved with a full replacement and if there is any risk / cost concerns at all. Maybe I could use it as an opportunity to replace the liner too as I assume it is old (12+ years), although that opens up a whole bunch of other questions.
3. I am unsure. I'll try tonight, but I would assume so as the shock I added 2 days ago turned it green instantly.
 
For around $65 I’d personally take a look at that route. You would still need to do parts of the conversion however it’ll go ALOT quicker and likely cheaper. You’ll want to leave some water (say a foot) to keep the liner in place and avoid wrinkles.
 
@Leebo Thanks for the quick reply. While the pool is above ground, one side of it does go deeper by about 2 feet. Should I leave 1 ft in from the shallowest part or deepest part of the pool? As I don't know the history of the pool and how much Baqaucil was added in prior to closing, is there any way to sort of test the water beforehand to see if emptying the pool is the best route vs the bleach route?

Also, I'm still trying to decide if I want to go with a SWG or manually adding bleach. If I go with the SWG, is there anything different I should do as far as the conversion process? From reading around on this site, it seems like just get the pool to where it should be with regards to chemicals and chlorine, add salt, wait a few days, then add / turn on SWG. Just unsure if anything would be different when this conversion process is added. I may end up sticking with manual bleach for this season and start up next season with SWG.

EDIT: Removed the tablets and added 2 gallons of bleach from Aldi. Granted that isn't enough, but water didn't change color at all.
 
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Hoping to get some feedback here. I did not drain the pool at all as I wanted to get my test kit in first to check everything over. In the meantime, I added in two 121oz bottles of bleach on Wed which did not change the water color just like on Tues. Used test strips (all I had) and got 0 chlorine. Then thurs around 5pm I put in 2 bags of Pool Life turbo shock which from what I read on this forum is OK as it is basically chlorine but can increase calcium level. This also did not change the pool color although the last 2 times it was added it did instantly. At 10pm the test strip showed 3ppm. I measured the next morning (this morning) after the pump ran all night, which also barely lost any power and it still showed around 3ppm with the test strips. I came home today and the test strip read 0 chlorine again. I also got my TF-100 test kit!
Ran all the tests and got the following results:
FC: 0.5
CC: 1.0
PH: 7.5
TA: 100
CH: 125
CYA: 0

Based on reading here, I assume CYA being 0 is a big reason why my chlorine went to 0 during the day. From my understanding having a CYA of 0, while not good, is preferred over having a high CYA as it is easier to increase it. Given this, I'm going to add the two remaining jugs of bleach I have this evening and test then check again in the morning. If it doesn't change much, I'll put in enough bleach to get it to 15 ppm and see if it'll stay there overnight and continue on with the conversion.
Does this seem like a good approach? Also, I have about 10 more 1 lb bags of that TurboShock. Can I use that at all during this conversion or after?
 
Fri and Sat nights only had enough bleach to get FC up to 10ppm and it dropped about 1ppm overnight. Yesterday finally bought enough bleach to get the FC up to 15. It dropped 2ppm between 9pm and 6am. So definitely seem to be getting close! Unfortunately, as I'm not home during the weekday I cant keep putting bleach in, so by the time I get home the chlorine level is basically at 0.

Two questions though.
1. What is the purpose of getting FC to 15ppm. Is that is necessary to be certain all the Baqaucil is removed?
2. I keep getting this really fine 'dust' collecting at the bottom of my pool. From searching on this forum, most results come back as algae. Is that what this is or is it more than likely old Baquacil collecting on the bottom? I'm just trying to figure out if at this point I am still battling Baqaucil or if I have algae consuming my chlorine at night.
 

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swargolet said:
Unfortunately, as I'm not home during the weekday I cant keep putting bleach in, so by the time I get home the chlorine level is basically at 0.
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That's okay. Sometimes the chlorine works best at night with no competition to the sun. As to your questions...
1 - Years of experience and various pool testing under "normal" baquacil scenarios has shown that with no CYA (stabilizer) 15ppm is safe for the pool, liner (if applicable) and still able to break-down the baqua goo. It's when stabilizer and/or too much CDX product has been added that things get complicated.
2 - Hard to tell. Might be algae, but once the process is complete both will be elimintaed. So no worries there.

With life and work in the way, do the best you can and stick to those instructions. Of course keep an aresenal of bleach at-hand. :)
 
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Conversion is almost finished. Depending on the night, I'm losing between 0-1ppm of FC and CC is usually 0ppm although sometimes is under 0.5ppm (turns slightly pink, but clears with 1 drop). I now have to get the CYA up to 30ppm and change out the DE in the filter.
Only concern I have is that I'm still getting a build up of fine white 'powder' on the bottom of the pool every day. Given my FC isn't being consumed at night, I'm unsure what it could be.
 
I should update this. Conversion is complete and pool is looking great! Still unsure what the white stuff was at the bottom of the pool, but as the FC wasn't getting used up at night, I added CYA and got it up to 30, then kept FC around 15 for a day or so and let it slowly work down to 5 where it is now. Cleaned out the filter and put in new DE and now the filter pressure hasn't increased at all over the past week! Once the water temps get a bit better, I will get in the pool and scrub everything down as I could only do so much outside of the pool.

Thanks for all the help and looking forward to not having to deal with a pool store ever again! Luckily I only spent about $150 at the pool store on useless chemicals before finding this forum. Now onto the next pool project which is most likely going to be a VSP and then possibly a SWG depending on how quickly I get fed up with buying liquid chlorine.
 
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