Soft Swim to chlorine to SWG--eventually

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L

lbrn

0
May 3, 2015
34
Thomasville, NC
Pool Size
15000
Surface
Vinyl
Chlorine
Salt Water Generator
SWG Type
Solaxx (Saltron) Reliant / Purechlor R4
Hi,:wave:
We have used Soft Swim since we bought our pool 5 years ago. This will be our 6th season. Last year we had a real problem with cloudy water and had started seeing white mold. We started our chlorine conversion on Monday, May 4 with some lovely colors. We have been testing FC, adding bleach, brushing and vacuuming all week. Our pool is clear, but it is a lovely lime green. Is that part of the process? Last night we only lost 1ppm of FC, but we still had yellow gunk on the walls and bottom to clean up so I was sure we were not ready to add the CYA. I have a few questions:

1.Should the water be CRYSTAL clear before we change the sand again and add CYA to reach 30 ppm per instructions?

2. Then, after the CYA is added we keep the FC up to 15ppm until our CC's are 0.5 for two days in a row. Right? Then, we can balance our pool by the recommendations for SWG, add the salt and hook up the SWG. Is this the right process for us? (BTW, we have a AquaTrol RJ ready to install.)

Also, We have the TF-100 test kit.
 
Welcome to the forum. :wave:
Our pool is clear, but it is a lovely lime green.
Click to expand...
A pic would help. That is a bit unusual.

"Clear water" is often misconstrued. There can be no gunk or debris anywhere in the pool and the water certainly cannot be green. If you have those conditions, you have to vacuum the stuff up or brush it up ionto the moving pool water and let the chlorine and filter get your water crystal clear with no sign of anything anywhere.

It sounds like you may not be running your pump 24/7, is that correct?

Your CC's do not have to be .5 ppm fopr two days in a row. The criteria for stopping the conversion is the same as stopping a SLAM....

1. Your pool water is sparkling (no debris, no nothing)
2. Your CC's are .5ppm or less
3. You can hold your FC overnight without losing more than 1ppm.
 
I guess, by clear, I meant we can clearly see the bottom of the pool, but the water is green. We are running our pump 24/7. This site is awesome. Thanks for the great job you do helping those of us who don't know yet, what we're doing. I will post a picture in the morning. It's too dark now.
 
Welcome to TFP! I don't know what a softswim is but I assume it is not a floatie. :) Is it a mineral sanitizer? Have you tested or had the pool store test for metals in the water? Sometimes clear, green water is caused by metals.

Here is an article from Pool School about metals that could be helpful.
http://www.troublefreepool.com/content/137-metals-in-the-water-and-metal-stains

Congrats on taking control of your pool TFPC-style!
 
Seeing that you are questioning "clear" it leads me to think you still have some work before the conversion is complete. In addition the a photo a current FC and CC test result will be very helpful. There is no need just yet to add the cya nor change the sand. Sounds like there's still some BaquaGoo in the water that needs to be broken down and removed first.

Welcome to TFP! We hope you enjoy!
 
This morning the pool was a lighter shade of green so I think we're getting there. The FC was back down to 4ppm this morning so we're still adding bleach. I haven't been checking CC's since we have not added the CYA yet. SoftSwim is Bioguards baquacil product. Also, our instruction manual that came with the SWG recommended to add a quart of metal remover and a quart of non-copper based algaecide. Should we add these?image_01[1].jpg
 
Using SoftSwim means you have zero CYA in the water. You still have some work ahead of you as the water isn't nearly clean. I'd guess IF you were to test the water your CC would be rather high at this point, so there's no need to test for these at this point. You need to raise the Chlorine level to 15 and maintain it. You will still drop FC levels rather quickly at this point so the more you can add chlorine the faster you will complete the conversion.

At this point I also wouldn't worry about an algaecide or metal remover until the conversion is complete. Just worry about maintaining a 15ppm FC level using liquid chlorine, and we'll help you with the rest once the conversion is complete.
 
Thanks, the pool did lighten up some overnight. I have a question about the TF-100 FC test. When we add a drop at a time of R-0871 the water will clear and then turn pale pink again. We have been continuing to add drops until it doesn't turn pink at all. Is this the right way to do the test? I just tested again and we were back to 4ppm, so we added more bleach. We work nights and hope to find the pool a little less green in the morning when we get home. I brushed every crack and crevice today so that should help.
 

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lbrn said:
Thanks, the pool did lighten up some overnight. I have a question about the TF-100 FC test. When we add a drop at a time of R-0871 the water will clear and then turn pale pink again. We have been continuing to add drops until it doesn't turn pink at all. Is this the right way to do the test? I just tested again and we were back to 4ppm, so we added more bleach. We work nights and hope to find the pool a little less green in the morning when we get home. I brushed every crack and crevice today so that should help.
Click to expand...
Ideally, you add the drops while swirling, so it never goes clear until it goes clear and stays clear at the end. I use the speedstir, so it's supereasy for me. But yes, you're doing things right. It'll clear and go pink again right away when you swirl it. A warning: do not panic if you set the sample aside and five minutes later it turns pink again. That's normal. As long as you finish the test within a minute or so, you're doing it right.

Also, the technicolor show is what we all look forward to on a bacquacil conversion. :nopic:
 
image_02.jpgOk, todays update. After watching the video on how to do the FC test, we were not doing it right. Duh! We probably were not keeping the FC high enough. We are not seeing any baqua-goo any more, but the water is still green. It is not cloudy at all. We will continue to keep FC up and wait for the water to clear.
 
Ok, my husband wants to know if maybe we have an algae problem. Our FC was 1.5 again this morning with no goo anywhere, just green water. You can see by the picture I posted yesterday with the pool brush on the bottom that the water is not cloudy. Are we still in the baqua conversion or is this something else? It has stayed this nice green color for 3 days.
pH is 7.2 and has remained that since we started the conversion.
CYA is 0 because we haven't added any.
TA is 110
We are keeping our FC at 15 as directed.

If this is algae, is FC at 15 enough to kill it? (and how can we keep it up without CYA if that is the problem)
And the water doesn't change at all when we add the chlorine. There are no pretty clouds like we had in the beginning.

I don't mean to be a pest, this is just getting tiresome.
 
During a normal SLAM CYA is required as all of your chlorine will be consumed by the sun rather quickly. During a Baqua conversion however it is best to work with zero CYA as it allows all the chlorine to attack the BaquaGoo that's in your pool.

One test result you didn't add was the CC level for your water. Can you please raise your FC level to 15 once again tonight and test for the CC's. It will now give us a clue how far along in the conversion you are. During the conversion you really don't need to worry about algae as the chlorine levels are extremely high and will kill anything growing anyways. Your main focus is on breaking down the Baquacil and the water will become clear as a result.
 
We just retested the FC and it's 5 so we're adding more bleach. The green actually is lighter than it has been. If we keep this up, it might be blue in day or two.
Thanks to all of your for your help. I am going out of town and leaving the pool in my husbands hands for the next four days. I hope to come home from Charleston and find a sparking blue pool.
 
How often are you testing and adding bleach to maintain a FC of 15ppm? The more consistently you do this, the faster the process.
Have you vacuumed all the crud off the bottom to waste?
 
We have been testing 3 to 4 times per day and today we have seen a significant change in the color. There is no more crud on the bottom or the walls. I hope we are past that stage. At first, we had all sorts of foamy looking gunk floating around, lying around on the bottom and stuck to the walls. We have brushed and vacuumed almost daily and I think all that's left are fine particles. It really is "bluing up" today.
 

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