Hi all. Just bought a new house a few weeks ago, complete with a pool...first time pool owner/maintainer. Previous owner had it installed in the fall of 2007 and decided to use baquacil. When I moved in, my pool-owner neighbors convinced me chlorine is much better for me. Last week (before I found this site) I visited my local pool store about converting from baqua to chlorine when I opened it. The response I received was "good choice". They gave me a handout about steps to take and told me to use the granular form of calcium hyperchloride. A few days into the process I stumbled across this site and have since switched to liquid bleach (K-Mart down the street has Chlorox 6% on sale right now). I've gone through about 45 gallons of bleach and I think I'm close to being finished, but I have a few questions:
I've been backwashing about every 2 hours (usually right before I added any bleach)...is this enough? Too much? Pressure is staying low (under 10 psi) but it just seems like there's Crud that's getting through. Also, that granular stuff I used at first seems to look like sand just sitting at the bottom of my pool. Been vacuuming to waste throughout the day, but haven't got it all yet as previous owner installed a 20' pool but bought an 18' vacuum hose!
If my FC levels stay up overnight, (been at 16 for the last 5 hours with 0 CC) can I go ahead and change the sand in my filter tomorrow? I got very helpful advice on this process from the guy at the pool store, and I think I can handle it no problem.
I've been running the pump on Filter non-stop since I started, except for the occasional minute or two backwash and rinse. Is this correct?
Doing a lot of reading, I think I understand enough of the chemistry related stuff to keep going, but I'm just not too sure about the pump/filter issues.
Took a few pictures with my cell phone before I started and once I added the first dose of chlorine. I'll see if I can get them on here soon, along with an after photo (water is now almost clear, except for those tiny little pieces of white crud floating around).
This looks like a very helpful group, and thanks in advance for any advice.
I've been backwashing about every 2 hours (usually right before I added any bleach)...is this enough? Too much? Pressure is staying low (under 10 psi) but it just seems like there's Crud that's getting through. Also, that granular stuff I used at first seems to look like sand just sitting at the bottom of my pool. Been vacuuming to waste throughout the day, but haven't got it all yet as previous owner installed a 20' pool but bought an 18' vacuum hose!
If my FC levels stay up overnight, (been at 16 for the last 5 hours with 0 CC) can I go ahead and change the sand in my filter tomorrow? I got very helpful advice on this process from the guy at the pool store, and I think I can handle it no problem.
I've been running the pump on Filter non-stop since I started, except for the occasional minute or two backwash and rinse. Is this correct?
Doing a lot of reading, I think I understand enough of the chemistry related stuff to keep going, but I'm just not too sure about the pump/filter issues.
Took a few pictures with my cell phone before I started and once I added the first dose of chlorine. I'll see if I can get them on here soon, along with an after photo (water is now almost clear, except for those tiny little pieces of white crud floating around).
This looks like a very helpful group, and thanks in advance for any advice.