12 Years of Baquacil - No More!

[CF]

I just bought the kit .... thanks for the input. While I'm waiting for it to arrive, should I just dump some more bleach in to at least get it to 5ppm using the HTH measure? Then add some more just to estimate and round up to ... oh I don't know ... 10ppm? I really want to avoid Bubba and the ER ....

 

[Bama Rambler]

I'd personally wait on the kit. Even if you had zero FC you could add enough to get to 15 ppm using the Pool Calc and your pool size but then you wouldn't know how much to add to bring it back to 15 ppm because you wouldn't be able to test it.

Have you read the Baq conversion article in Pool School? even if you have, I'd suggest you read it again until you understand the process and what all is involved in each step.

 

[CF]

Yes I've already printed off a copy, pdf'd one for easy electronic access, and bookmarked for repeated reference on both my WORK and HOME laptops . I seem to have gotten stuck at step 4, hence my inquiring on the PPM measurement. But absolutely, it's my map and I've got it in my pocket ...

 

[Bama Rambler]

Good deal. You'll be ready when the kit arrives.

 

[Leebo]

You could also print off a copy of the "How to Shock the Pool" article in the school. It will help you some too....plus it's good bathroom reading.

I'm going to toss out an opposite suggestion than Bama's idea. The kit from Dave ships ASAP and will be there very soon. To help speed up the swap some you could use the pool calculator to hit about a FC level of 13 (giving you some room for error). Do this every evening with the pump running, and leave it running overnight. The Baquacil swap will burn up most of the chlorine....but what's left over will be burnt up by the sun during the day with no CYA in your pool. Each night I almost promise that you'll have a FC level of zero at the start. You will use up some extra chlorine in this case.... but will keep the swap going for the few day's that you're waiting for your new kit. The choice is up to you honestly....as long as you're not going hog wild with the chlorine, and keeping track what you're doing, the levels will quickly go down. You can also use the pool store some for tests for the few day's that you're waiting. Don't buy anything besides liquid chlorine....and only test the FC and CC. The rest really don't matter.

Where about in the country are you??

 

[CF]

I'm in New England.

I added bleach to hit 15ppm given an estimated TA of 70-80 as per Jason's calculator (I assumed I reached the 70-80 ppm goal, initially at 40 ppm, based on the HTH test, then added Borax and Baking Soda accordingly. Afterwards, I confirmed an increase to 7.2 pH (originally in the yellow zone of BELOW 7.2)... so I assumed the TA target was successful because the pH was stubborn and not moving at all but moved after this action. No need to do another TA test?

So as of this morning, HtH test indicated I'm only at 1 ppm for FC. So it must be that the chlorine got eaten up?

I won't mind taking a gamble and putting in more shock tonight if I test again and it's still at 1ppm. I'd first get the test result, then plug in for a 2nd set of recommendations from the pool calculator.

 

[CF]

You could also print off a copy of the "How to Shock the Pool" article in the school. It will help you some too....plus it's good bathroom reading.

LOL ...

pool-school/shocking_your_pool[/url], 'How to Shock your pool,' it]

[Red Text my emphasis]
It is impossible to know in advance just how much chlorine (volume wise) will be required to shock the pool. Instead, chlorine is added to maintain shock level (of 15ppm) until testing shows that the process is complete.

... got it. :-D

 

[Leebo]

If you're up in New England then the kit shouldn't be that long. Dave has AMAZING speed at shipping. He's a mom-and-pop business out of North Carolina so Fed-Ex shouldn't take that long either.

If you do decided to keep shocking.....you will not "maintain" the shock level for now until your kit arrives. You will continue to go "pool store" method of shocking only adding a set amount once and hope that it works. It will break down the Baquacil some....but will quickly get broke down before it can do that much good. It really is up to you on which you plan on doing. Waiting will save you some cash, shocking blindly will speed up the swap some. I also wouldn't do it more than once a day in the evening to avoid any risks.

 

[CF]

May 15, am.
- pH holding steady at 7.2-7.4
- TC (OTO) test indicates a 2 ppm (Note: the night before, I added 1 gal of 12% bleach. Prior to that, the reading was 1 ppm taken in the morning)

Pool color seems to be making progress.

 

[CF]

My test kit came :-D , and it indicated FC of 1ppm, CC of 3.5. This is three days and 5 gallons of 12% shock later. I added the Pool Calc's recommended additional 12% bleach to get it to targeted 15ppm (it's been telling me this same amount all along, approx 1.5 gallons of the 12%, as I presume the bleach has been eaten up by the baqua goo, so it just keeps telling me to add the amount [like an engineer who keeps claiming he is 95% done with a project ... telling me each month for the last 10 months :lol: ).

Interesting to note, even at a mere 1 ppm, I can actually see the bottom of my pool ... wow, it has a patterns at the bottom!

Also, 2nd day in a row that my filter did NOT need to be backwashed .... under the goo system, I would at least have to backwash it once a day (if not more frequently) to keep the return coming out strong.

Amazing ....

 

[Leebo]

Try an OCLT tonight to see how much chlorine you are losing to the baqua and how much is to the sun. It sounds like you're making good progress going blind, and you MAY be in the downhill of the swap. Depending on your results I'd suggest one of two steps.....
1. If you lose a lot of chlorine tonight, shock in the morning and shock as often as you can. Keep the FC at 15 as much as you can.

2. If your FC doesn't drop much, shock in the morning and leave alone till the night. Then shock again at night.

Im guessing an hourly shock will be your quickest bet, but if you're seeing overnight that your FC is holding then save some chlorine and shock at night. Any way you tested all your items before you shocked?

 

[JasonLion]

To slightly simplify what Leebo is saying, if you are losing the great majority of your FC in an hour, then adding more chlorine hourly is worth it. But if you still have a significant amount of FC left after an hour it is more efficient to only add chlorine in the evenings.

 

[CF]

:?: What is OCLT?

For clarification, my OTO has not exceeded 2ppm, and that was on the 2nd night. For the most part, my OTO readings since Sunday (3 days ago) have been 1.

But tonight, I got an FC reading, and it was also 1, so I'm concluding the chlorine is getting eaten up. But since I just added 2 full gallons of 12%, I am thinking my FC reading tomorrow will be a good indicator of whether or not I've past the curve and am heading downhill. If it's at the desired 15ppm or thereabouts from the pool calculators vanilla projection, then I'm thinking I'm down hill. But if it hovers still at 1-2, then I can look forward to using the remaining 8 gallons of shock I just bought

I guess I can always return the shock if not needed, eh? Or would it be wise to hang on to it despite 1 month shelf life?

 

[Leebo]

pool-school/overnight_fc_test

Gotta love pool school! If you are only testing once a day odds are that a LARGE majority of the FC is going up to the sun as you have no CYA in the pool to protect it. Either way I'd hold onto the shock. You'll end up using it before the month is up I'd bet.

 

[CF]

Eureka!!!

FC = 19.5
CC 2.5
pH=8.2

The chlorine has finally "stuck" ... but will FC remain stable at less than 1ppm by tonight/tomorrow, and CC stabilize at .5ppm until Saturday?

I can understand the chlorine readings spiking higher than target 15ppm since I put 2 gals in instead of pool calc prescription of 1.53 gal.

As a newbie :lol: , I did NOT expect pH to move, as I did not add anything for that .. I'll have to go back to Pool School this morning and see if I can find out why ..

Questions which I'll try to address at my Pool School refresher later on:
- Should I try and reduce pH or let that occur au naturale?
- Is 19.5 FC going to rip my liner, causing me to get mad, get burned by bleach, send me to ER, make me come home and get into a bar fight with Bubba, and send me to jail?
- Will I spend Saturday replacing the sand filter with new quality white stuff (and cause me to miss my kids FIVE soccer games "honey, can't go to the games again this weekend, gotta get the pool ready for Memorial Day Weekend" )?

Any thoughts to how this saga should play out in the next few days would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Leebo]

You're not done yet!

You will lose most of the FC this afternoon. I'm guessing that you'll be down around 5-10 FC by this evening. You're fine on your liner tearing. I think when I swapped mine over I hit around 25FC at one point by mistake. Wait until this evening to add more chlorine. At least I do assume that your 19.5 reading was this morning before you added anything correct??

ps.....Don't worry about your PH reading. While you're shocking your PH reading will read high. Ignore it for now.

 

[CF]

I just checked TA, it's at 100-110.

Pool School suggests "Pools with vinyl liners can tolerate high TA levels reasonably well."

So I guess I can relax and take your advice with a test tonight, then I can assess where I stand (will it be soccer games this weekend or Pool School Lab?).

Thank you.

 

[CF]

I do assume that your 19.5 reading was this morning before you added anything correct??

Yes that is a correct assumption, sir.

Also I forgot to mention that we had heavy rains during the last 3 days, sun came out briefly yesterday, then it rained again towards sunset, and sun is out now.

 

[Leebo]

That's about where my TA level is now too. The PH has only went up around 7.9 once this year after opening a month ago. Keep an eye on your PH after you're done shocking, that will tell you if you need to mess with your TA.

As for the games....that's between you and your boss! I'm staying out of that one!! The more you can brush everywhere the better it is however. Let me make sure however we're on the same page.

Last night you added two gallons of 12.5% bleach. What was your FC reading last night after adding this?. Then this morning you tested 19.5FC before you added anything. Are these statements correct??

edit...I see you answered one during typing.

 

[CF]

-

STATUS: Day 4, pm
- FC 1.5
- CC 1.5
- pH 7.2
- TA 90

Looks like the sunlight et. al. reduced FC from 19.5 to 1.5. Also, my wife told me she let the kids in the pool "briefly" ....

I told her that a reading of 4 was considered HIGH and that their eyeballs could fall out by morning so we should be monitoring them tonight ...