Baquacil user - switching to Chorline

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rogerhst

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LifeTime Supporter
Jun 20, 2009
22
Prattville, Alabama
I've been reading information on this sight for converting to Chlorine from Baq - which I have been using in my above ground pool since it was intalled in 1998, and will be starting a conversion - hopefully - next weekend. The Baq pool always had problems when it gets hot - and it does get hot here in Alabama - in June / July / Aug - and I have the same problem now - that it has been in the upper 90's for the last week. It always goes cloudy when the temperature in the pool gets higher than 85.

So I am going to convert. I will not visit a pool store and purchase any of their suggestions, etc. I plan on going through the bleach method of conversion. I will buy the TF100 test kit today - on-line - and hope to get it quickly.

My pool has approximately 10,500 gallons of water - 15x24 - about 4.5 feet deep.

I am a little anxious about doing this - but I think it will be worth it! It's 99 degrees outside and the family doesn't want to swim becuase the pool is cloudy!!

If anyone has any additional words of wisdom before I start - please let me know!!!

Thanks :-D

Roger.
 
Hi there :wave:

You will be so glad you did this. I finished my conversion 3-4 weeks ago and my pool has been beautiful ever since. Never cloudy, always sparkily.

You will get your TF-100 test rather quickly. I think I ordered mine on a Saturday and I had it by Tuesday. It only took a couple of days. That test will be your best investment during the end of your conversion!

There will be lots of people around here to answer your questions, they were really great about helping me with mine.

Be sure to take pics before, during and after, because you probably won't believe the things you'll see...lol... keep us posted :)
 

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If anyone has any additional words of wisdom before I start - please let me know!!!
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Probably very little wisdom but some words of encouragement......You are doing exactly the right thing in exactly the right sequence. (Your kit will ship Monday and you should have it on Wednesday...Thank you!)

1. Having everything pre-planned as you are doing is fantastic.....it will make your conversion go very well.

2. I know it sounds self-serving, but the conversion is incredibly difficult without my kit or the K-2006

3. Stock up on Clorox (or liquid chlorine....whichever you use) Almost everyone underestimates how much it will take and it will never go to waste......you simply use it as part of your routine maintenance. I would suggest 15 or so large jugs of Clorox to start.

4. Be prepared to change the filter media after the conversion is complete. Have the sand, DE, or a cartridge on hand.

5. You will get all the help you want from this forum. There's lots of experience here and folks are more than willing to gibve of their time and knowledge.

6. As you probably know by now, we love pictures :lol: :lol:
 
You are doing the right thing :-D I'm still not done with my conversion, but the water is sparkly and clear. I too had trouble with the high heat and Baquacil. Everytime I was going to have a party and lots of people over, my pool would turn cloudy and/or green. The Baqua shock was up to $17 a bottle and that was the only way to get the pool water cleared up. Bleach is a whole lot cheaper.

Don't use granular chlorine products at all would be my words of wisdom! A guy at our local pool store tried to tell me I could do a conversion overnight by using Burn Out Extreme. All it did was leave big white spots in the bottom of my pool :rant: I should have known, "If it sounds too good to be true, well, it probably is."

Good luck and happy bleaching! It is fun to watch it change, show us pictures :wink:
 
Not sure where you are at, but check out the "price check on aisle 9" thread in the BBB section. You will see some of the choices of where to get your chlorine or Bleach.

I personally found COSTCO to be the easiest at a reasonable price so I use them. $5.59 for a two 182 ounce bottle pack.
 
Hi Roger and welcome to the forum :wave:

Based on all the conversions here, you should be a very happy pool owner when finished!

You have done your home work.

It will be very helpful if you add your pool and equipment specs in your sig. Responders need the info :wink:
go to User Control Panel, upper left under TFP logo, select Profile, then Edit Sig.

Hope you have a short conversion time and don't forget the pix! :mrgreen:
 
Well - it is conversion day - and for better or worse - it has started!

Before I start - this is what it looks like:

P1010945.JPG


I have started adding about two 128oz bottles about every 1.5 hours and it looks like this (after 3.5 hours):

P1010948.JPG



I've got my TF100 test kit and got the PH to about where it needs to be (about 7.4).

Not sure about FC yet -- my initial tests didn't take much at all to turn the pink to clear.
Do I need to worry about anything but FC at this point?

To make sure I am doing it right - - when the FC test is done - how many drops am I shooting for before the water turns clear?

Roger.
 
Now that the PH is balanced, you should focus on FC, and do perhaps one CC measurement a day. For the first day, or first couple of days, the FC level will fall very rapidly. If the FC level is above 5 after 1 1/2 hours, you can wait longer between chlorine additions. That is unlikely to happen today.

Longer term, you continue until the FC level falls by 1.0 ppm or less overnight. But for the next few days, FC will probably fall to zero overnight.
 

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Hi rogerhst!
Nice photo. It will be fun to look back on once your pool is sparkly blue again. I didn't get the gunk floating on top like that, but you will need lots more bleach! Stock up now, it is easier than running back and forth to the store everyday. I was buying 8-10 bottles everyday at the beginning of the process. It was worth it though. Send more photos as you progress :)
 
Today I purchased 10 cases of bleach at Sam's - so right now I have 11 cases remaining. That's about 44 gallons. If I keep going every hour or so - even through part of the night - will that help or hurt the process? As of 1:00pm my tests were as follows:

FC = 11
CC = 12

If I read them right. I went ahead and added one more bottle as I was also adding some water to top the pool off - since I have been backwashing the filter.

Roger.
 
Testing and adding bleach as often as possible, but not more than once an hour, is not required but will speed up the process. As long as FC is falling dramatically in an hour it is well worth doing frequent chlorine additions. When FC levels are still fairly high after an hour, you can add chlorine less frequently without much of a slowdown in the overall process.
 
Here is the 7:00pm update - now have been working on the pool for 11 hours. Just swept the walls and the vacumed the bottom. Here is a log over the last 5 hours. The weather was sunny and hot today (95) - the sun has just been hidden for the rest of the evening behind some clouds.

Readings: Time and FC

1:20 pm FC=10.5 CC=12 - at this time added 1 jug of 128 oz clorox bleach
2:30 pm FC=5 added 1 jug (after reading - same each time)
3:30 pm FC=4 added 2 jugs
4:30 pm FC=10.5 added 1/2 jug
5:30 pm FC=9 added 1/2 jug
6:45 pm FC=10 added 1/2 jug

Those of you who have done this before - how is this progressing?

I will keep monitoring until about 10pm then leave it alone the rest of the night. The goal will be to keep the FC at or near 15 -- adding bleach per the pool calculator.

Here is the current picture:

P1010952.JPG
 
This morning I can see the bottom! The following are my readings from last night and first thing this morning:

8:00 pm FC=8 CC=8 , added 4 Qts of bleach
9:00 pm FC=11 , added about 3 Qts
10:00 pm FC=12, added about 2 Qts
11:25 pm FC=15, CC=8

6:00 am FC=8, CC=7 PH=7.2 TA=80 CH=80 added 4 Qts of Bleach

As I said above - I can see the bottom now - but the color is still green - as it gets lighter I will post a current picture. I am going to continue to up the FC to 15 throughout the day (unless there is a reason I shouldn't) as my FC droped too much over night. Its going to be another hot and sunny day here - so the sun will consume a lot of chlorine. :?

Roger.
 
You are just getting to the point where it is more efficient to add chlorine only in the evenings. Adding chlorine during the day will speed up the process, but it is less efficient. Much more of your chlorine will be lost to sunlight than goes towards finishing the conversion.
 
Thanks Jason - - what I considered the hardest part is past now - as the gunk from the Baguacil is gone - now its just a matter of killing the remaining nasties that are in the water. Yesterday was very very busy keeping the pump backwashed and helping getting the gunk off the top - not to mention sweeping the sides and bottom of the pool :?

Today I will be home all day repairing part of our deck around the pool so I am going to keep adding the bleach during the day every other hour or so.

Here is the current picture - - quite a change from yesterday!!!! :-D

P1010956.JPG
 

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