conversion? questions first

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lcasciotti

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Jul 31, 2009
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This is my third year using baquacil and I think it is probably time to switch to chlorine. I know there are not a lot of baquacil users on here, but I didn't reallly find anywhere else with answers.

Because my steps do not have good circulation I have had water mold every year. I saw that I can enlarge the holes on the side of my stairs to improve circulation. I hope that and chlorine will help in the future.

Right now, I still have a water mold problem and it is in my lines now. I poured 2 gallons of shock right into the skimmer as the pool store recommended. Bubbles came shooting out the return as expected. It has been 4 days and the pool has cleared some, but it is still a little cloudy. I have been changing the DE once or twice a week because it doesn't regenerate.

How do I know if I killed it all? As long as I poured the shock in bubbles kept coming out. Should I shock next week in the same way?

Will switching to chlorine now take care of the water mold? Will the process of converting keep the shock level high enough to clean everything? I am concerned about starting the conversion now for two reasons. My sanitizer and shock levels are pretty high and we are going on vacation in a week. I would love any advice you have. I have been reading eveything on this site for a couple of days and it really seems like you guys know what you are talking about!
 
I would wait until you return. :wink:

THe steps for following the conversion will take care of the water mold too. Your specific circumstances may make the conversion a long one, but it's certainly doable (with alot of chlorine) and I truly believe you will have no regrets once you switch. Since you will probably require more chlorine than a "normal" conversion, I'd try and find a source for the stronger 10-12.5% pool store version, so you are lugging less jugs, etc. Shop around for the best price, since you have a week to do research...

In the meantime, go ahead and order your test kit so you have it ready when you return from your vacation. Have a good one. :wave:
 
i too had a bad case of water mold/ pink algae and it took almost two months
to clear it all out of my lines. i know this seems like a long time, but it is finally
gone after fighting it unsuccessfully with baquacil for years.
 
I am switching to chlorine from baquacil next weekend after my kids birthday. The pink algae/water mold is the main reason I am switching. But I will be honest it is not because it was hard to get ride of, It took me 2 bottles of CDX and about 3-4 bottles of shock and then I replaced my sand, took about a week, had clear water for about 2 months, chrystal clear, then it started again the green algae growing on the side walls, going through sanitizer like crazy. My main reason of switching is due to cost, I will save 300.00 - 500.00 a year on chemicals, period, thats it. Baqua although I have had it for 7-8 years I am always paying tons of money to keep my pool clear.

So cost is driving me to bleach/chlorine. $35.00 for 2 quart bottle of sanitizer and 21.00 for shock that maybe last for a week, to much money.
 
After opening our pool this year and getting the water situated and balanced with CYA ($25.00) our weekly cost to keep our pool sparkly is about $12.00 ( 8 bottles) of 96oz Wal Mart brand bleach. I add one a night to the pool sometimes every other night depending on my schedule.

I keep our FC level on the high end of the CYA/Chlorine scale ....
 
Yes Yes Yes! Convert now! I was totally sold on BQ for about 5 yrs. then it all went to @#$%. I would not have converted if I had not found this site and the pool store guy sold me a clarifier that reacted with my BQ shock. So I took the "plunge". I did not realize how cloudy my pool has been until the conversion. Also, I've been plagued with red, mustard, green, blue, purple, brown, black..... you name it for about three years now. The pool store was perfectly willing to sell be oogles of chemical to take care of it. Guess what? It never did. Last year, I had the white "paper" like algae that floated in the pool. (I at first thought the kids had a toilet paper war lol). The water has never been this clear!

Now the kicker! I’ve been away twice since the conversion. I shocked and covered with the solar cover (which I learned on this site) and came back to a crystal clear pool both times. Last mon. when I returned from vacation, I found that my pump had been zapped by lightening. I’ve had no circulation for 14 days now and still no algae. The daytime temps have been in the high 80's and low 90's. Convert and you will not be sorry!

I feel the info. here is worth every penny if you feel lead to contribute. You will save big $$$$$$. (I'm in no way connected to this site other than as a member)
 
Diverman57,

Was that after converting to chlorine that it took two months, or still on baquacil?

The pool store even recommended putting a smart stick in the skimmer. If it is still not cleared up tomorrow I may try that until I have the time to do the full conversion.
 
the water mold/ pink algae had taken hold so bad in my lines that it took
2 months at shock level of chlorine to get the gunk cleared out of my
lines. the baq would sometimes clear the water, but the slime in the lines
was obviously always lurking. the conversion to chlorine only took about a
week, but it took 2 months to clear out my lines.
 
I am planning for the conversion now. I have been checking prices of chlorine at the stores and the local pool store has the 12% for $3.50, that seems like a good price based on what I have read here. I am still not sure if we are going to do it this season or wait until next spring. We live in NH and close pretty early in September.

Is there a reason why you don't start adding the CYA right away? If it can take a week to dissolve and read the levels, why don't you add it at the start of the conversion?

My PH is 7.6, do I really need to lower it before I begin?

I am getting excited to start doing something! I guess I will order the test kit now. At least I will have that ready to go.
 

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IMO ..... I would do your conversion right before you close the pool for the season. That way NEXT YEAR all you will have to do is your opening, balance your water and your off to the races. You wont have to do this and worry about swimming as well.

I assume from your location you take your filter inside for the winter ? You have to change the sand any way ....dump it out, change it in the spring after your conversion and dont worry about it til next spring :wink:
 
During the conversion, you can't swim in it, so waiting until Sept would be good. Also as TizMe said, at the end of the conversion, one of the steps is to replace your filter sand with new. The end of the season is a good time for sales, so you can start shopping around now, and have it ready.

Edit: Just noticed you have a DE filter. I think the conversion process is the same with DE.

You'll need a lot of bleach or liquid chlorine - read through some of the conversion threads for an idea. Towards the end of the conversion you'll need less - Market Basket had 5.25% gallon bleach for $1.50, which is a good price. Avoid the Sno-EE @ Big Lots for the same price - maybe it's just me, but it doesn't seem as strong. (and the bottle did say 5.25%)

Dan
 
Convert...Convert...Convert!
I converted at the end of May and never been happier.
I used Baquacil for 14 years and fought chronic water mold for the last 5 years.

I've only had to add about 3 gallons of clorax bleach per week and about 16 oz's of muriatic acid every couple weeks.
My pool looks awesome. No problems what so ever.

I went from backwashing 3 times a week to once every 3 weeks.
My conversion took a total of 10 days, start to finish - ready to swim.

Good Luck! :party:
 
So now I have been reading posts here everyday trying to lean before I begin. I was reading about using sodium percarbonate to make the process go faster. Now I have a chemistry question. I found out that sodium percarbonate turns into hydrogen peroxide and soda ash when in water. How will that oxidize the baquacil when the normal shock for baquacil pools is hydrogen peroxide? Am I missing something?
 
lcasciotti, I have the exact same size pool as you with a DE filter and in NH. I waited until spring to do the switch. It only took a few days, I think it was quicker because the Baquagoo was gone after winter. All I did was cover it to close it. Going BBB has been great, this is the 2nd year. I have not needed to shock except for in the springtime and once the levels are where they should be it costs me $3-$5 a week in chemicals. Hard to beat that. The other thing you will see is that you only need to bump the DE filter once a week unlike Baquacil which seemed to be twice a day. Also the pump pressure doesn't go high with Chlorine. You will need to physically clean the DE filter a couple times through the conversion process though, it gets nasty (although it's probably nasty now with the B-goo). If you can limp through the rest of the season, I would wait. This would allow you to clean out the hoses with them off. I think this will be a short season unless the temps decide to stay high through August. This forum rocks! :goodjob:
 
I was convinced to wait until closing and drain and fill. I was told the gunk from conversion could damage the liner and also we have some dips under the liner (from ants I am guessing) that we wanted to fix. We are afraid if we drain and refill now, the water won't warm up enough to enjoy the little bit of summer we have left.

Today I go back out to change the DE ( it has only been a week) and the flow has dropped off before the day is even over! The slimy walls are back as well. I have been brushing the walls and vacuuming everyday. I don't want to spend $60 a week shocking the pool and adding algecide to keep the pool functional.

Has anyone really damaged the liner with all the baqua goo that precipitates?

I am hoping the conversion goes fast. We have only two years of buildup of old baquacil polymers and and we are down to 30 ppm of sanitizer now. This is my current plan unless anyone has better advice. I also have to convince hubby that we shouldn't wait until closing to do this.

Shock again before vacation and add algecide. When we get back we can start the conversion immediately.

BTW, I received my test kit today, can't wait to start using it!
 
I have never hear of anyone damaging a liner in a way that had to do with the gunk. In about 100 conversions, that I know about, only one liner had any problems. In that case the liner sprung a leak, which got patched. I am fairly sure that was unrelated to the conversion, but it is difficult to be positive.

The more often you can test the water and raise the FC level back up to 15, the faster the conversion will go. I think the record is about four days to complete the conversion, the average is a little over a week, though occasionally it takes a couple of weeks.
 
Thanks for your input. Yeah! I convinced my hubby we had to do this now or spend a couple of hundred more on the pool in the next couple of weeks. We have decided to drain and refill and hope the solar cover will heat the pool while we are on vacation. We have already started draining and should be refilling tomorrow. I was so excited to start using my new kit, I tested the tap water that will be filling the pool. Here are my numbers. I think they look pretty good to start.

FC .5
CC 0
pH 7.5
CH 50
TA 70
CYA 0

SO it looks like my CH, ph and TA are all at the low end, but acceptable. So I just need to add the chlorine and CYA right? I was guessing I should raise it to shock levels and do the overnight test to make sure all baquacil is gone anyway. Does that sound right? Is there anything else I am missing?
 
You should do a baquacil conversion just the same as you would if you hadn't replaced the water. There will still be some baquacil residue in the plumbing and filter. The only difference is that it should only take a few hours to finish, rather than several days.
 

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