My pool was installed Summer of 2014. We went with Bacquacil because that’s what the pool guy pushed. 1st and 2nd seasons were fine. No problems. 3rd season opened to white mold, took forever to clear up. 4th season same thing. Struggled with keeping it clear. Decided I wasn’t going to stick with Baquacil but was told you couldn’t just change over without a process. So I did not winterize as usual. When I took cover off it was not bad. So I started by getting the Taylor K 2006 test kit. I got some regular household bleach put about 3 gallons in the pool. Then I read where the ph needed to be between 7.2-7.4 before you start the bleach! Ok so I got some more bleach, tested for chlorine there was zip, ph was less than 7! I ordered some soda ash and the other chemicals it said I needed on this site. When they came in the next day I put 3 cups and 1 oz of the soda ash in pool and 4 gallons bleach. Checked it today and ph is perfect but still reading on chlorine is zip. When I add the bleach it does react and turns water green, but the next day it’s back to clear. What do I need to do? 30 ft above ground pool with vinyl liner and Hayward sand filter and one speed pump. I have read and read and read and I’m still confused.
Changing over
- Thread starter Retteach66
- Start date
One of the first things I would suggest is to find a website dedicated to pools that can help you.........oh wait. 
Welcome to TFP!!
My first suggestion would be to find a spot around you that carries 12.5% chlorine as you're going to need a good bit. You can use bleach however with a larger pool like you've got it's going to take a good bit. The higher concetration of chlorine is likely going to be cheaper in the long run plus there's less to carry. The issue of no chlorine in the water at first is very common, in fact it's expected if you've got normal to high Baqua levels. Keep testing and adding enough chlorine to get your FC level up to 15ppm as explained in this article. The more you can increase your FC level to 15ppm the faster the conversion will go.
ps.......you may also want to order some more reagents to test your chlorine levels as the 2006 doesn't have a ton. You'll be testing frequently and you don't wanna run out.
Welcome to TFP!!My first suggestion would be to find a spot around you that carries 12.5% chlorine as you're going to need a good bit. You can use bleach however with a larger pool like you've got it's going to take a good bit. The higher concetration of chlorine is likely going to be cheaper in the long run plus there's less to carry. The issue of no chlorine in the water at first is very common, in fact it's expected if you've got normal to high Baqua levels. Keep testing and adding enough chlorine to get your FC level up to 15ppm as explained in this article. The more you can increase your FC level to 15ppm the faster the conversion will go.
ps.......you may also want to order some more reagents to test your chlorine levels as the 2006 doesn't have a ton. You'll be testing frequently and you don't wanna run out.
- Jun 22, 2014
- 47,885
- Pool Size
- 17888
- Surface
- Fiberglass
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- CircuPool RJ-45 Plus
Hello and welcome! 
You can't just mix baqua and chlorine. They are two different methods of water management. If you're ready to switch from chlorine to baquacil, you'll want to follow the TFP Pool School - Convert Your Baqua Pool to Chlorine page. Now before you do that, let us know if ANYTHING else has been added to the water other than baquacil. Anything like stabilizer or any other pool chemistry products. That's very important because it can really effect the conversion process. Let us know, and we'll be glad to help.
- - - Updated - - -
Lee beat me to the punch.
You're' in good hands. He's experienced a conversion first-hand.
You can't just mix baqua and chlorine. They are two different methods of water management. If you're ready to switch from chlorine to baquacil, you'll want to follow the TFP Pool School - Convert Your Baqua Pool to Chlorine page. Now before you do that, let us know if ANYTHING else has been added to the water other than baquacil. Anything like stabilizer or any other pool chemistry products. That's very important because it can really effect the conversion process. Let us know, and we'll be glad to help.- - - Updated - - -
Lee beat me to the punch.
You're' in good hands. He's experienced a conversion first-hand. My pool is a 30 ft round above ground and hold around 20000 gallons. (In my signature I put 30000!). The chlorine you are speaking of is it liquid or granular or tablets?
Last edited:
Liquid only. WalMart may carry 10% in your area and some Ace hardware stores have 10% or 12.5%. The higher the % the better.
I'll fix your signature.
Ok. I found 10% liquid chlorine and bought 20 gallons 121oz. I checked ph it was 7.2. TA is still 40. I tested for FC IT WAS ZIP. I put 4 gallons of chlorine in pool. I decided to test for chlorine and if I did the calculations correct (followed the directions in the kit) the FC IS 8ppm and the CC is 5.2ppm? So it’s not at the 15ppm level even right after I put the chlorine in. Any suggestions?
You are in a battle for your pool. In the beginning you will need to test and does as often as you humanly can..........every 30 mins or so. The high cc shows the battle is ON! Now go test again and dose to get it back up to the correct level.
Kim
Kim
- Jun 22, 2014
- 47,885
- Pool Size
- 17888
- Surface
- Fiberglass
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- CircuPool RJ-45 Plus
Now is where you hit with bleach, test fairly frequently, and hit it again. This is the most volatile time of the conversion. Do the best you can to maintain 15 and don't let up. Stay close to those conversion instructions, don't try to rush the process, and let the bleach do it's work.
Ok. Tested this morning FC dropped to 2.4 and CC was 1. Adding four more gallons (484 oz.) this morning. Guess I’m going to have to find more chlorine
Since my last post I have put 25 gallons of 10% liquid chlorine in my pool. Here are my struggles: the ph keeps dropping to 7 so I keep adding soda ash to bring it up to 7.2, while the FC has been anywhere from 28 ppm to 0 ppm. It’s usually zero in the evenings even after putting 5 gallons in the night before, and putting 5 more gallons in around 9:30 the next morning. Yes the sun hits the pool most of the day. I have never, since I started this been able to get to little lone maintain 15ppms. What I can tell you is that the water is crystal clear and when I put the chlorine in now it does not change to a green water color. It stays crystal clear. The pool does have debre in it still because I had to order a new vacuum. When it comes in I’m going to vacuum real good. There doesn’t seem to be any slickness on the pool walls either. I’m continuing putting in 5 gallons in the morning and 5 gallons in the evening. I just need to know how I’m suppose to know when it’s ready if I can’t maintain the 15ppms until it loses only a couple ppms overnight.
This is a huge sign......and a great one at that. Keep doing all you can to aim for the 15ppm but please know you'll greatly fight to hit it. Your chlorine is being consumed by both the Baqua and the sun during this process so obtaining a 15ppm FC reading is going to be difficult at this stage. The change in the water color plus the description of lack of "slickness on the walls" shows that you're making progress. Keep doing just what you're doing.
Hello! you're in great hands, so just adding some thoughts:
Pool School - Convert Your Baqua Pool to Chlorine
I think you are about Step 4 =)
You answered your question
- Are you using PoolMath to add correct amount of liquid chlorine to dose FC/15?
- Are you checking the FC as frequently (30min/hourly/etc) as you can and adding more liquid chlorine if you aren't at 15?
Pool School - Convert Your Baqua Pool to Chlorine
I think you are about Step 4 =)
A few thoughts.
Try checking your FC 30 to 60 minutes after adding the bleach after dusk. My quick check using pool math on effects of adding chemicals indicates each gallon of 10% bleach should add about 5 ppm CL, so try adding just 3 gal. Then top off if needed after your 30-60 min FC test. Then test again 30-60 minutes later and top off if needed. This assumes you are running your pump continuously. Do this as many times as you can before going to bed, then recheck FC in the morning before sunrise if possible. Report these results. If you are already doing this, let us know what you have been getting.
Since you have no cya in the pool and are no longer seeing green color change when you add bleach, i would not try to keep adding bleach during the day, maybe 1 gal, then hit it again full strength in the evening. (others may disagree).
Can you tell what the debris in the bottom of the pool is? I'm guessing it would be a lot of yellow/green material, aka baqua goo. Vacuum this to waste if possible when you vacuum.
Things for later, now necessarily now:
Do you have any light fixtures or removable steps? These can hide baqua, white mold etc and should be checked/cleaned.
You may have some residual white mold in your pipes that will be difficult to remove w/bleach. you could try using an Ahhsome biofilm cleaner for that.
Good luck, seems you are going in the right direction.
Try checking your FC 30 to 60 minutes after adding the bleach after dusk. My quick check using pool math on effects of adding chemicals indicates each gallon of 10% bleach should add about 5 ppm CL, so try adding just 3 gal. Then top off if needed after your 30-60 min FC test. Then test again 30-60 minutes later and top off if needed. This assumes you are running your pump continuously. Do this as many times as you can before going to bed, then recheck FC in the morning before sunrise if possible. Report these results. If you are already doing this, let us know what you have been getting.
Since you have no cya in the pool and are no longer seeing green color change when you add bleach, i would not try to keep adding bleach during the day, maybe 1 gal, then hit it again full strength in the evening. (others may disagree).
Can you tell what the debris in the bottom of the pool is? I'm guessing it would be a lot of yellow/green material, aka baqua goo. Vacuum this to waste if possible when you vacuum.
Things for later, now necessarily now:
Do you have any light fixtures or removable steps? These can hide baqua, white mold etc and should be checked/cleaned.
You may have some residual white mold in your pipes that will be difficult to remove w/bleach. you could try using an Ahhsome biofilm cleaner for that.
Good luck, seems you are going in the right direction.
I have removable steps. How would you go about cleaning them? I am also going to purchase new hoses after this is over. I’m not putting anything in my good clean pool that would bring back the white mold.
I checked the pool this morning after putting 4 gallons in last night. It dropped from 36ppm FC (last night 30 minutes after I added the chlorine) to 22 ppm FC and a ph of 7.2. I did not add any chlorine tested at 7:30 this evening and ph was 7.2 and FC was 0. I added 3 gallons of chlorine at 7:30. Tested at:
8:00 FC 32
8:30. FC 30
9:00. FC 32
Did not add any more chlorine bleach. My pool water (looking down into water).
I checked the pool this morning after putting 4 gallons in last night. It dropped from 36ppm FC (last night 30 minutes after I added the chlorine) to 22 ppm FC and a ph of 7.2. I did not add any chlorine tested at 7:30 this evening and ph was 7.2 and FC was 0. I added 3 gallons of chlorine at 7:30. Tested at:
8:00 FC 32
8:30. FC 30
9:00. FC 32
Did not add any more chlorine bleach. My pool water (looking down into water).