Started conversion tonight - unsure if I'm testing properly?

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Positronic

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May 29, 2010
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Well after 5 years of baquacil and people not liking the taste, and, having run out of baq chemicals I figured this is the year. My pool is approx. 8000 gallon above ground type with a dome cover and a 20'x4' solar heater. I've added approx. 250ml of chlorine and the water turned greenish in color. Last year fall I purchased a Taylor K-2006 kit (complete FAS-DPD Chlorine) anticipating the change over. After an hour with a magnifying glass trying to make sense of the manual I took a sample and attempted to do a proper FC test. I took a pool sample about 18" down and filled the large tube to 10ml. I dropped 2 dippers of R-0870 in an it turned light pink after swirling. Does anyone know why it says to use 2 dippers for both the 10ml AND the 25ml; seems like you'd use more for the 25ml sample?). And, right after that is says if the pink disappears to add more of R-0870 until the color turns pink (doesn't seem like an accurate method but I'm a noob).

Ok, so next I add the drops of R-0871 and it only takes 2 drops before the pink goes to clear, which supposedly is 1ppm of Free Chlorine, right? And I need this to be at 15ppm? That'd be a lot of drops, especially if I'm testing this water frequently. I'm afraid this expensive testing kit won't even have enough liquid to finish the conversion. Do the pool stores sell extra bottles?

So, then I add in the 5 drops of R-0003 and it turns very very pink. After dropping 13 drops of R-0871 and not seeing much of a change from pink to clear I begin wondering if I'm doing this right, and, if how much of the R-0871 is left in the bottle so I stop since I'm not even sure as we care about the combined chlorine at this point, do I?

I only bought 2 of the 189oz bottles of bleach. About how much should I buy to complete this for a 8000gal pool?

Thanks in advance for any insight on what I may or may not be doing right on the testing. Btw - I used a natural lamp for illumination as was recommended by the manual since it was dark out.
 
My pool is 7600 gallons. I had a very low baqua (under 5ppm) level to start, and I went through about 8 giant (174 oz) bottles of 6% bleach, as well as at least 8 smaller 96oz bottles of 3% bleach. My conversion is nearly complete.

My advice, stock up if you can. You can always use it later.

I wish I could help you with your testing questions... but I am totally new to TBF, and haven't even gotten my new test in the mail yet.

Good luck with your conversion! You'll be amazed with how clear your water looks after!
 
You can re-order refills from tftestkits.net. They are the same reagents as in your Taylor kit. If you try and find it from a pool store they may not keep it in stock. Do not let them sell you different reagents and say it will do the same thing, they will not.

I have the FAS-DPD from tftestkits. It is the same taylor reagents you have. My instructions call for 1 heaping scoop of the powder in a 10ml water sample, swirl, add R-0871 one drop at a time until water clears and multiply # of drops by .5. 2 scoops of powder are used in a 25ml sample and the drops are multiplied by .2.

Wait til you are further along in the conversion process to worry about the CC. When the pool stops changing colors and is almost clear again then you can worry about CC.

You will go through a lot of bleach! Look at some of the other conversion threads to get an idea how much. If you have a Walmart in your area, check the price of their Great Value bleach. It is 6% and has been selling for .98-$1.28 for a 96 ounce bottle in my area.

Once you start the conversion, take pictures (we love pictures!) and test every hour or two the first couple of days when chlorine demand is highest.

You don't mention what kind of filter you have, but you will need to clean it frequently during the conversion process. Your filter media (sand, cartridge, or DE) will have to be replaced after the conversion is completed.

Good luck! You will be swimming again in no time!
 
Positrinic,

1. The actual amount of powder in the test (FAS/DPD) is not as critical as you would think. AS long as your sample turns pink, you have enough powder.

2. Your test results look correct to me and yes, the K-2006 usually does not contain enough powder and R-0871 drops to succesfully complete a baqua conversion. Get more....you'll get the money back a 100 times over when you have converted. If you are preoccupied with running out of chemistry, you cannot focus on your job of converting your pool.

3. Get w-a-a-ay more bleach....15-20 of the large jugs. NONE of it will go to waste and you can then do your conversion properly without having to be chintzy with the chlorine.

4. Read the articles in pool school about how to do the conversion and then ask questions. It has been done successfully by hundreds of forum members and we'll all help answer your questions.
 
Turns out the local pool store had the 2ml R-0871 for $14 so that should last me through the conversion. I did take a few photo's for those interested. One photo shows 15 bottles of the 189oz bleach bottles, 6 bags of 40lb pool salt, 2 bags of sand. Now that's a lot of weight, wasn't sure the wheel barrel handles wouldn't snap. The pool photo is from the 2 bottles that were added last night. So if I need to get this up to 15 free chlorine and 2 bottles only got be to 1, the math would seem to mean I need to 28 more bottles, which is obviously too much. I'll do 5 bottles and measure the FC after an hour or so and see where we're out. Thanks for the quick replies!

[attachment=1:3eiipd2t]wheelbarrow.jpg[/attachment:3eiipd2t]

[attachment=0:3eiipd2t]pool.jpg[/attachment:3eiipd2t]
 

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To calculate the FC dosage you test, take that number as your "now" value and 15 as your "target" value and hit calculate. Pour in the recommended dose, NOT more. Test in 60 minutes. Take that value and enter it as your "now" and again, 15 as your "target".

At first, the FC is consumed very rapidly, almost immediately. We don't recommend overdosing, however, you should still use the proper calculations.
 
Re: Started conversion tonight - progressing with noob mistakes

Hi Frustratedpoolmom, Thanks, I didn't get exactly how that worked, thought it was a one time thing which is why I only bought 2 jugs as it suggested I'd need 250oz. Then I bought all that bleach as suggested, put in 6 more jugs of 189oz bleach and it only measured about 4 FC, so then I put in about 3 more bottles and haven't measured it yet. I just now measured my PH which is about 8, so it's high (in my enthusiasm I neglected to recall the part about getting the PH at 7.4). For the PH test, I added 6 drops of the Acid Demand test to get the proper color change but haven't yet figured out how to convert the 6 drops to what needs to be added. Also, my Alkalinty is 380ppm and Calcium Hardness was about 400 ppm.

After punching in the numbers in the pool calculator, says I need to replace 35% of the water. Probably should have done that before dumping all that bleach in there.

So, should I do the following order (despite having about 10 large jugs of bleach in the pool in the last 24 hours) - 1) replace 35% of the water with fresh water, 2) check PH and lower with muriatic acid, 3) once PH is in-line continue on with maintaining FC until it doesn't drop more than 1 overnight?

Any guesses as to what all that bad water would do to the yard as I do not have any other place to drain it to?
 
I just checked the temperature of the pool and it's at 82 degrees - too bad it's not ready to swim in..

I looked around for muriatic acid as I thought I had some, found a gallon of liquid where the label came off so don't know what it is, also found a smaller quart of liquid where the label came off as well - both of the bottles had never been opened. I also found a Baquacil PH decreaser, 6lbs, which says it can be used in a chlorine pool. It's active ingredients is Sodium Bisulfate which I do not see listed on the pool calculator. Can this be used, and if so, how much would be needed?

Ahh, I just checked the FC now, it's at 33! Guess I put in too much bleach... I suppose if I drain a 1/3rd now (which needs to be done anyways) that'd lower the FC level. Should I do this now? Thanks all!

[attachment=0:be55f1be]pool after 10 jugs.jpg[/attachment:be55f1be]
 

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Yes, you added too much bleach. :shock:

Just leave it till morning. You may not need to drain anything.

Retest the PH when the FC is below 10. FC higher than that can make the PH read false-high and we don't recommend adjusting it until the FC is under 10.

So tomorrow morning, run another set of tests.

Adjust the PH before you resume shocking, if it needs it. You can use the ph decreaser, though we prefer Muratic Acid because it doesn't add sulphates. That stuff is also called "dry acid" on the pool calc.

Retest the TA, this time wipe the tip of the R0009 dropper bottle in between each drop with a damp cloth. There are many confirmed cases of static that builds up on this dropper bottle and causes the TA to read higher than it actually is. I doubt your TA is that high.
 

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hmmm... not sure if I'm posting twice but real quick, the FC is now at 14 (maybe 15) as liquid turned slightly pink after it was clear. TA came in at almost half of last night making me wonder if I used the 44 line instead of the 25 line. Also, CH came in quite a bit lower. I'll repost tonight after work.
 
Ok, 7:40pm, water is now at FC of 7. PH is high, had to use 8 drops to get it to 7.5. TA is 175ppm now. CH is at 175ppm also. Added 2lbs of Baquacil PH decreaser which should drop the PH .2 (says not to add more than 2lbs at a time). Added 2/3rd of a large bottle of bleach per the calculator. The filter from the pool was all plugged up with orange goo (not the sand filter though that is probably pretty bad too).

The photo below is a photo of where the PH looks to be about 7.5 (not exactly accurate due to camera color / lighting / reflections but close).

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4 days later, 17 large jugs of bleach and almost there. Dropped 3 FC overnight so probably another day or two.. For those starting out, be sure to flush at least twice daily and check the pool filter as the goop will plug everything up.
 
JasonLion said:
You are doing very well! It is finally getting close to complete now.
Click to expand...

Thanks to everyone's help! Pool is now more blue than brown, can barely make out the second step. Purchased 4 more large jugs of bleach, so will have used 21 total if all are needed for about an 8000 gallon pool after 5 years of using baquacil.

[attachment=0:1g203pqz]pool day 5.jpg[/attachment:1g203pqz]
 

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Your CC is still very high.
What is your PH now?
I'd take that ladder out, scrub it real good with a diluted bleach n water solution. Baq can hide in those nooks etc.
Keep shocking to 15 until the FC holds overnight or you lose 1ppm or less.
CC should be down to .5 before you are 'done'
 
frustratedpoolmom said:
Your CC is still very high.
What is your PH now?
I'd take that ladder out, scrub it real good with a diluted bleach n water solution. Baq can hide in those nooks etc.
Keep shocking to 15 until the FC holds overnight or you lose 1ppm or less.
CC should be down to .5 before you are 'done'
Click to expand...
-----------

After work tonight I retested and the FC was at 7.5 and the CC is still at 7. So in a normal pool the CC is only about .5? What would I need to do if the FC only drops 1ppm overnight but the CC still remains high? PH is about 7.6, so a bit high, I'll put in another lb of decreaser. I can now see down to the 4th step of the ladder. The sand filter water is pretty clean now, water hardly cloudy at all.
 

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