How many gallons?? days?? PICTURES ADDED

[Blessed- with a pool]

I am getting ready to begin my conversion from BAQ.

I have read about many of your conversions.

Could you all tell me: how many days?

How many gallons of bleach?

How many ruined shirts ?
Any other words of wisdom before I begin.

I know it is different with everyone but I want to show my DH an approximate average.

thanks all~

(just waiting on the test kit to arrive.)

[JasonLion]

It varies quite a bit. Say, thirty to a hundred and thirty gallons of bleach and three days to over two weeks. The first phase, where chlorine is vanashing as quickly as you add it, can go quite quickly if you can check the FC level and add more bleach every hour all day and evening on the first day or two, and it can easily take a week if you pay less attention. So you have a lot of control over the time that part takes. One of the later phases, waiting for CC to go down after FC is holding, depends on the water temperature, amount of sunlight, and how many years you have been using Baquacil, and can take anything from an hour to over a week without any real way for you to speed it up.

[giulietta1]

I am getting ready to begin my conversion from BAQ.

I have read about many of your conversions.

Could you all tell me: how many days?

How many gallons of bleach?

My case is atypical, but my conversion took over a month, testing and adding more bleach at least twice a day (up to 5X a day on weekends). Despite all that, I am SOOO glad I converted and I don't hesitate to recommend coversion! It was worth all the time and effort!

Make sure your water is balanced (pH, alk, etc.) before you start. That was part of my difficulty. The other part was indoor-pool issues.

Good luck!

[MeSue]

My case is probably not typical either because I decided to do sodium percarbonate before putting the chlorine in. It took about 6 days to get clear water, then another week to get down to zero CC. Then I had to shock for another week after changing the filter media because I also swapped out my filter for a larger used one and it had been gunked up.

I lost track of gallons of bleach. You can read my whole saga and see the pics at the link in my sig.

[Blessed- with a pool]

Ok----

I received my test kit today.

Ok, now as I read that last post, I see I need to check my ph and stuff before I begin.

Also- I used the calculator to figure out how much bleach to put in and I was surprised at the amount was 3gal. 3quarts and 1cup. I know that this is a process that will take many bleach dumpings, but I thought that I read some were puttng in 13 gal at a time. Am I using the calculator correctly?


I will go test for Ph and stuff and find out if I need to add anything before I begin adding bleach.

Thanks for your responses and all the help.
Oh~ I think I will take a picture of the ugly water so I have a before shot.


As I read all these conversions- it is like facing Labor and delivery.
The birth process is so worth all the labor.
Hope mine goes quickly and looks as beautiful as everyone elses. (pool- that is- )

[JasonLion]

It looks like you did the calculation correctly.

The first few times you add bleach you can add a little more than that. Basically as long as the FC is back to zero in the first hour or two you can add some extra bleach in the next cycle. You need to be more careful with the bleach as the FC level starts to hold above zero. You really don't want the FC level much above 15. however, right at first the baquacil will combine with the bleach quickly enough that the FC level will never get that high even with some extra bleach.

Some people pour in a great deal of bleach right at first, and often you can get away with that. I don't recommend it because if you accidentally over do it by too much it is possible for the FC level to shoot up and cause some corrosive damage to any metal objects (ladders, pump, filter, heater, etc) and/or weaken the liner. With a plaster pool and no heater the risk would be much lower and there would be less need to go slowly.

[Blessed- with a pool]

All right I got the ph down(another post)

Added my first dose of bleach- wow immediately turned to soup!

Shortly after I hear my filter- check the pressure and it is up so I backwash. I remember reading you'll be backwashing alot. I have a DE filter- am I to add 5lbs. of DE everytime I backwash??

about every 20 minutes my pressure is rising by aout 10 psi. I have already backwashed a bunch of times. Eventually I will need to add water- is this the way it goes. Does it slow down?

Got to go buy more DE and backwash again.

Thanks

I'll be back.

[JasonLion]

Yes, that is the way it goes. Yes, you add more DE after each backwash. If you aren't doing this already, you can "bump" the filter to lower the pressure temporarily, increasing the amount of time between backwashing, but still requring frequent attention.

The chlorine combines with the baquacil and forms a kind of gunk that clogs things up. It will accumulate on the grids, reducing the filtering effectivness and making you need to backwash even more frequently. This is why the grids need to be replaced when you are done with the conversion. It is a little simpler with a sand or cartridge filter since they don't clog up as quickly, but the behavior is similar, just a little slower.

[waste]

Blessed, glad to see you're on the right track

If you'd tell me which kind of DE filter you have (I know it's Hayward, but whether it's 'bump' or multiport) I can give you detailed info on the maintenance for it. AS has been stated, this is a ~ big undertaking - but in the end, you'll be very glad you did it!!

[Blessed- with a pool]

Ok my filter is a "Hayward Perflex etended cycle Filter system"

Yes I have been bumping it. I just bought about 50 lbs. of DE.

Is it ok to stop this process and clean out the grid finger things for a couple of hours and then start up again? At this rate I won't be able to sleep tonight.

Also I am not sure that I am testing the chlorine level accurately.

I put in the water up the 10 mm line- put in the powder and swirl. It turns a light pink. Then I add the solution one drop at a time and swirl each time. Here is my question; it turns clear and then gets pink again. I keep ading a drop and it stays clear a little longer and then back to pink. Am I looking for it to ot even have a hint of pink? When I add the other solution to find out the CC it gets super super pink. Then it takes quite a while by adding drops to get clear and thenI still think it looks a little pink.

These are my numbers:

FC 8
CC 10
TC 18

I really haven't added lot of bleach. I guess about 6 gallons altogether. Does that seem right?

Thanks again for all the help.

[JasonLion]

If you have a multi-port main valve you can put it on recirculate overnight so you don't have to worry about the filter. If you don't have that option you can skip putting in more DE and it should last much longer without the pressure going up. But do spend some time with it in regular filter mode whenever possible.

Having really high CC is to be expected. It will all go away before you are done.

The change from pink to clear should last at least several seconds, but it doesn't need to last forever to count as the end point of the test. Some times the part of the sample near where the drop falls turns clear, but the whole sample doesn't turn clear. If that happens then it doesn't count. But if the entire sample turns clear for several seconds then it does count.

[waste]

Blessed, I'll deal with the cl ? first - I'm no expert on the FAS DPD testing but all the others aren't complete until the color stays changed (ie, all the pink is gone) - what I do is look away while swirling to 'clear' my eyes and add another drop and look away...

Sounds like you should be adding more bleach each time as it's being overpowered (fc vs cc), if it's being consumed that quickly no harm will come to your pool (via fc) until the cc is significantly lower than the fc.

Your Perflex filter:

When bumping - open the air relief valve for ~ 5 seconds and close it. Then lower the handle slowly and raise it quickly 4 - 6 times - this should give you a good 'recharge'

When the bumping only gives you a 2 -4 psi (on the pressure gauge) lowering - you need to break it apart and clean it with a hose. Depending on the age of the filter you'll need 2 7/16" wrenches or 1 7/16 and a 3/8 to be able to lock onto nut and bolt. Remove the ~15 nuts and bolts (put them in a cup to keep track of them and all the washers) The 'fingers' will lift out of the body. Wash them thoroughly with a strong pressured garden hose - turning it after each section is clean and then spray it from the bottom up thoroughly. When you reassemble the unit add the recommended amount of DE via the skimmer and you're set to re-start the battle against BAQ -- when you put it back together, tighten the bolts in pairs ~ across from each other so that you don't 'pinch' the sealing gasket.

This is a 'quick' description of how to do it, if you need more info - simply ask (I feel somewhat 'responsible' for you/ your pool and as such will help as much as I can 8) )

[Blessed- with a pool]

Oh thanks for the help.

Is it going to ruin my pool if I don't filter it tonight? I will be cleaning out the finger things in the morning, but I don't know if I can stay up much later. Already had too many late nights this week.

Thanks for the detail about the cleaning. We did clean it a few months ago, so we have opened it up and cleaned all that gunk out of there before. OUrs doesn't have 15 nuts and washers. I think it has a clamp spring assembly thing. I don't have good lighting out there, so to do it now would be by flashlight. I think this process will go smoother once I don't have to worry about the filter overheating.

Thanks for the description for the testing. I think the CC migh have been lower than, anyway I will check it in the morning.
Hopefully I don't have a disaster out there by then.

Good night

[Blessed- with a pool]

Good morning

We cleaned out the gunk this morning. Oh I can see the stuff coagulating in the pool so I am sure we will have it happen again. At least our pressure is down and staying normal for a while. I added more bleach after that and we are ready to face another day.

I know I have seen MeSue' s pictures but I couldn't find them this morning to show my husband. He is nervous- he thinks it looks disgusting- which it does. Anyone have links to pictures of their conversions- he needs to see these.

I know I have read that I need to vacuum to waste-- how exactly do I do this? I have a triangle type vacuum and a hose and a pole. We usually used the turtle all summer. One time I used the regular one. I don't know how to make it stay attached to the skimmer. I had to have my 11 y.o . hold it in there while I vacuumed. I am assuming 'to waste' means that I do not filter it. I don't have any type of bypass on this little old filter. Is this my 2nd strike against me?

Once again thanks for the encouragement and advise.

Oh and Waste you don't have to feel responsible for me and my mess- thanks you for the help and if you want to come clean up this nasty looking debris and finish up this conversion....

I will see you all later.

[The Mermaid Queen]

here are some pics...

[Blessed- with a pool]

Thanks--Mermaid Queen

I know that I had seen plenty of them, but this morning I wasn't finding them.

We've got to keep ourselves motivated, and looking at the goal.

Going to add more bleach now.

[divnkd101]

Blessed,

May I also add...



I have never been able to use that emoticon . It seemed fitting. Plenty of us are also interested in seeing your Start-To-Finish Pics as well. Good Luck.

[waste]

Blessed, you say you want to vac to 'me' thereby bypassing the filter -- you can do it with your style filter I'll tell you how in a minute.

First let's talk keeping the vac hose attached while using Mr. triangle vac -
There are products that fit over the base of the inside of the skimmer (where the basket sits) so you can leave the basket in place to catch the large debris and still attach the vac hose. There are a couple different sizes so measure yours before going out to buy one -- one that won't fit into the skimmer is useless as is one that won't seal over the basket. Hayward calls them 'Skim-Vac's '
Also, check to be sure that the vac hose is properly attached, some have one end which will swivel when gently turned, that end goes on the vac-head - the other end goes in the skimmer. Also be sure that the hose is full of water before attaching it.

Now, let's talk about a way for you to bypass the filter.

While at the pool store buying the skim=vac get the same union that connects your pump to the filter (should be a SP - 1485 - ?). Next time the filter gets so clogged that bumping won't do anymore good and you need to break it apart, simply don't reconnect it. Instead use 1/2 of the 1485 that mates with the pump side to attach a hose to keep the filter well out of 'crud's ' way You may need to buy a couple of adapters to get a hose on the end an glue them to the 1/2 union. You can find the roll up discharge hoses at Lowes, Wal-mart, Home Depot and most 'Odd Lot' stores far cheaper than at the pool store. Have care with where you 'waste' the water to, there's going to be high cl and baqua-crud in it 8)

I hope I've explained things well enough, but if you've any questions on what I've said... all you need do is ask

[Wolfmarsh]

Keep hitting it with that bleach!

Those pictures mermaid queen posted were of my conversion, and it only took me 4 days because I stayed on it like you are doing.

Keep hammering it hard with the bleach and itll convert fast.

Sounds like you are doing everything right, and waste is giving you some great information.

Oh, and post some pics!

[Blessed- with a pool]

Ok --
Mike-
Yes- I do have pictures!! Boy this morning it looked like mud- I didn't get one of that, though, I thought it was more important to get to work. I will post them later as I don't have time to learn how to do that right now.

I understand wanting to use the emoticons. My #2 son is begging me to use the . I don't really have a use for it until we are finished with this process
-----------------

Waste- (that really is a poor username- sorry but I would never compare any human with the junk coming out of my pool- G od doesn't make junk we are all precious in His sight)

The goal is to keep me out of the pool store. With that said, I was there yesterday and I guess I am going back again today. Actually, the man told me he would honor any price that I find online because he wants to keep my business. ( I guess I have funded his vacation fund long enough--he doesn't kow that I am going to become real scarce )
Anyway- for the 2 things that I need, is there a website selling them cheaply- (inexpensively).I would like to take aprint out in there if I can.
I am not sure what you mean by the second item. I understand the skim vac and I already have an extra discharge hose thing in the shed. Is this like a diverter or something. All the water is going in a bucket or something huge that will strain out the crud? I thought that the filter pulled all the water. Is it attached on the return side? I am assuming the skimmer side so it does bypass. I just don't understand how that works. Sorry I am a novice at these things. Visual learner- I need pictures.

Got to go check my chlorine level-
and add more bleach, I am sure.

Thanks
Labor is now past 24 hours