Baqua - Chlorine Conversion in April (Will Post Pics)

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tideman

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Feb 14, 2012
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Hi TFP Friends,

Well, I will soon be undertaking the Baqua to Chlorine challenge like many have before on this site. Just bought the TFT100 test kit and am itching to start. We bought our house last August and went through a bunch of expensive baqua chemicals and still had white mold. I will be confirming this with measurements, but I believe my pool is 25,000 gallons. It is inground with a vinyl liner and a sand filter.

I know how much everyone loves pictures on this forum, so I plan to document this process well. I've included a picture of the pool from last summer just to whet your appetites (this is as clear as it got)!

pool1.jpg


A few questions for you experts before I begin:

I have time off April 16th-20th so I will be able to dedicate some time to the conversion. I'm in CT so it will probably get to about 65 degrees during the days and back down to 45 degrees at night around this time. It has been warmer as of late, but these are the average temps. Do I need warmer temps, or will this be an okay time to do the conversion?

Will I need anything else (besides the test kit) and a whole bunch of bleach, and eventually some replacement sand for my filter? I just want to make sure I've got everything ready to go before the conversion.

Will I be running my filter non-stop (besides the occasional stops for backwash/rinse) during this process?

Thanks in advance for your support and I look foward to sharing this conversion with all of you.
 
tideman said:
Do I need warmer temps, or will this be an okay time to do the conversion?
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Right now is a great time to do the swap. I'm assuming that last year you closed the pool as normal with Baqua products? Either way your pool right now is on the low end numbers wise of Baquacil. The less of that stuff you've got in your pool the easier the swap will be. When I did ours it was in the middle of the season and it still took only a few days of hard work to finish the swap. Doing it now will also help as you'll be able to enjoy being outside working on it, unlike in the middle of the season where it's just to hot to mess with stuff. :D

tideman said:
Will I need anything else (besides the test kit) and a whole bunch of bleach, and eventually some replacement sand for my filter? I just want to make sure I've got everything ready to go before the conversion.
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Maybe some more bleach..... I'm assuming that you've got the basic pool supplies too such as a vacuum and a brush. These will help you out as well. Other than that.....bleach is all you need until the end.

tideman said:
Will I be running my filter non-stop (besides the occasional stops for backwash/rinse) during this process?
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Yes
 
Thanks Leebo, btw your baqua-to-chlorine post was the catalyst for me to start this project. It's one thing to look at the instructions on how to do the conversion and another entirely to actually see the process taking place. Makes it easier to take the first step. Much appreciated.
 
Why thank you for those words. I really found that the photos and logs helped me keep track im what I needed to be doing as well. There's no way after seeing how much less work chlorine was that I'd suggest going back to baquqcil. It's just not a good enough product for the average household to use. I thought back and also remembered that I used several toothbrushes too. They worked great at the end for scrubbing the nooks and crannies where stuff was hanging out at. You can get a 4 pack for a buck often, or just use some old ones. You also will see your PH raising with the high shock levels so be prepared towards the end to need to lower them some.

I do have this question however. Is the pool covered now? If its opened from the winter you may wana just start the swap. I'm sure your sanitizer levels will be low from the winter, and even just one shock a day will make the swap happen. Having all day speeds up the process, but any amount of chlorine will start breaking down the baquacil.

Good luck...and I promise you'll enjoy not having to pay the $$$$$$ again this season. I know I'm looking forward to a cleaner pool this year!
 
Thanks for the advice, I may just do that. This is my first full year doing pool maintenance so I wasn't sure if opening it too early would cause any issues. We might still have a couple of nights that get below freezing so I didn't want to risk harming the (now dry) intakes. But you are right, I can probably push up the opening date up a couple of weeks so that I might actually be able to vacation during my vacation!
 
I know 100% just what you mean about the freezing nights. I've said let's open the inlaws pool several times so far, but each time we think about it we get hit with a string of cold nights. Stupid winter teasing us like this!
 
Re: Baqua - Chlorine Conversion in April (In Progress - Pics

Hi All,

Unfortunately I got a slower start than I originally anticipated, but am very close to starting the conversion. I took off the cover today, water was low from when I closed it so I've been adding water all day and will start pouring bleach in as soon as water is high enough to run the pump.

I also did a quick water test, Baqua is hanging in there at about 40-50ppm (test isnt too accurate) chlorine is at zero, and pH is at 7.2.

I've got quite a few leaves in the pool, got a bunch out but still some remaining in the deep end. Should I try to get them all out before starting the conversion?

Here's a pic of the covered pool
covered.jpg


Here's a pic of the uncovered pool
uncovered.jpg
 
Thanks so much for the advance show of support! Pool should be full, filter running, and leaves gone tomorrow (Monday) and I will be having a bleach party on Tuesday. I'm also off work this week so I will be able to add bleach regularly...and update pics regularly once I get going cause I know how you all like that :)
 

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radefeld said:
:party: Whohoo! Thanks Smykowski! :cheers:

Tideman - I will share that it's worth every moment of taking good photos to reflect on your progress. I kept going back to see "could I see the bottom of the stairs" or "how much of the deep end was visible?"
Click to expand...

Now that's funny.....mine was "where is the broken pool brush that I lost in the deep end??"
 
Just read through your conversion Radefeld, great documentation and your pool is looking great. Between you and Leebo I've got the confidence to start tomorrow! I chuckled when i saw your pic and comments about getting all that bleach. My wife and I had a similar experience at BJ's yesterday, we got 10 cases of the same stuff you did. The guy that checks the receipts on the way out gave me the stink eye and I just told him our house was REALLY dirty.

I still plan to start tomorrow. Since I am a rookie and this was my first pool opening, I accidentally let a bunch of leaves fall into the pool when uncovering so my wife and I have been working to get them all out before adding the bleach. The water is greenish and I can't see the bottom of the deep end. It was actually pretty clear before I let all the leaves and debris fall in. Hopefully once I get the water high enough to work the pump the filter will clear up the water a bit.

I also have been careful adding water because I am drawing from a well and don't want it to go dry so the whole set-up before the conversion has been taking a while.

Hopefully by tomorrow afternoon I will be ready to start dumping in the bleach :)
 
Thanks so much, was a bit stressful, but the results are SO worth it. I was reading back through your thread and it looks like your pH is where it needs to be, so bring on the bleach baby!! Good luck, I'll be watching and I'm sure some of the more seasoned folks will be around for helpful advice along the way! (by the way, did you get a test kit yet? )
 
Here we go...the play by play starts...

Got as many leaves as I could out of the pool this morning and then tested my levels:

1:30 PM

FC - 0
CC - 0
TC - 0
pH - 7.2

and then I did this...
IMG_0502.jpg


starting to spread
IMG_0510.jpg


no turning back
IMG_0507.jpg


view from the second floor
IMG_0516.jpg


closer now
IMG_0518.jpg


you all posted pics of your helper so
IMG_0524.jpg


view from above again
IMG_0525.jpg


and now I go outside to test and take some more photos...then post for you all :)
 
Now now now....don't get ahead of yourself. Test first.....then take more photo's!

You'll love your new pool in about a week.....so will your dog!
 

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