Help! We have an 18,500 inground vinyl pool. After 5 years of using baquacil we decided to change to salt because of expense and cloudy water. The pool store said there was only a little sanitzer showing and to just add 25lbs. fresh and clear and then it should be ready. We did that and the water turned milky for a few minutes and then cleared up. THey said we were ready to do the conversion once the water was clear. We added the salt, changed the filter sand, and turned on the SWG. The water turned milky once the SWG started. FC is not showing up when the water is tested. Now, pool store says add more Fresh n Clear. We now have added 75lbs. of the stuff and the baquacil sanitizer is still showing to be slightly in the water when we use the Baqucil test strips. Ive poured bleach in a bucket of pool water and there is no color change. What do we do now that the salt is in the pool?
Converting from baquacil to salt
- Thread starter dahohm
- Start date
Having salt in the pool does not affect the conversion process I don't think.
Follow the process described in Pool School and using bleach is probably cheaper. I am not sure off hand what is in the stuff you have added.
Follow the process described in Pool School and using bleach is probably cheaper. I am not sure off hand what is in the stuff you have added.
Pool School is in the upper right hand corner of the page and there is an article there to help you understand the conversion process (and to wean you from the pool store, if you wish).
Many. many conversion threads here if you want to search.
Chlorine only is all you need to convert your pool but, at some point, toss out your test strips and get a high end test kit which is virtually essential for a correct conversion and it will pay you dividends for the rest of the life of your pool.
Many. many conversion threads here if you want to search.
Chlorine only is all you need to convert your pool but, at some point, toss out your test strips and get a high end test kit which is virtually essential for a correct conversion and it will pay you dividends for the rest of the life of your pool.
Welcome to TFP!
The conversion process can take a while. I strongly suggest you stop using fresh and clear and switch to bleach. Bleach will be more carrying, but it will also be less expensive and allow you to know when the conversion is complete much more precisely.
If you haven't already, read the article on conversions in Pool School, which explains the entire process.
The conversion process can take a while. I strongly suggest you stop using fresh and clear and switch to bleach. Bleach will be more carrying, but it will also be less expensive and allow you to know when the conversion is complete much more precisely.
If you haven't already, read the article on conversions in Pool School, which explains the entire process.
Yes. Fresh and Clear is a 100% chlorine free oxidizer. It still costs more than chlorine to do the same job.
And if you are changing to a salt/chlorine pool anyway ... why not use chlorine since it is cheaper?
Thanks for the advice. I've ordered the TF-100 Test Kit and will use the pool calculator to see how much bleach I will need to start the conversion. I've not added any Baquacil products for at least 3 months, can't believe its still in there! Wish I had found this site earlier!
Welcome to tfp, daholm 
Make sure you take some before, during, and after pictures for us...we love Bac to Bleach shows:
:
Make sure you take some before, during, and after pictures for us...we love Bac to Bleach shows:
:baquacil conversion
We started the conversion 2 days ago and we can't get the free chlorine to stay above 5. We have added 26 bottles of bleach already. The pool turned green and this afternoon has become completely clear. Do we continue on adding bleach even though the water is completely clear now?
We started the conversion 2 days ago and we can't get the free chlorine to stay above 5. We have added 26 bottles of bleach already. The pool turned green and this afternoon has become completely clear. Do we continue on adding bleach even though the water is completely clear now?
Re: baquacil conversion
You are doing just fine and the behavior you describe is expected. The water turning clear is a very good sign, that means you are making progress. You should continue adding chlorine. The total amount required is fairly large.
You are doing just fine and the behavior you describe is expected. The water turning clear is a very good sign, that means you are making progress. You should continue adding chlorine. The total amount required is fairly large.
Its been over 8 days and many gallons of bleach and we have changed the sand now and added 4 1/2 lbs. of CYA but when the water is tested it says the CYA is greater than 1 but less than 20ppm. The free chlorine won't stay at 15 without adding more bleach. Do we need to add more CYA? It was added about 24 hours ago. The water is perfectly clear. The Ph and TA numbers are where they should be. Any suggestions?
You should give the CYA a full week to dissolve before testing the CYA level. CYA often takes quite a while to dissolve and show up on the test. Depending on how much you added, it may or may not be appropriate to add more. You want to aim for a CYA level of about 50 just at first. Confirm that everything is working. And then adjust up to a CYA level appropriate for the SWG (70 or 80) after that.
Assuming you have been following the instructions in Pool School, and your FC level held at 15 overnight, then you should be adding chlorine to bring the FC level up once a day in the evenings, at least until your CYA level comes up some more and the SWG is able to take over. You will always lose some chlorine to sunlight, more if your CYA level is lower.
Assuming you have been following the instructions in Pool School, and your FC level held at 15 overnight, then you should be adding chlorine to bring the FC level up once a day in the evenings, at least until your CYA level comes up some more and the SWG is able to take over. You will always lose some chlorine to sunlight, more if your CYA level is lower.
Thanks for the quick reply. Ok, I will wait to test the CYA and continue to keep FC at 15 overnight. Once I test CYA and its around 50 do I then turn on the SWG or should I turn it on now?
We are confused on the CYA test. When testing for the CYA is the black dot not supposed to be seen at all? If that's true than after a week the CYA is only at around 20 ppm. We need further clarification on this particular test. Also, when do we need to turn on the SWG? The FC is holding at 15 at night.
The black dot should totally disappear, no hint that it was ever there. There is a through discussion of doing this test in the extended test kit directions.
You can turn on the SWG now, but it probably won't be able to keep up with your chlorine demand and you will need to test and adjust manually anyway (until the CYA level comes up more).
You can turn on the SWG now, but it probably won't be able to keep up with your chlorine demand and you will need to test and adjust manually anyway (until the CYA level comes up more).
Thanks again for the quick reply. I read the extended kit directions and I think we understand the test better now. I took a water sample to the pool store today just to check the CYA level to see if we were doing it right. The pool store said it showed no CYA. We added it last Saturday. Should I go ahead and add more CYA since its been a week and it still isn't showing up or wait a little longer before adding more. All the other numbers are in the correct range.
Adding 4.5 lbs of cya to a 18500 gallon pool will raise cya to 29 ppm (from 0) using the poolcalculator.com. What is your latest cya measurement? The accuracy of the cya test is about +/-10 ppm.dahohm said:
Ignore the pool store, we have seen many examples of bad cya results from pool stores.