22 Years of Bauq - No More!

[M&B]

Hello everyone, we signed up this morning. Been reading quite a bit including many posts from other on the conversion process.
A little history, Fantasy on ground pool, 23 years old, solar panels, deep end, around 18,000 gallons. I have rebuilt the pool 3 times and it is in excellent shape. We started the pool 22 years ago with Bauq. It worked pretty well for us for 10 years all and all. However, the last 10 years have not been so good, pink algae, etc, $ etc. And then the changes to the product as well. Personally I think the strength is no longer there. It has become weaker, enter CDX, EPA, or whatever reason. Regardless, we are done with it.
Conversion from Bauq to SWG - Uncovered pool from winter, sparkling clear from Bauq as it always is coming out of winter. Read the forum, Jason's process, and attack! WOW what a mess. First day was busy, 3 times skimming to get all the skum off. Pool brown, yellow, typical cow pond.
Days 2-8, better and better. Day 8 crystal clear. We are currently at a 3 PPM loss of FC during the night. We are getting close, almost there. It does need quite a bit of chlorine during the day still. Last Bauq reading was 7 PPM sanitizer, 1 PPM clarifier, 3 days ago. Will get another reading tomorrow night.
You know it's kind of funny, you want to get away from this lousy method (Bauq) and the expense that goes with it. Darn if there is expense in getting rid of it! That's ok, we are going to get rid of it, it is a war and we will not give up until it is all gone! Wish we would have done this years ago.
And a last tidbit, there is not one bit of pink algae left, man you should have seen the dead white stringers coming out of the solar panel return. That was the breeding ground all along. We now always leave them on a little so there is a constant flow through them. Turn them up during the day as needed. There was mounds on the pool floor on day 2....lol. Two pics attached, day one and current.
Cheers,
Mike and Barb
Virginia

 

[257WbyMag]

Welcome to TFP! Glad you made it through your baq conversion. They are impressive to watch, that's for sure! At least you don't have to worry about that anymore.

 

[Richard320]

Great first post! We love pictures.

 

[M&B]

I do have a question for those that have been through this process. We are so close, still loosing 3-3.5ppm at night. About how long can we expect this fight to go on to get the last bit out?

 

[Leebo]

It depends.....

How often are you checking it during the day and shocking?? It's a trade off at this point, shocking hourly during the day will speed up the process, however some chlorine will be wasted to sun. For us it was about 3-4 days hitting it hard at that point. Take some time and scrub everything. Scrub the gunk off the lights...eyeballs....the skimmer....anywhere you see a gap. We used a toothbrush to scrub down the pool.

What media do you use in your filter??

 

[M&B]

Checked hourly over the weekend. FC was kept at 15ppm or higher, never lower. Took 5 gallons of chlorine Sunday to maintain. We had brilliant sun all weekend too. Pool was scrubbed several times. Removed sand filter after 8 days and replaced with cartridge filter. No increase in pressure over the last 5 days. Replacing the pump tommorow as the bearings are about shot, will clean filter then too. 3-4 days...good, that is what we we figuring too. Work today so I stoked the FC to 25+ this morning, cloudy day too. I will get a Bauq ppm count tonight. Thanks!

 

[duraleigh]

so I stoked the FC to 25+ this morning

That's pretty aggressive with no CYA in the pool. Chance of bleaching the liner. I would hold FC to 15 ppm or less. (unless you have CYA in the pool I am not aware of.

 

[Leebo]

I agree with duraleigh, if you wanna bump it up, try for 17-18. Much over that isn't needed. 25 runs a chance for trouble.

Take a look at this chart for a good read.
http://www.poolsolutions.com/gd/best-gu ... art.html#a

 

[M&B]

Thanks guys. Well the wife and I are not perfect in our process. So here is the rest of the story...I screwed up, got excited early.
We thought we were done, rushed a bit, pool has been gorgeous, did not get FC overnight down to 1 or less. Mistake 1.
During the first several days of clearing up the Bauq I also used granulated chlorine (trichlor). As you know it take a lot of chlorine.
Now enter "I think we are done". Everything looked perfect, acted perfect, did not pass the test (enter mistake 1).
Changed the filter out to the cartridge filter. Chemical balance of water has been and is perfect.
Begin setup for Hayward SWG system (new), T9 Generator.
Add salt to pool, went smoothly. 3400 is the salt reading.
Checked CYA as I had not added any as yet. Oh, it's 90ppm. Umm must have come from the large bucket of granulated. Leave that alone, bit on the high side but ok. Still a bit mystified on that.
PH has been and continues to be 7.5, TA 125-130.
Fire up SWG, 100% setting. Salt perfect, chemical balance perfect. Run for 3 days. 6 ppm FC in the morning, .5 ppm FC 10 hours later in the afternoon. This is with it running 100% non stop (not good).
Time out called - something is eating our FC up. Drop back and check closely, Bauq still present, 7 ppm sanitizer, 1 ppm clarifier.
Shut off SWG. Go back to close monitioring and adding chlorine until we see 1 ppm or less overnight fall.
That is where we are at this point. 3-3.5 ppm fall overnight. 2 nights in a row, 1st night was (3 days ago) was 5.5.
And we were off to such a perfect change over. This last bit of Bauq is a bear.

 

[Leebo]

That does change a lot then. With a CYA level of 90, shocking the pool at a 15 FC level isn't doing much. Your best bet is to go ahead and retest your CYA level, as depending on when you last tested it there's a chance it could even be higher than that. After that we'll suggest a new level to start shocking the pool to......or to make your life much easier and drain some water to lower the CYA level. Either way, you've still got a ways to go, and it's going to be harder with that high of a CYA level. The good news however is that the chlorine will stay in the pool during the day more......but it's going to take a TON to rid the water of that last bit of Baquacil.

 

[M&B]

Thank you for replying. CYA is still at 90 firm. Today we only used the 3 gallons of chlorine from this morning. FC at 19 within the hour, CC at .5. Yesterday was 5 gallons, Sat was 8 gallons.
I did go and get the Bauq levels checked tonight. Still at 7 on B and now at 5 on C instead of 1. I don't trust the pool store...lol.
We use fresh Taylor titrating chemicals to test our water as well. I am also a little concerned that the solar panels that surround the pool perimeter may be an issue. However from what I have read the chlorine tends to clean the plumbing out pretty well.
Plan B as you have mentioned will be put into affect this coming weekend (drain a third of the pool) if we do not get any better during the night.
So close but so far....I am getting a bit weary, but we are hanging in there. One thing I will say, our pool has never looked so sparkly clean day after day since we started this. That is a real joy. No couple of days a week stuff with Bauq!

 

[harleysilo]

Keep going! I remember on thread last year that went on for a month, she was a trooper!

 

[jblizzle]

OK, granted I am not an expert on these conversions, but should the pool be kept at shock level?

For a CYA of 90ppm, that would be a FC of 35ppm!!! I am afraid the low FC (<20ppm) that is currently being held is going to be VERY slow at clearing this up.

{Granted the poolcalculator shows a much lower shock FC level of 23ppm compared to the Pool School table}

 

[Leebo]

There's still Baquacil hiding in many places. The pipes are one of them. For the time being.....rather than shocking to a 15FC level, shot for a 25FC level twice a day. Do it once after the sun goes down...and then again first thing in the morning. Keep the pump and filter running 24/7 at this point. It will help you to lower your CYA level to 70ish....but if you're using well water it maybe best to let it come down via splash-out and such.

Are you testing your own water with your own test kit, or only using pool stores numbers??

 

[Leebo]

OK, granted I am not an expert on these conversions, but should the pool be kept at shock level?

For a CYA of 90ppm, that would be a FC of 35ppm!!! I am afraid the low FC (<20ppm) that is currently being held is going to be VERY slow at clearing this up.

{Granted the poolcalculator shows a much lower shock FC level of 23ppm compared to the Pool School table}

You're correct.....thus the reason why CYA shouldn't be added at all until the end of the swap. Shocking at a 15FC level with zero CYA is well above even mustard algae levels. You lose some to the sun....but the conversion uses it up way quicker than the sun can. In this case, a CYA level of 90 was achieved by the use of Trichlor in the early stages, which we found out late in the swap. Shocking will be slower at this rate compared to a CYA level of zero.....but it still can be done. I've always liked the pool cal. for shock numbers, as it's safer than the CYA/FC chart....but your levels of 50 will work MUCH quicker.

 

[M&B]

We have been keeping the numbers in 20's since Saturday. Yeah the CYA caught us off guard (mistake 2), only use liquid chlorine.. Things are progressing, only 3 gallons of chlorine yesterday, 5 Sunday, 8 Saturday. Overnight FC drop was 2.5 last night :-D
It's been raining pretty good so that will help with the CYA....as for spashing, not yet, water temp 70 at the most on a sunny day. To cold for me...lol.
All the numbers for chemical balance that I have posted except for the Bauq are our numbers that we measure (taylor titrating). The pool store can't give a consistant reading from one day to another....to funny.
Looking forward to the next couple of days and the results.

 

[M&B]

Houston we have liftoff!
FC overnight we did not loose anything. CC 0. CC has been .5 or less for several days.
Filter cleaned, all levels good except CYA still a tad high, working that this weekend to knock down a bit. It took awhile as we had some CDX in the pool last year as well. Horrible chemicals :grrrr:
I do have a question. Per the directions, specifically continue to maintain FC ppm at 15. If I am balanced and complete with the process I am assuming this level can now come down to between 3-5 ppm for operation with my SWG now, correct? That one line should be clarified a bit imho.

When you lose 1 ppm of chlorine, or less, overnight it is time to clean out your filter and change the media. Once the filter is cleaned up, add enough CYA to reach 30 ppm. Continue to maintain FC at 15 ppm.
Your conversion is complete when CC's are 0.5 or less two days in a row.

Now all we need is some nice warm weather....someday soon.
ps. Did I mention how NICE the pool is since we killed the Bauq? Everyday, every stinking day, a sparkling jewel in the sun!

 

[harleysilo]

7 days beautiful!

 

[duraleigh]

Great pics! Nice work

Yes, once you pass the OCLT, your water is sparkling and your CC's are .5 ppm or less, you have completed the shock process.

Let your FC drift down to normal levels for your CYA content and enjoy your pool for the rest of the swimming season.

 

[M&B]

Roger that. With respect to the 7 day comment it was about 3 1/2 weeks for us all total. Long time, it began to wear on us. Worth every bit to get away from Bauq and all the associated headaches with that.