white mold in Baquacil pool

[kino35]

Hi,
I'm from central CT and have a baquacil inground pool with white mold after 9 great years of crystal clear water. Help.............any info on how to get rid of it would be greatly, greatly appreciated.

 

[JohnT]

Probably well over 90% of Baqua users who have white mold end up switching to chlorine to get rid of it. I don't know of any current Baquacil users here who aren't in the process of switching or planning it in the near future, so I'm afraid you won't find much expertise here.

 

[Guest]

Believe it or not, best way to kill white water mold (which is bacterial) is to drain the pool, refilll and sanitize it with high chlorine levels, then drain and refill and restart the bac. This is why most people just convert to chlorine when it happens.

 

[tnthudson]

Hi Kino and welcome!!! Please read all of this post if you can...I'll try to be fair.
If you go out to the Home page and read through some (or all, if you have time) of the Pool School articles, you'll probably end up like myself and everyone else on this forum...a BBB user.
I had Baqua in my pool and in my portable spa for two years (my first pool & spa) before converting this spring. My story is here:http://www.troublefreepool.com/opening-pool-this-weekend-from-baquacil-to-chlorine-t4400.html
I got white mold in my spa before anything got into my pool...it was horrible, my filters would continually clog, I had to drain the spa NUMEROUS times and restart it all over again, and nothing would help. I finally got a ozone/ion system and switched to Chlorine, and that finally solved it.
THEN I got pink mold in my pool. I knew I was in for a nightmare; my PB (pool builder) said that he talked to a dealer in TN, and he knew it was headed to Virginia...it's environmental, apparently, and there is no way to keep it out of the environment.
I tried Pink Treat (you can google it), and it helped some with the Pink Mold...I think they have products for white mold, too. A guy here at work refuses to switch from Baquacil, and he goes through Pink Treat, the "ultra" Baqua and all kinds of chemicals, and he has realized that he will need to change his sand once/year. People on this forum have also recommended a partial drain and refill as well each season if you have Baquacil.
So, long story short, you can stick it out with Baquacil and spend ALOT of time & money, or you can try out this BBB method that this website is all about. The conversion can seem intimidating at first, but if you read my story and others, it's not too bad...just plan on a week or two of time, and you will have to change your filter medium (put in new sand, d.e. or whatever)...
I have saved probably $1,000, maybe more, just this season alone since switching to BBB, not to mention the time and frustration. OH and the reason I had Baqua in the first place is that I and my kids break out, get itchy, etc. in public chlorine pools, but by keeping our chlorine balanced according to the advice in this forum, we have (thankfully) had NO problems with that in our pool since switching to BBB.
Good luck, and ask as many questions as you want. Also, check out the Pool School section like I mentioned, it will help alot.

 

[kino35]

:? Thanks to everyone....you've given me a lot to think about and a lot of reading to do....I'll let you know the results....I probably will be back asking more questions before I get any results....thanks again