Started my conversion... keeping my fingers crossed

[5heaven]

I started my conversion last night. We moved into a new house with a pool and they have used Baq since they installed the pool. Hubby wants that clean crisp sparkle so here we go....I started our conversiono by a different route... not sure if I should have, but it's done. I read an article that advised to turn the pump off, throw two bags of shock in the pool and then in the morning all the crud would be at the bottom. I would vacuum it up and repeat once more time. Wala it was supposed to be all done and without having to change the sand. So last night I turned the pump off and threw 2 bags of shock into the pool. This morning I woke up and went out and there is no way I'm getting in that water to vacuum the bottom. It didn't all float down and I couldn't even see the bottom. The water was brown. So much for that advise... so I went and bought every container of Bleach the store had on the shelf. :lol: I give up... I'll do it this way. So I turned the pump on, poured the bleach needed as per the chart. Waited an hour and a half and repeated. I just repeated for the third time. All of the numbers are fine, except the Chlorine, of course. It has risen slightly, but I'm being patient.
I have backwashed the pump. But I am wondering what the technical definition for backwashing is. Does it mean you backwash until no more water comes or just enough to relieve some pressure. How do I know when I need to backwash?
I will try to load the pics later. We went from brown to baby poo green and now we are almost to a yuck yellow. What a show the water is putting on for me. :? And of course I have the floating things all over the water. i have scrubbed the walls once today and tried to skim some gunk off the top. I'm doing all of that as far as I can reach without actually getting into the water. Yes I am a baby apparently.
Sure am looking forward to that clean sparkly water.
Well, I'm off to check the water and to take some aspirin. All of this bleach is giving me a headache.Michelle

 

[5heaven]

Just did another bleach treatment, backwashed the sand pump and skimmed some gunk off the op. Oh my that stuff looks so nasty!

 

[5heaven]

Did another bleach treatment. I skim gunk off the water every time I do a treatment. Should there be THAT much gunk? It seems to be never ending. I will say though that it is a nicer shade of blue/green now. :-D

 

[frustratedpoolmom]

Hi there....yes you will get lots of gunk floating, you can skim off as much as possible with your leaf net or whatever....that will help. AS for backwashing....I think with a sand filter (not 100% as I have a cartridge) if you see an increase in your PSI on your pressure gauge of more than 5 you need to backwash. You will notice an increase in the return flow afterwards. So check before you backwash and then after so you can get used to the difference....

Be sure to read all the recent threads in this forum about conversion, lots of handy tips and advice and you'll no you are not alone when you start to doubt if your doing it right.

POP, lots of POP!

Do you have a good test kit yet? It's essential when doing a conversion.

Good luck. Be sure to take lots of pics. We love pics.

 

[JasonLion]

With a sand filter, you backwash until the water comes out clean. Most systems will have a sight glass or transparent section of pipe near the filter that allows you to see the water coming out. Typically the water is clear for several seconds, then turns cloudy for anywhere from 30 seconds to several minutes, then turns clear again. When it turns clear again you are done backwashing.

The usual rule for when to backwash is to note the pressure reading on the pressure gauge on the filter right after backwashing. When the pressure has gone up about 6 PSI from where it started it is time to backwash. Some people prefer to backwash either weekly or monthly, rather than worry about PSI readings. That doesn't always work, if there is something unusual clogging up the filter (which is rather rare when everything is going correctly).

During a baquacil conversion it is often a good idea to backwash every day or two regardless of what the pressure does. The more baq goo you can get out of the filter by backwashing, the faster the entire conversion will go.

 

[5heaven]

Thanks for the info Jason. I backwashed and saw a noticeable difference in flow. An hour later I see a big difference in gunk. :lol: Question.. can i use shock for the evening treatment? If not, can you explain why?

 

[The Mermaid Queen]

Not Jason

You can use shock, but it is generally more expensive than bleach, and also adds things that you may not want in your water during your conversion.

If it is dichlor (sodium something dichlor something) it will add CYA or stabilizer to your water. While you eventually want some, having any right now can slow down your conversion.

If it is Cal Hypo (calcium something hypochlor something) you can use it, but it will add calcium. I don't think that will affect the conversion.

You WILL need to change your sand when the conversion is over! Otherwise, baquagoop will be in your filter using up your chlorine, and wreaking havoc on all your hard work!!

 

[JasonLion]

During a baquacil conversion you want to avoid using anything with CYA in it, so no dichlor or trichlor. Cal-hypo is alright if your CH level isn't too high. Just keep in mind that a conversion can use a great deal of chlorine, and that could mean a very significant increase in CH level if you use cal-hypo.

 

[5heaven]

Went to check the pool this morning and was scared of what I might see. Yippeee I could actually see the bottom. We arent sparkling or anything, but I could see it and every step of the ladder.
Having trouble with my cameras card reader, but will post pics as soon as I can. Is it usual for the hardness and CYA numbers to be off during this proces?

 

[frustratedpoolmom]

Good for you!

Curious, what are you testing your water with?

When you say unusual....can you post the results....we can advise better that way. What did you decide to shock with? If you haven't added any CYA, it's probably just interference from the conversion maybe... but if you shocked with a powder that contained one or the other, that would explain the unusualness.....

Can't wait to see your pics!