Second Summer on Bacquacil and Concerned

Jun 12, 2007
4
We bought a new pool last summer and it was installed in mid June of 2006. We started with and have been using Bacquacil. It is a 27' above ground. We use a sand filter. It holds approx 15K gal. I had noticed that I had to backwash more often this year. My pressure reading is staying above 10 even with backwashing. I asked the pool store why and they said I needed to change the sand in the filter every year w/ Bacquacil. (I am wondering why nobody told me that when I first bought the pool or when I went to get directions on opening the pool??) When getting on line to research, I have read so much about problems with Bacquacil that I am really concerned. Maybe rather than just changing the sand, I need to change the sand and convert. I am concerned with converting that I will have issues with my hair and skin (I have eczema.) Is there an easy way to use Bacquacil successfully, or am I always going to have problems? :cry:
 
The general rule of thumb for Bacquacil is that you need to change the filter media and replace more than half of the water every year. I suspect that you can go for a while yet before you run into anything serious enough to require doing all that. In the long run I highly recomend switching to chlorine and the BBB approach. But take your time with it. Wait till you have something a little more serious than slightly high filter pressure before going through either the conversion or replacing the sand/water.
 
Novice,

Welcome to the forum.

Baquacil just isn't what it's advertised. There are many. many stories of money down the drain attempting to make baquacil work after a few years.

The conversion to chlorine , while not completely painless, is pretty easy. You will save significant amounts of money and your water will never look better if you decide to convert.

There are extensive posts on Poolforum.com that you can research but you will not be able to post questions. There are plenty of knowledgeable people here that can help you thru any questions you might have.

To my knowledge, there are no complications with skin or hair in a balanced chlorine pool. Pools poorly balanced or without sanitizer will always be problematic. This forum will help you keep your pool in great shape
 
this is my third year on bauqicil and when i opened up my pool this year i had a mess. cloudy water, white slime around the steps and light. i used a flocculant or drop out and then had to vacuum to waste several times and i also changed my sand and finally my water is clear. i will use baq this summer because i already bought chemicals in bulk. next year i will convert to bbb method. i already bought a tf test kit from duraleigh. i would recommend changing at first chance. i have a 27000 gallon inground with sand filter. these problems brought me to this web site as well as poolforum. cannot hardly wait to use up my baq and convert to bbb!lots of good info on here. thanks to everyone!
 
I LOVE the BBB method! Although I've only been doing it for 2 weeks or so and I've only used the first B so far. :wink: Bleach.
I haven't had a need for the other two yet but I'm sure I will at some point and these fine folks here will tell me what I need to do I'm sure! :)

Our pool is new and I was sold Baquacil with mine. We also have a 27' round. I poured in the first 2 ingredients (alkalinity increaser and calcium hardener) from their directions and was supposed to wait before adding the Sanitizer. I came in and read up on it on the computer while I waited and found these 2 forums. Thank goodness I had not added the actual Baquacil product yet so I was able to start right out with BBB!
 
NovicePoolGal said:
We bought a new pool last summer and it was installed in mid June of 2006. We started with and have been using Bacquacil. It is a 27' above ground. We use a sand filter. It holds approx 15K gal. I had noticed that I had to backwash more often this year. My pressure reading is staying above 10 even with backwashing. I asked the pool store why and they said I needed to change the sand in the filter every year w/ Bacquacil. (I am wondering why nobody told me that when I first bought the pool or when I went to get directions on opening the pool??) When getting on line to research, I have read so much about problems with Bacquacil that I am really concerned. Maybe rather than just changing the sand, I need to change the sand and convert. I am concerned with converting that I will have issues with my hair and skin (I have eczema.) Is there an easy way to use Bacquacil successfully, or am I always going to have problems? :cry:

You may want to consider going with an above ground Salt Water Chlorine Generator, or even introducing some salt (if you are doing the BBB method) to your pool. Our daughter has bad excema over her body and the swimming in the salt water does wonders for it. There are some potential drawbacks with salt which you should research before going ahead.
 
NovicePoolGal said:
...When getting on line to research, I have read so much about problems with Bacquacil that I am really concerned. Maybe rather than just changing the sand, I need to change the sand and convert...

If you're going to convert, wait to change the sand until after the conversion is complete. Othertwise, you'll have to change the sand again.
 
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