So glad I found this forum and instructions for biguanide to chlorine conversion. I think all I did last summer was pour (expensive) oxidizer in my pool! I just opened the pool this past weekend - connected the plumbing, topped off the water level,removed the cover and started circulating. There was more biguanide left than I expected, but since I'm the only swimmer and I'm in no huge rush I didn't try to swap out more of the water. I just plunged in to calculating the chlorine amount using poolmath (very cool, BTW!) and pouring it in!
At first it didn't seem like much of anything was happening. Then I noticed a brownish haze developing around the outside of my round pool. (see picture taken about 10-15 minutes after first adding chlorine) It kept getting darker and darker, and finally the whole thing was an opaque reddish brown. Ugh! The filter pressure got pretty high in the course of the day, but when I backwashed, nothing changed and I didn't discharge the gunk I was expecting. So overnight at the end of the first day was wasted time because I switched over to just recirculating until I could figure out what was going on.
Well, next day, I took my filter apart and gave the sand a good hose deep-cleaning, thinking the baqua goo had perhaps somehow solidified or glued itself together. All sort of nastiness came out, but when I put it back together, still no gunky water coming out during backwash. WTF?!?! Turns out I am just STUPID first thing in the season, and even though I have been operating this filter for over 10 years, my brain randomly decided that backwash = "WASTE". DOH! As soon as I actually used the "backwash" setting, all kinds of nasty muck-water came out. Very satisfying....
I started this project without all the right testing stuff in hand. I have a TF-100 coming today or tomorrow. Until then, I've been using a little OTO chlorine test. That only goes up to 5 ppm chlorine - not enough for the shock levels that need to be maintained during conversion. But I played junior chemist and just used 1/4 the sample volume of pool water + 3/4 tap water (I'm on a well - no chance of containing chlorine) and multiplied the result by 4. Not precise in any sense of the word, but at least a general indicator of whether I was close to the chlorine level I was aiming for. I think.... Anyway, the good test will be here soon and we'll see.
In the meantime, I was pleased to find this morning that I could see to the bottom of the pool. Progress! Hope of swimming in a trouble-free pool someday soon!
-Linda
At first it didn't seem like much of anything was happening. Then I noticed a brownish haze developing around the outside of my round pool. (see picture taken about 10-15 minutes after first adding chlorine) It kept getting darker and darker, and finally the whole thing was an opaque reddish brown. Ugh! The filter pressure got pretty high in the course of the day, but when I backwashed, nothing changed and I didn't discharge the gunk I was expecting. So overnight at the end of the first day was wasted time because I switched over to just recirculating until I could figure out what was going on.
Well, next day, I took my filter apart and gave the sand a good hose deep-cleaning, thinking the baqua goo had perhaps somehow solidified or glued itself together. All sort of nastiness came out, but when I put it back together, still no gunky water coming out during backwash. WTF?!?! Turns out I am just STUPID first thing in the season, and even though I have been operating this filter for over 10 years, my brain randomly decided that backwash = "WASTE". DOH! As soon as I actually used the "backwash" setting, all kinds of nasty muck-water came out. Very satisfying....
I started this project without all the right testing stuff in hand. I have a TF-100 coming today or tomorrow. Until then, I've been using a little OTO chlorine test. That only goes up to 5 ppm chlorine - not enough for the shock levels that need to be maintained during conversion. But I played junior chemist and just used 1/4 the sample volume of pool water + 3/4 tap water (I'm on a well - no chance of containing chlorine) and multiplied the result by 4. Not precise in any sense of the word, but at least a general indicator of whether I was close to the chlorine level I was aiming for. I think.... Anyway, the good test will be here soon and we'll see.
In the meantime, I was pleased to find this morning that I could see to the bottom of the pool. Progress! Hope of swimming in a trouble-free pool someday soon!
-Linda
I don't have any experience with that stuff
