Going to start the conversion this Sunday

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Sorry -- most of the crushed bleach bottles went out with the garbage yesterday morning. The cashier at Walmart had this look of increduality on her face when I came thru her aisle with the last batch of 25 bottles of bleach. Of course, I didn't help matters by asking where their HazMAT suits were. Probably shouldn't have done that.... :twisted:
 
I converted this year and I'm so glad. TFP knows there stuff. My pool is crystal clear. I can't get over it. I do not ever remember the water being this clear with baquacil. No more pool store rip off for me. But the process is scary. I just knew it would never be clear again. It went from brown to flourescent green to pale green to cloudy blue to crystal clear.
 
Hang in there, J,

You are sure using a lot of bleach....even for a conversion. I think the most I can remember posted is a little over 200 gallons. I hope you have NO luck in setting a new record!!
 
Pool status: 9:30pm

Ok. As expected all FC burned off during the day. CC's also burned off to .5! As soon as the sun was down, I added in the required 3.5 bottles of bleach to top up the chlorine. Crossing my fingers on the overnight FC loss test.

Bleach used so far: 111.5 bottles (158.3 gals)
 
Sorry for the late post this morning, all.
As of 5:30am this morning (just before dawn):

FC: 6.5 ppm (5 ppm loss over 8 hours)
CCs: 1.5 ppm

The water is crystal clear, and I topped up to 15ppm before leaving.

Bleach used so far: 113.5 bottles (161.2 gals)
 
Rather than backwashing my filter -- I completely break it down and clean it out. I've done that five times so far into the conversion -- the last time being Wednesday morning, after the water had completely cleared. Since then, the filter has been behaving itself -- I haven't gained any pressure at all. The water is so clear, it actually sparkles. (Which is a royal pain in the Rear when trying to vac the deep end... Not that I'm complaining ;)) I'm wondering if another breakdown and chemical cleaning would be in order?
 
I'm wondering if another breakdown and chemical cleaning would be in order?
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I would say no. With your water so clear, you are probably getting close to passing the overnight FC loss test. I would wait until you do that (pass the test) and then give it a final cleaning and that should end your conversion.

After all that, I'm not a DE guy so others may have better advice. My thinking is let this charge that's in there pick up the rest of the debris and then, when you pass the test (meaning all the debris is dead and mostly gone), it'll be time for a fresh charge to start off as a new chlorine pool.
 

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Wow, wish I would have found this site a month ago. After 7 years with baqua I finally converted to chlorine in early June, although I did it with the help of the local pool store. The help you all give here is much better than what I got but at least it is done. I probably ended up spending more money on "pool chemicals" than I should have, but hopefully that will change after reading though some of this. I also ended up with a test kit that only tests half of what I need. Live and learn. But the water is clearer and cleaner than it has been in years, and it doesn't taste like cr*p!

These are some great pics. Wish that I had done the same during my conversion. Good luck!
 
Pool Report: 6:45am

Overnight FC loss test: 3.5 ppm (13.5 ppm --> 10.0 ppm over 8 hours)
CCs: 1.5 ppm
pH: FCs too high to get an accurate test at this time.

Today is supposed to be cloudy/rainy all day in Pittsburgh. Hopefully, that will allow the FCs to stay in the pool instead of instantly boiling off due to 0 CYA. We're getting closer to passing the FC loss test. Probably by the middle of the week.

Bleach used: 119.5 bottles (169.7 gals)
 
Good work, j,

I'm the only poster here lately but, I know from past experience, there are literally hundreds of people following your thread and "cheering you on".

Keep at it. Victory is in sight!
 
Great conversion. I'm glad the only thing I ever had to deal with was the Pool Frog that was with the pool when we first moved in. It's alot easier to go from Trichlor to bleach than Baq to bleach!!

By the way, I think we were promised some Floyd for this conversion! I highly recommend Echoes. After all, everything was green and submarine.
 
Overnight FC Loss Test: PASSED

Pool status: 6:00am

Overnight FC loss test: PASS (1 ppm loss over 8 hours)
CCs: 1.5 ppm
TA: 100 ppm
CH: 220 ppm
pH: 7.5 (as of last evening, before adding enough bleach to get up to 15 ppm)
Borate: ~50ppm (per test strip)
Salt: ~980 ppm (per test strip)

Bleach used: 123.5 bottles (175.4 gals)

Last night, before topping up the bleach, I noticed that my pH had climbed to 7.5, which is slightly out of the optimal conversion range. I've passed the FC loss test and I'm hoping that the CCs will drop into acceptable territory in the next couple of days. At that point, I'm going to need to add approximately 6lbs of stabilizer to finish the conversion. (after breaking down and cleaning out my filter for the final time) This is going to cause my pH to drop.

At this point, should I add enough acid to drop the pH back to 7.4 or just wait until it's time to add stabilizer?
 
Pool report: 7:00am

FC: 11.5 ppm (We had torrential rains last night and I gained over an inch of water in the pool, so I'm not sure what the actual overnight FC loss was)
CCs: .5 ppm (Not sure if the reading is artificially low due to rainwater dilution or not)
pH: FCs too high to accurately test.

Last night I broke down my filter and cleaned it out and recharged. One sock with 2lbs of stabilizer went into each skimmer as well. (4 lbs total, 2/3rds of what the pool calculator says I need). I'm shooting for the low end of the 30-50 range so I'll have some "room" to use tri-chlor pucks on the couple of weekends that I'll be away on vacation.

Bleach used: 127.5 jugs (181 gallons)

We're in the home stretch!! :party:
 

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