Just started a conversion last Sunday

[pepsiholic]

No, it was a gradual clearing, like the blue was trying to separate from the green...lol.. and it took several days, but every day, I could see just a little further down.

You're quite welcome, but everything I've learned in the past couple of weeks has been due to the wonderful people on this site and I'm still learning as I go. It's only been a couple of weeks so I'm sure something will pop up>

 

[horsegal]

Came home at lunch and added two 182 oz bottles of bleach. Usually I can only do morning and evening because of work. I am using the pool calculator to tell me how much to put in after I use strips to measure FC. I am still waiting on my kit. If you are thinking about a conversion- wait until you get the TF-100 before you start. It has taken me much longer than others in this forum.

I am however beginning to see blue water around the edges of my pool. I am hoping to see all blue by tomorrow morning.

 

[horsegal]

Better picture of blue edges.

 

[horsegal]

Got up this morning to a blue pool! I didn't check FC, just added two 182 oz bottles of bleach before work because I knew I couldn't come home at lunch. It is 4:30, just got home and the FC is about 7 or 8 according to my strips. Will wait until evening ie almost dark and measure FC again and top up to FC 15 for the night. I can see some "stuff" on the bottom of the pool, but it is minimal. Will have to wait to vacuum until tomorrow because I can't open the filter tank if psi gets too high. Hubby had to head back east for a funeral. He can help me when he gets home tomorrow.
Someone else asked too, it was Chris I think, anyway can we run our pool vacuums when the FC is 15?

I'm so excited, should be done with the conversion by the weekend and Friday is that last day of school and weather is supposed to be warmer.

Thank you to all who have kept me motivated along the way- you know who you are! I'll post photos tomorrow. It is a busy time of year for us teachers.

 

[JasonLion]

Congratulations, you are getting towards the end.

It is fine to use a manual vacuum with high FC levels, but I would not use a robot, pressure side or suction side cleaner.

 

[horsegal]

My photo for the day. Taken at 5:30 p.m. June 10th. I'm so excited to see the bottom of my pool. I kind of like this color blue, but I think it will still change some more.

 

[mickey4paws]

Looks great, Horsegal!

 

[thecrave]

Lookin' good! Nice to see your pics!!!

 

[Cherie]

Pepsiholic,

Did your water turn blue "overnight" or did you notice a gradual change in color? I think I am actually seeing blue around the edges of my pool or am I dreaming?

Thanks for the update on maintaining your pool since the conversion. I don't think I will have too much CYA build up problem because we end up having to add water to our pools every week due to major evaporation. Our climate is very desertish. Ironic since you can see clouds in my photos. That is the most moisture we've seen all year. I believe the only way to decrease CYA is to add water if I am not mistaken. If someone knows differently please advise- I am open to suggestions from those who are successful.

Thanks all, horsegal in CA

Horsegal, adding water weekly due to evaporation will have no effect on your CYA. So even though you'll be adding water every week, if you're using the pucks, they will indeed raise your CYA because CYA doesn't evaporate out with the water. That's why the only way to lower CYA is a drain. Once you get everything balanced the way you want it, I'd stay away from the pucks. I believe Chem Geek did a write-up on the issue of CYA not evaporating.

Glad you figured out how to post pictures. And the blue looks wonderful!! Way to go

 

[horsegal]

Well, my test kit finally arrived, so now hopefully I can finish up this process. at 6:45 pm June 12, 2009 my readings were
pH 7.8
FC 12
CC 4
TC 16

I did not add anymore bleach before going in for the night. I had added 3 bottles of 96 oz. bleach at around 5:30

June 13, 2009 at 8 am my readings were as follows:
FC 8
CC 3.5
TC 11.5


I will use the pool calculator and get back to FC 15 this morning. Then, how often should I test my water? I'm finally on summer vacation so I don't have to go to work and can just work on this pool.

Thanks again TFP!

 

[JasonLion]

Alright, since you are only losing 4 ppm of FC overnight, you are in the home stretch!

At this point it is a more efficient use of chlorine to only add chlorine once or twice in the evening. Adding chlorine during the day will speed up the process, but it will use more total chlorine (because most of the chlorine you add during the day will be lost to sunlight).

 

[horsegal]

Usually beautiful and sunny so cal is not these days, but my pool is! So, here are some updates to the conversion process. You can see the gunk in the middle in one of the photos. It will get vacuumed up today

 

[horsegal]

Ok, I need help again. :? On 6-15-09 at 7:30 a.m.
FC 9.5
CC 3.0
TC 12.5
I had to add water to the pool Sunday night ( about 6 inches) and wonder if that is what raised my CC to 3.0 I had been 2.5.
Anyway I bought 10% chlorine this morning and added a gallon when I got home because I had no FC in the pool, but I didn't test after the addition. I just didn't want to grow algae.

1) Tonight, I forgot it was 10% and added two gallon jugs to the pool. I had gotten used to the 96 oz bottles of 6%. I tested 30 min. later and FC 27 CC 2.5. That is way too high on the FC I know. Is anything horrible going to happend to my equipment?

2) My next question is, why is my CC not going down? It was 3.5 on 13th at 8 pm; 2.5 on 14th at 7 am; 2.5 on 14th at 8 pm; back up to 3.0 on 15th 7:30 am; 16th 2.5 at 9 pm Am I doing something wrong?

3) My pool is sparkling and other than a few bleach spots from the granular stuff the pool store guy sold to me that did not dissolve like he said it would , the liner is blue. If I don't keep the FC levels high I am starting to get small amounts of algae on the walls.

4) I know I have to lose no more than 1 ppm FC overnight and my CC needs to be below .5. What else do I need to do to get there? BTW my CH measured 500 on 6/14/09 when my FC 7.5 and CC 2.5. Is that causing a problem too? I'm not sure why it is that high.

HELP

 

[Casey]

You aren't done shocking. You have too keep going! POP!

Continued shocking will bring the CC's down, kill the algae/baq and clear the pool.

 

[JasonLion]

Baquacil conversions vary in difficulty. It sounds like you have more baqgoo still hanging around than most people do at this stage. The final bits of goo break down quite slowly, and you just need to wait for it to finish breaking down.

What is your overnight FC loss at this point? That is a more reliable indicator of progress than the CC level. CC will go up and down depending on several factors, most commonly the amount of sunlight, but other things affect it as well.

Another thing that could be slowing things down is CYA in the water. If you have any CYA in the water it dramatically slows down the whole process. That doesn't seem likely from what you have said, but the behavior you are seeing does match what I would expect with low CYA levels (which are difficult to test for).

 

[horsegal]

Hi Jason,

at 10:30 p.m. 6-18-09 I was at FC 15 CC 2 and
at 7:15 a.m. 6-19-09 I was at FC 13 CC 1.5.

It is possible there is some CYA in the water from the initial shock that the pool stores sold me isn't there? Burn Out Extreme and Shockwave were the names of the two I used early on. We also have had a fair amount of bugs in the pool. Some are waterlogged and sunk to the bottom of the pool. When I vacuum, they end up right back in the pool again. Would they bring up the CC levels?

I just put in 1 1/2 gallons of 10% chlorine about 15 minutes ago. I will test the water before going to bed and check levels in the morning.

My water is perfectly sparkly clear and after my accidental overdose of FC 27 on the 16th I haven't seen any signs of algae trying to creep onto the walls of the pool.

Will post again in the morning. I should add a new photo too.

 

[JasonLion]

Burn Out Extreme doesn't have any CYA, but I don't know what Shockwave is, so it might have contained CYA. Some CYA in the water might account for how slowly things have been going.

You are making progress! It can't be too much longer.

 

[horsegal]

Good morning!

I hope it isn't much longer. The weather was beautiful yesterday and it is hard to explain to 10-13 year old kids that the water looks pretty, but you can't swim yet. Anyway here are my 6:30 a.m. results
FC 13
CC 1 or 1.5

for the CC test, the water cleared after 2 drops when I swirled, but as soon as I stopped swirling there was a slight pink tint after the 3rd drop the water stayed clear. Which is the correct result? :? I always count the last drop when the water stays clear.

Thanks for the help

 

[frustratedpoolmom]

1.5 is correct.

 

[horsegal]

Does anyone have advise? Last night I tested my water at 9:50 after adding my 1 1/2 gallons of 10% at 9 p.m. . My results were
FC 17.5 and CC 1. According to the pool calculator this should have only raised my FC to 15.

This morning at 7:45 my FC 13.5 and CC 1.5. It seems like I am teeter tottering every day. Do I need to test my water earlier in the morning? I seem to lose between 2-4 ppm overnight. I can't seem to get to that magic number of 1 ppm loss.

Also, it was really strange. When I added DPD powder to my water the first time, it didn't turn pink AT ALL. So I used my K-1000 just to see if there was chlorine in the water rather than wasting reagent. When I added the 5 drops, the water turned orange instead of the usual deep yellow color. So, I rinsed out everything again and got a new sample of water. That is when I got the FC 13.5 results. When using the test kit I hadn't had any problems prior to this morning.

Am I doing something wrong? Why is it taking my pool sooooo long to convert? HELP, I'm losing faith....