Patti-New to TFP and converting from Baquacil

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farmerpatti

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May 21, 2017
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Croswell, Michigan
Another Newbie here! Have a 27K AG 33' round vinyl pool.......wanting to convert. Have added water to top off and now need to start the transfer process. I tested with my bacquicil strips and have little sanitizer in and the oxidizer is between the add maintenance and add initial dose, meaning it is below normal.

I just last night found out about this site, so am behind the curve. We have been filtering for over 24 hours (opened pool yesterday), and did vacumming and brushing....raining all day today so haven't been out. Haven't added anything .... so reading, I need to get ph to 7.2. I bought a digital accutest monitor...will see what ph and TA readings I get. I also have a hot tub which is chlorine.

On the pool math calculator, I'm assuming I use 0 on FC to determine the amount of bleach to buy. We use 50 gallon of bleach/chlorine on our farm, so will check to see what % it is.
 
Patti,

I am a newb as well, check out my thread you can watch my progress. Yes, use 0 as "now" and 15 as "target". That part of the chart was a little hard for me to decipher if you just glance at the chart because it says "Goal" right above the area where you enter your starting number.

I can tell you that from starting with a clear pool to nasty green back to sparkling clear has taken 30 hours and 16 gallons of 10% in my case.

I have not reached the target numbers on CC or overnight loss yet, so I am still in the process. You might find some helpful tips on the beginning stages of the process. Best of luck, I don't feel like it has been too difficult so far, but I have asked a lot of questions and received great answers!

The TF100XL test kit that was recommended by many members here has really been a big plus in my conversion. All that I ever used before was test strips, and I would be in bad shape if I hadn't bought this kit.
 
Welcome Patti!

Your Bleach in drums probably comes to you as 12%. Depending on how old it is, and how it is stored, it may be close to that. You are really lucky as so many of us would love to get it in drum form but just can't. Yes, you will use 0 to start.

Nice welcome bye bye baqua. :goodjob:
 
Yes, the bleach is 12.5%...it is regularly used throughout our milking system for cleaning...so it is new. It is 55 gallons.....unfortunately before I researched all this we replaced the sand.......!!!

- - - Updated - - -

I will continue to watch your progress as I begin mine....heading out to vacuum and brush! and Test and backwash....
 
Patti

I have very positive results this morning. I actually held fc overnight. Down from 18 to 16.5. Only 3 days in. I am on recirc at this point with very positive results. Will update my thread this afternoon, battery low on my Phone

Turn your return so the water is making a big circle. All waste should deposit right into the center and chlorine will cycle in faster. About 2 coffee cans full is all I had to vac.
 
Good to know...I have been reading your forum thread and learning. Thankfully we have 12.5% on our farm so hubby is going to get me restocked. Just 2 hours into this and hoping I'm as successful as you have been. Thanks for taking the lead!

How quickly after you added did you retest?
 
At first I greatly underestimated how quick the chlorine would burn off, and tested maybe every 2-3 hours. I had 15FC in my head as a constant number, and you just can't get to 15 and hold it steady for the first day or so. I should have gone every hour or so and maybe dosed up to 20 FC to keep me over the 15 FC threshold. I don't think spiking to 15 every couple of hours is the goal, or as effective as keeping it there or higher.

Much to my disappointment, 7 hours after my overnight readings, I am down to 2 FC. we had an undetermined amount of rain today, and it was mostly overcast. I am beginning to have some concerns that my filter isolation experiment is flawed.

Dosed back up to 16 according to the Pool Math at the moment, will recheck in about 45 min. I am 3 and a half days and 24 gallons in at the moment. Pool could not be any more clear, still no debris or remaining goo.
 
I was foolish and have a AccutestCheck monitor that doesn't go over 10ppm. To get the kit would cost $86 in overnight charges so plugging along...testing every hour at the moment, and adding 2 quarts at that time, since a 7.0ppm tells me to add 2 gallons. I am going to order the kit, but not at that overnight charge.

So you are now clear, just not maintaining FC level.? Ours is swirling yucky stuff on the top. We attempted to vacuum but didn't actually get much...it isn't settling now, just looks like white/yellow floaters under surface and on top. I was able to skim some of it off, it looks like it is less, then you add more chlorine and it comes back! The side walls look 'furry'!!! But a wipe of your hand and it is gone. I use a nylon sock type item over my skimmer basket to catch a lot of debris and stuff. Use that while vacuuming to keep from getting into the filter.

I'm afraid I'm going to have to replace the sand, since I JUST DID THAT on SATURDAY before I got hooked up with this website to find out how to do this. The pool store wasn't very forthcoming and did everything to talk me into keeping Bacqucil.

So:

1) it should begin to 'clear' up some as maybe by tomorrow afternoon if we keep this up?
2) the goo is not too much of a problem to get out?
3) running filter 24 hours

We have a 300# sand filter. It was lots of fun scooping it out two weeks ago!

Live and learn!

Good luck with your next reading.
 
Patti, new info on my thread.

I think I read somewhere on here that you can dilute the test sample for your test kit and multiply it back into the equation so you can start doing it by gallons instead of quarts. I can't say that you are going to clear up that soon using 2 quarts at a time, as you have to keep it up to 15 ppm for it to work. I was doing 2 gallons at a time, sometimes more, and my total gallons is a lot less than yours. The swirling goo lasted about 6 hours in my case.

The first day, Saturday, I started at 9:00 am and worked about 18 hours on it until 3:00 on Sunday morning.

I know it wasn't directed to me, but I am not comfortable answering the pump question. The process calls for it to run 24 hours a day, but I can see your concerns with low pressure.
 

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I added 2 Q because I didn't want to overkill with chlorine since I don't know the actual #, my tester goes up to 10. I know when it read 7.1 I had to add 1 gallon and 1 quart, so I was improvising.

Did you turn off the filter overnight when not monitoring or leave on regular or recirculate?

That nasty top goo is 'nasty'!
 
Byebye,

I just checked the PSI was up 6 pounds so I backwashed and nasty nasty nasty came out. The floaters on the surface have decreased. When I shinned (shown) my flashlight into the pool, I could see the bottom and pointing to the center, I don't even want to know what that was! I will start vacuuming in the morning. Will retest again at 5:00am when we get up for chores and start again. My digital monitor still shows 9.9 and when I checked the Pool Math, I would need to add no more than 1 gallon, so Ii thought I would just leave alone until morning. On my filter question, you answered perfectly as I agree to run 24 hours...I just didn't want to have my filter running at a high PSI while not attended.

I'm not even wanting to think about what I need to do with my ladder! And we did have the heater on for a little at the beginning of the process and turned that off. As the water clears, will have to turn that back on to 'rinse' that system through.

Thank you so much for your support and the sharing of your experience. It has been very valuable to us in trying to work through the process.

Will post update tomorrow
 
Day two...I can see the bottom...that looks a bit gooy!!! There is a HUGE circle of goop in the center between my two drains. It is somewhat out of reach of my vacuum - I usually get in the pool to vacuum because of it's size. I'm not thinking I want to get in this time! I'm heading out to vacuum or skim and see how it comes along. Overnight I head a 10 ppm + reading, since I only have test strip/digital monitor that goes to 10ppm. I did dump in 2 quarts as a measure and it didn't react to it like it has done in the past. We are having an overcast day so far here in Michigan (surprise - NOT). We restarted our heater to continue clearing those pipes out.

My next step is the ladder that hasn't been put in the pool yet. I will search the forums for ladder suggestion cleaning/etc. We have the Confer Steps that balist with sand. Those 'compartments' are capped and we put water in them to top them off. How the heck do you get this sand out or is there a way to treat that? Pour in chlorine?

Onward and Upward!
 
Any luck figuring out how to clean your ladder? Have same Confer steps and we had left them in the pool during the conversion. Just found out they are a baqua trap. Trying to figure out how to get the sand out of the steps. Not looking forward to it.
 
How to Handle Solar Cover, Ladders, Toys and stuff

While I'm waiting for my swirling goo to settle, should I be working on my steps? They are not in the pool at this time, are ballast with sand in an enclosed section that requires additional water (which I usually get from the pool when we put the ladder in). We have an old solar cover, does it just make sense to get a new one, or what is the process for that?

And then there are all the noodles, rafts, etc. How do you deal with these?


Any insights will be appreciated.

Thanks,

Patti
 
I have the same ones. 4 steps white frame with gray treads. I took the handrails out, pried the stair tread wedges out and used a hammer and a 2x4 to tap the sides off of the treads. I took the sides down into the woods and turned them upside down and just kept talking them on a tree and shaking the he'll out of them. The sand looked really good but the voids in the plastic were gross with film colors from red to green inside of where the handrails slide in. I am going to power wash as much as I can and rinse with chlorine I guess...

By the way, I met the fc loss goal last night!!! 18.5 last night before bed and 18 this morning when my wife checked it. Not bad for 4 days in. Sounds like you are pretty much on track with where I was. Keep up the good work!!!
 
On the steps, I had to pull them last year since our pink slime was so bad in them, and yes in every little spot -- so disgusting. I pulled them apart, soaked in bleach, but never did anything with the sand. Just a note, we called the company and an engineer there said to make bigger and more holes in the (bottom of them) steps to help with water flowing in/out, and to put some 1 inch holes in the back drop thing - the piece that is perpendicular to each of the steps again to help...those collect water and gunk too! It was really gross, that pink slime would just clump out --- looked like light bloody nastiness. He also recommended once a week to take a garden hose and just move the water around the steps. I tend to run the perimeter for exercise, but it has added benefit that it does create stronger water flow behind the ladder, AND pulls everything to the middle. I float around for a little, while it slows down, then take the skimmer off the pole and scoop up the stuff that flows to the center. Worked really well when I was short of time to vacuum.

How did you get your goop out of the center into your two coffee cans? Mine is about 8' diameter!!! I or hubby are going to go in and use vacuum hose and suck it up via waste to bypass filter (but does it really matter!!!)We have 300# of sand ready to replace the old/new we just put in before figuring out what we were doing!

Congratulations... what a relief. If that was your picture of the pool, and your daughter, I'll bet she wasn't real excited about what dad was doing to her pool. My twin boys were "what did you do to the pool?"! They had planned to go in it yesterday after school.

Hope you continue to show good numbers.
 
I went through this last year and it is a mess. My pool is only 18' round so I was able to vac mine from walking around the pool. However, what helped me out so much was to start a siphon with the pump side of the vac hose and let it run on the ground not through your filter. I have a DE filter and changing the earth over and over was not going to happen if I could get the goo out without going through the pump. You have to replace water as you go but that only helps the change over. Hope all goes well
 

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