Spring Conversion Baquacil to Chlorine

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SunnyDayz4US

SunnyDayz4US

Gold Supporter
Mar 15, 2022
93
Ouachitas
Pool Size
14200
Surface
Vinyl
Chlorine
Salt Water Generator
SWG Type
CircuPool RJ-45 Plus
ITS TIME! I am so ready to not ever use another Baq product! I have my TFpro test kit and have been using it and the Pool Math calculator. I’ve been reading over all of the great info on the TFP site, the conversion stories and feel like the time is now to green up my water TFP style!
I have kept our pool open this Winter and have not added any Baq products. I have been lowering water before rain showers to help dilute left over Baq while maintaining PH. I have also added some city water a few times.
I have 28 gal of 10% chlorine “Pool Essentials” and feel like I’m ready to do it while time allows and the weather could be much better for the conversion. It’s going to be cloudy for a few days , the temps in the 60’s and PH is 7.3 recently!
Positive encouragement would be much appreciated! :)
 
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Let the colors begin!

Source new pool sand. That will be on your to do list once the Baq goo is gone.
 
Leebo said:
First and foremost, WELCOME TO TFP!!!

May I ask, is draining the pool an option?
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Thank you! It is an option, not a great one but I could do that. We (community) have had lots of problems with our local water dept for several different reasons the past few years from new office personnel to getting our water bills all out of whack! Very hard to deal with but it still could be an option. I would just need to go meet with the AGAIN new office personnel .
UPDATE, we just talked with the water dept. , a drain and refill would be between $103 to $146 and were very helpful finally.
I could get a meter reading before and after. I’m also on a septic so shouldn’t have an outgoing water charge.
Your thoughts?
 
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A baqua conversion has went from a really cool science experiment to a game of poker the last few years, especially early in the season. Years ago we all looked forward to the really cool colors as it was a no brainer to convert the pool using liquid chlorine, but the past few years the cost of chlorine has made drains a very good option. While a drain/refill will still require some chlorine additions it’s going to likely be your cheapest option this year with chlorine prices being sky high………but there’s a huge catch!

Being early in the spring it’s likely you haven’t added any Baqua chemicals as of late, so there’s a possibility you’re not gonna have much Baqua to convert as most your water is fresh water from the snow and rain over the Winter. If this is the case a conversion using chlorine will maybe be cheaper.

By any chance do you have any Baqua test strips around? If so, can you post some results from them?

If you don’t have some strips, let’s try an experiment. Before you go dumping several of bleach into the pool to get to the 15ppm mark, just add one gallon with the pump on high. If the water stays somewhat clear it’s possible you have low Baqua levels and it maybe cost effective to convert. If it starts showing all sorts of colors your Baqua level is likely high and a drain/refill really should be looked into.
 
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Leebo said:
By any chance do you have any Baqua test strips around? If so, can you post some results from them?
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I have a few left and have been checking Baq Sanitizer level each week and level has been slowly coming down but is still at 40 and was last check also with my local PS and 43 was the last tested reading so my efforts to bring it on down have done very little!
I had done just a small test of bleach a few days ago and it did start turning color with very little. (A few oz’s)
 
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If any CDX products were added to the pool, even if it was last season, I suggest a good hard drain (leave at least 18” of water above the shallow end floor) and refill. Drain from the deep end using a submersible pump and refill from the shallow end.
 
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I do have a drain option on my sand filter setup and also have a valve to shut off pull from the skimmer and pull from main drains only.
 
CDX will drag out the conversion and it has added bromine to the water. The bromine will cause a sanitizer (chlorine) demand until it has all oxidized to bromate (BrO3-). That takes a loooong time.

Drain as much as you feel safe draining, refill with fresh and then convert. I would t use a pool pump to drain as you could potentially lose prime and kill your pump. Submersible pumps are cheap to buy or you can rent one. They are faster too.
 
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JoyfulNoise said:
CDX will drag out the conversion and it has added bromine to the water. The bromine will cause a sanitizer (chlorine) demand until it has all oxidized to bromate (BrO3-). That takes a loooong time.

Drain as much as you feel safe draining, refill with fresh and then convert. I would t use a pool pump to drain as you could potentially lose prime and kill your pump. Submersible pumps are cheap to buy or you can rent one. They are faster too.
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If we drain to leave at least 18” to be safe on shallow end of my pool design, this by our calculations will drain around 5760 of 14,200 gallons and if we take it down to 12” on the shallow end of pool would allow to replace about half of the water, around 7K gallons.

Thoughts?

Will start draining down, whatever Baq we can get rid of would be better than nothing!
 
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12” is the absolutely minimum you could go. You have to be really really careful that your liner doesn’t shift. You could also try an exchange drain -

Draining - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com www.troublefreepool.com

When done correctly, an exchange drain can move most of the contaminated water out of the pool without significant mixing of the fresh water or the water level dropping.
 
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