Yet another Baquacil Conversion

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Husky25 said:
Two questions:
1) Do I add CYA now or wait until after I change out my sand?
2) Do I need to have CYA in the pool for the overnight chlorine loss test?
Click to expand...

No and No

You want to wait until you are able to pass the OCLT before adding any CYA to the water. Seeing that you went from 15ppm down to 8ppm last night, I would hold off on adding any.
 
I was greeted by a mostly clear pool with pockets of brown gunk on the bottom. The deep end still had a slight green tinge, but it was clear. I could see the main drain as clear as a bell. I was also greeted by, what looked like buckeye seeds, but I have no idea. I was surprised to see them floating in the water until I opened the skimmer lid. They actually forced the basket up and almost out of the skimmer!!

I rinsed out both the skimmer basket and the pump basket, which had a few of those little flowers as well as cottonwood seeds in it. Then I vacuumed all the brown stuff to waste and brushed what I couldn't pick up with the vacuum. By the way, for anyone with an IG with fiberglass stairs and a liner, algae likes to hide in the plastic screw guards. Those can pop right off to be brushed down. My FC was 1, so I topped it off with 2+ gallons of 12.5%. I rechecked just now and did the whole panel of tests.

FC-15.5
CC-3.5
TC-19
CH-75
TA-80
CYA-0
pH - N/A

I'll at least re-check the two chlorine numbers in the morning. Hopefully we will be swimming by the weekend (unless my pool light screws me. I got as much visible algae as I could around the casing)!!! I need to get some new goggles to get a good look at the screw. I know it's not recommended to get in the water right now but - besides temperature - would it be too harsh to jump in, undo the light and jump out?

Here's a photo from 8:00.
 
At 7:40.
FC=1.5
CC=1.5

I didn't treat the water all day today, per the Conversion instructions. Not even this morning (FC was 10) It was overcast and/or rainy most of the day here. I vacuumed and backwashed just now and topped off on L.C. I'm going to check again before I go to bed. My water is so clear that I'm OCD with the brown stuff. Even if there is a little speck, I just can't have it. So be it. I worked too hard over the last 4 days for my pool to revert one iota back to its former self.
 
FC: 11
CC: 1.5

There's still a trace amount of gunk down there on the floor and I fished a worm out of the deep end. I brushed the gunk to stir it up and added 3/4 gallon shock. It also might be too late in the morning to do a true OCLT and it doesn't matter until the CC is lowered to .5. Any ideas on getting over the last ppm hump? Would CC really be prevented from going that much lower for trace amounts of Algae?
 
My guess says that the last bit of CC's is hiding in the cracks of your pool. Take a toothbrush and scrub around every skimmer, return, set of stairs, and around the lights. It would even be a good idea to temporary remove the light from it's niche and see if you can't scrub in there too. You'll be amazed where that gunk is able to hide at.
 
Thanks, Leebo.

That begs the question of safety, I can't use a toothbrush around the stairs, or main drain without getting in the water. Neither can I remove the light without seeing what shape the screw is (it actually feels like a small bolt instead of a screw, but I can't see it).

Correct me if I'm off base, but is the assumption that after a day of being in full sun (gonna be 81 here today), the FC level should be low enough to get in the for a short period of time without damaging clothes, skin, or hair?

Should I add CYA to stabilize then readjust my shock levels afterward?

This last part is frustrating.
 
Husky25 said:
Correct me if I'm off base, but is the assumption that after a day of being in full sun (gonna be 81 here today), the FC level should be low enough to get in the for a short period of time without damaging clothes, skin, or hair?
Click to expand...

Without a doubt your FC levels will drop drastically during the day. In fact, I'd be surprised if you are able to keep any chlorine in there during the daylight hours. Your plan of allowing the FC to drop during the day, then getting in to scrub everything down at this point is a good one, and I see little cause for concern for your safety. You'll likely be swimming in water with zero chlorine anyways. Just make sure to bump it back up to 15 once completed. My gut says this will be your last "battle" with much BaquaGoo.

Have you tried an OCLT? If so, did you pass??
 

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Leebo said:
Without a doubt your FC levels will drop drastically during the day. In fact, I'd be surprised if you are able to keep any chlorine in there during the daylight hours. Your plan of allowing the FC to drop during the day, then getting in to scrub everything down at this point is a good one, and I see little cause for concern for your safety. You'll likely be swimming in water with zero chlorine anyways. Just make sure to bump it back up to 15 once completed. My gut says this will be your last "battle" with much BaquaGoo.

Have you tried an OCLT? If so, did you pass??
Click to expand...

Good to know.

Re: OCLT, I bumped my levels at 9:00 last night, but I wasn't able to test until 6:20 this morning. That is well after sunrise, but no direct sunlight hits the water for another hour or so. If that suffices for an OCLT, then I failed.

I already have an old toothbrush, but I need a new pair of goggles. I know exactly where I need to attack, I just need to see clearer. I also need a couple black pump skimmer plugs. I'm getting little air bubbles from my returns and the pump skimmer seems to be a logical source. Oh yeah, sand too. Can't forget the sand. Though I failed OCLT, I'm so close I can feel it!!!
 
Well this is bittersweet...

I got in the pool yesterday (FC was 0 so harm, no foul) and brushed around all the nooks and crannies I could find.

The good news is I got rid of the last remaining combined chlorine. That reading is 0. The bad news is I lost 3.5 ppm of FC. What am I missing now? Tell me in an hour...I'm going back to bed...

BTW, Cottonwood seeds continue to fall from the tree out back, and I continue to find some of those (what look like) buckeyes floating around...
 
Had a minor set back this evening. I was hoping against hope that I wouldn't have to remove my pool light, especially after I saw what was keeping it in place. It was not one screw, but two and one screw was a flat head and the other a #3 Philips-head. I struggled a little getting the fixture out of the cavity, only because I can't hold my breath as long as I used to. (When I was a kid, I could swim there and back underwater twice in my parents' 42' footer. Alas, I am not Master Chief Sunday. Those whose have seen Men of Honor will understand the reference).

There was A LOT of gunk in the cavity, as well as a lot on the fixture. I'm pretty sure it was preventing me from passing the OCLT and so much, that I thought it would be a good idea to remove the belt clamp...I should not have done that...

When I put everything back together and the fixture back in to the cavity, it took on water (Plus the mosquitoes were coming out, adding to my frustration). So I took it back out and in the process of emptying the water from the fixture, the bulb came off it's medal base. Truth be told, it was only a matter of time, given the corrosion. It seriously must have been the original bulb.

I am pretty confident I can fix the issue on my own, but I really don't want to fool around with water and electricity. I'm going to call a pool installer with experience.

In the meantime I hope I pass my OCLT in the morning. Then this whole ordeal (fixable as it may be) would be at least partially worth it. I just topped off with a half gallon of L.C.
 
MY SLAM IS OVER!!!!

I was frustrated to high Heaven over the weekend. I brushed and vacuumed nightly and took a reading around 9:00 at night. I would get 0 CC and boost my FC back to 15 (without CYA, I would lose 1 or 2ppm in that two hour period), but in the morning I'd be down again and gain a ppm of CC. I finally determined that the ring around my stairs was the culprit. I bought a package of four Mr. Clean Magic Eraser sponges and to my surprise, the mildew - or whatever - that would not come off with the Baquacil brand fiberglass cleaner came off with just a touch of elbow grease. I did not do an OCLT Sunday or Monday because of the rain, but woke up at 4:00 this morning and I finally passed last night. That only leaves changing out the sand, adding stabilizer, and reinstalling the ladder (oh and getting my light fixed too).

Thank you to all who helped me along the way over the last two weeks. I'm sure I'll have more questions along the way.
 
The light is finally fixed and back in it's cavity. Some installers are just as shady as pool stores. It took a particular installer a week and a half before I got a call back and only after me following up with them. When they finally did came out, they took a cursory look at it and said the entire fixture had to be replaced and I would receive a written quote by the end of the day. Apparently a day lasts 96 hours long in East Hartford and doesn't include weekends (even when they are open). Finally, I got fed up and talked to another place earlier this week. They called me back within a day and told me they would come out with parts up to and including a new fixture but would only replace it if, in their professional opinion, it needed to be. We were both hoping it only needed a bulb and gasket (save us both time and money). I sit here now with a working light without spending an extra $400 (Oh, the first company finally got me their quote too.).
 
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