New Pool, should I go with chlorine

[Lil Bit]

We are having a above ground pool put in next week it's 30" round.
I was going to go with baquacil till I read these forums. So should I start out with chlorine? Could use any info on starting out and thanks so much.

[Watermom]

Absolutely go with chlorine. Don't let anybody talk you into using baquacil. Go and read some of the threads in the PHMB part of the forum where people are desperately converting away from baq. Read the "stickies" in the "using chlorine and chlorinating chemicals" forum and in the "testing and adjusting pool water chemistry" forum. They will give you lots of info about getting started. Also read through a lot of the other posts on this forum and read at the sister site www.poolsolutions.com as there is plenty of good info there as well. Then, post back with any questions that haven't already been answered in all of your reading. Welcome to the forum!

BTW - I'm going to move your post into a more appropriate place on the forum. The forum you posted in is for questions about how to use the forum itself rather than for chemistry or start up questions.

[CarlD]

Bacquacil is only good for one thing:

SENDING YOUR POOL STORE OWNER'S KIDS TO COLLEGE!:mad:

It is a very expensive trap. Expensive to use, expensive to maintain, expensive to get out of. It doesn't work very well, either.

Chlorine is easy, cheap, available at EVERY grocery store, and gets a bad rap because people (and pool stores) don't know how it works and what is and isn't irritating. I keep VERY high chlorine levels, but my pool doesn't smell of chlorine, nor does our skin get irritated, or our eyes sore.

Why? Because I know that Free Chlorine doesn't do these things--Combined Chloramines do, and I know how to keep CCs out of my pool.

So will you if you stick around!;)

There's no secret formula, secret handshake, or tinfoil hat needed. It's all just simple, straightforward common sense.

[brent.roberts]

Fortunately for me the makers of Baquacil never got approval from the Dept of Health in Canada. (Maybe they couldn't) In any case the search for a source that would ship it to me eventually found me stumbling on this forum. After reading under the section dealing with Baquacil I am greatly relieved that I did not find a way to import it directly.

Happy, long term users are few and far between. It costs many times what chlorine costs when things are going well. However when things get screwed up, which seems to happen frequently, you cannot solve the problem with $ 25 or $50 worth of bleach. They will get you for hundreds and hundreds of dollars, and in many cases never get it cleared up.

Wha's the expression ... don't walk, run from this one.

[Lil Bit]

Thank you to all of you who responded to my forum, I sure do appreciate it!
I will start out right! LOL

[lizzie64]

As a former baquacil user that just today finished her conversion to chlorine, I say absolutely DON'T USE BAQUACIL.

Our pool was nice on baquacil for half the summer last year. Then boom we were hit with cloudy water and over $1500 couldn't clear it.

My pool this morning is crystal clear. It was never that way on Baquacil.

[traceyb]

helpful site..........thanks watermom!

[waterbear]

There's no secret formula, secret handshake, or tinfoil hat needed. It's all just simple, straightforward common sense.
Very true, those are only needed to keep a BAQ pool running! (especially the tinfoil hat!)

Seriously, go with chlorine.....you won't regret it!

[medvampire]

I was clueless a few weeks ago and listened to the pool store. Found this forum and the sister web site (http://www.poolsolutions.com/), studdied it, and asked a few questions. I now have a pool with water like liquid glass. The installer came out a few days ago to fix a light and comented on the water. If I listened to the pool store I would be spending $40 on oxy-shock and $30 on regular shock not counting trichlor tabs each month. I spent $17.84 last month on chems. I spend 20 minutes a day and about a hour on the week ends keeping it up. The BBB system should be called the symplisity system is it so easy to keep up. When you get your pool up come on back and let the pors here who really know their stuff get you started. Dont let the pool store sell you a stuff you dont need.
Steve

[paulb43]

Lil Bit, We started new with a 30' x 52" on Baquacil 3 years ago. The first year was $250 more than the pool dealer told us we would spend on the pool. The pool was clear all season long. The second year we spent more than twice what we were told the pool would cost to operate and it took from April til the 3rd week in June to clear it up. This year we spent $250 opening our pool and 60 days later still not clear or ready to swim. Frustrated, we turned to the net and found this sight.

We converted IMMEDIATELY after reading all of the same horror stories about Baq. As of July 4th and a very special thanks to this sight, we are able to swim in the pool using Bleach, Borax and Baking Soda at a fraction of the cost. Our conversion from Baq to chlorine was time consuming and pricey but well worth it. I dont ever remember the pool looking so sparkling clear.

-paul

[Rick72050]

By all means go with chlorine. My wife talked me into the baquicrap 3 yrs ago and believe me it has been nothing but a nightmare. Spent at least $3,000 on that junk and still had green jello for water. Finally drained it and cleaned the bottom and sides with power washer and vacuumed every once of water out then refilled and am now using the BBB method. Wife is still convinced the pool store is the only place to buy things but I figure if I'm the one taking care of the pool I will do it my way from now on. So, if everyone here is wrong and things turn out badly I sure hope someone out there has a place for me to hide in--preferably someplace in the rockies or hawaii.:D

[gerri]

I can guarantee that you don't go wrong with BBB. I've heard nothing good about baq, only nightmares with it. My water is fantastic using BBB and the tips on this forum. We had a pool party today and everyone commented on how beautiful the pool is. :D

[CarlD]

If you follow the simple rules, it won't turn out bad. You just have to stay on top of your water's condition.

That means daily chlorine and pH testing--and adjusting anything that's off target immediately. It means once-a-week testing of FC, CC, pH, T/A, CYA, and CH (if you have concrete/plaster).

You replace knowledge with guess work and use only what you need.