Baquacil

am new to this message board and need some help...I have read some of the baquacil horror stories and have another to add...own a 30,000 gallon vinyl inground pool that just recently opened for the season...Pool has been filtering for 5 staright days and remains a cloudy mess...have tried baquacil water clarifier, pool aid, and have just added shock again...cannot seem to clear the pool...Have tried everything but floccing entire pool but I know how difficult this is to get out once done...

My current readings are:

Baquacil: 59
T/A: 80
PH: 7.7
Cal Hardness 335

I am at a crossroads here to either continue the fight to get clear or convert to chlorine...

Any suggestions on the fight first...Also, what is the best step by step approach to converting to chlorine...I have always been on baquacil and have no idea of the chlorine process...

Thanks in advance

Hi,

I've been a Baquacil user for 9 years and love it. I'm very surprised to see the negative comments on Baquacil. Although it can be more expensive, if you do a few things and monitor it closely, you can have a clear fresh smelling pool. Here's what I've been told and have experienced:

Be sure to keep your Bac level between 30 and 50 ppm. Anything under and over is useless. Be sure you put in the recommended weekly dose of algaecide and the monthly dose of Bac Shock. It is important to stay on top of these each week; don't miss because everything seems okay. As far as your cloudiness, it could be your filtration or circulation. I had the same type problem, spent a ton of money, only to find out I wasn't filtering enough. I know you have had the filter on for 5 days straight, however be sure the returns are circulating around and down to the drain. Your calcium hardiness could be a small part; check with your pool source about this.

If all else fails, try the pro team kits to bring all levels to normal. Then, start over.

Hope this helps...

If you will read through the other threads in this forum, they will give you clear, step-by-step instructions for conversion, if that's what you decide you want to do.

also, once you've started a thread on a particular topic, it would be helpful and less confusing if you would stick with that thread instead of posting duplicate threads. I deleted the other identical thread to this in this forum.

Janet

If you were on the forum before the crash and everything was lost you would find many more anti-baq comments than pro-baq. By far the people that have converted to chlorine have been satisfied not only with the ease of maintenance but the $$$ savings. Last year one of my neighbors (9 miles away) did it and I watched the conversion in person. Took a couple weeks and gobs (engineering term) of bleach but it worked.
Al

I have a 32,000 gallon pool and ran Baquacil for 3 years. The last year I ran it cost me over $1,200 and never seen the bottom. I stopped counting after that...didn't want to know how much it was costing me. I had never owned a pool before and the pool store convinced me that the Baquacil was the best way to go, won't fade your liner, burn your eyes, etc. I trusted them but now I know why they wanted me to use it....it put alot of money in their pockets!!!
I was nervous about converting because I didn't know how to run a chlorine pool and the pool store told me all the horrors of having a chlorine pool and Baquacil was much easier to maintain.
I found this site four years ago and converted as stated here. I now spend less than 6 dollars a week most of the time....it would be less if I strictly use bleach but I am gone a lot so I use pucks some of the time. My water is as clear as it can be, doesn't smell, no eye's burning, etc. I get comments all the time on how clear my pool stays. I don't freak out everytime it storms thinking about how much its going to cost me to clear the pool up again. I was actually thinking about filling my pool in and now I love my pool again.
I would strongly recommend you to switch over and you won't believe how easy it is to take care of your pool by using the Bleach, Borax, Baking Soda method. I also strongly recommend you to buy the test kit offered on this site so you never have to depend on a pool store to know what you need to add to your water to keep it in perfect shape. It saved me the cost of the kit the first month.
There are plenty of people here to help you if you run into a problem so just ask.
Take care and good luck.

Folks, thanks for all the help...Sorry that I posted on different sites initially as I was learning how to navigate the forum...Given that I live in NJ,I have a limited pool span and want to maximize as much of time as possible...Rtaher not have to waste potentially 2 weeks of short season if possible..Anyway, Pool has finally cleared for now and I will most definitely be doing the BBB switch by next season...

Thanks

Good luck with it . :)

Janet