chlorine conversion...problems!

Help! OK here is my story, bear with me. Just bought the house last summer, pool was already closed for us. Opened this May, found out it was a baquacil pool, decided to try it out, hated it, cloudy water,mold on the sides etc, decided to switch. Pool is 2 years old 19,000 gallons, vinyl, kidney shaped.

We are having major problems converting, we contacted a pool place, they started the conversion for us and left us in the middle of it. We started adding shock ourselves, taking the advice of a local pool place. The water kept turning brown when we put the shock in. They said it was b/c we probably still had baquacil in the pool. The guy gave us non chlorine shock to put in and something else (called "pool magic" I think). told us to keep vacuuming, backwashing, running the filter and we did. The pool started clearing up and we thought we were in the clear! This past weekend we noticed some algae. We added algaeside, but that did not help. Pool water kept getting cloudier and cloudier. I went to get the water tested yesterday and the baquacil levels were gone! He told us to start adding chlorine shock again, and we did. (3 pounds) The water turned brownish again and when I tested it with a strip this morning, it did not turn any color, it stayed white.
We have not added any chlorine tablets b/c they told us not to. Why can't we get a chlorine reading? Should we change the sand in the filter? I am at a total loss, no one can help us and i'm spending all this money. I would appreciate any advice at all!
Here were my readings from yesterday's test:
FAC 0
PH 7.6
TA 80
CA 206

Ok, I'm not the expert on this.

I suggest you now chlorinate with bleach or liquid chlorine--get the FC up and keep it up, checking 2 to 3x/day.

You'll need to get a CC reading and a CYA reading, too.

Changing your sand is a really good idea. You have to do it sooner or later and filter sand is cheap--$5-$6/50# bag. I don't know if you'll have to do it again, but the better experts can advise you--it won't hurt if you have to change it twice.

I do know you need to keep hammering it with chlorine until every trace of bac is gone. The powdered and tablet forms of chlorine add stuff you don't want. Liquid chlorine goes in faster, and MAYBE raises your pH--some of us have it do so, others, like me, have little effect from it.

Figuring that 19,000 gallons is pretty much the same as 20,000 gallons:
1 gallon of 6% liquid chlorine--EXACTLY the same stuff as Ultra Bleach will add 3ppm of FC to your pool.
1 gal of regular bleach (5.25%) will add 2.75ppm.
1 gallon of 12.5% liquid bleach SHOULD add 6.25ppm if it's fresh, but will probably only add 5 to 5.5ppm

You can add them to the skimmer while the pump is running, dribble them around the perimeter of the pool, pour it into the return stream slowly, or dilute a gallon in to 4 gallons of water so it's not so volatile and THEN use one of the above ways of adding it.

thanks!
after adding the bleach, if we clear the water up, should we stick to the liquid form? not sure how that works exactly.

Chlorine is chlorine once it's in your water. So the source doesn't really matter. But chlorine isn't all you get necessarily...

In addition:

Tri-Chlor tabs add CYA and lower your pH rather drastically--this makes them VERY good for new plaster/concrete pools that are curing. I RARELY use tabs, if at all.

Di-Chlor powder adds CYA, but less than tri-chlor. It's slighly acidic, but not as much as Tri-Chlor. I use it when I'm looking to boost CYA--or if I was lax and all the bleach is gone.

Cal-Hypo powder adds calcium to your water, and may be the most dangerous-to-handle dry chlorine. It can cause clouding and is one of the two most common ingredients in in packages marked "Shock" (the other is Di-Chlor).

Cal-Hypo tabs MUST NOT be used in chlorinators. You can use them in skimmers or in a floater that has only been used for Cal-Hypo. The older tabs were wrapped in plastic and I gather they worked very well. The new ones turn to mush in 12 hours and clog your skimmer when they do. IMHO, they are garbage.

Lithium Hypochlorite: This is sold as "shock". It's major shock is on your wallet as the stuff is insanely expensive for what it does.

Potassium Hypochlorite: See Lithium Hypochlorite.

Chlorine Gas: Only can be handled by professionals.

SWG: Salt Water Generators--breaks salt, Sodium Chloride, into chlorine, then the waste is recombined as salt. No need to add chlorine when it's working correctly! But it's pricey--they start, ballpark, at $1000. They can raise pH and do require attention to calcium, pH and CYA. Almost everyone who has one loves it, but I haven't been able to justify the cost vs. the work savings. Still, if you are doing an inground pool, it's a good time to get one--and don't waste that money on an ozonator or Nature2.

Liquid Chlorine, Liquid Shock, Laundry bleach: All the same stuff, Sodium Hypochlorite solution sold in different concentrations and with different labels. Generally has NO effect on your water other than adding free chlorine. Some folks see pH rise from it, I never do. It is simply chlorine in its easiest-to-handle form. You can get it anywhere, use it immediately, and have effectively no side effects. It's ALWAYS appropriate to chlorinate with bleach.

I also noticed that you put in some algaecide. The inexpensive ones can cause foaming and other problems so I would suggest you don't add anymore unless someone here advises you to do so. There is one form of algaecide that most people on this forum use refrerred to as Polyquat and the ingredients are listed as 60% poly[oxyethylene(dimethyliminio)ethylene(dimethyliminio ) ethylene dichloride] -- it is sold under multiple names. But if it says 'poly . . . ', it's polyquat.

For now, stick with the bleach and don't add in extra stuff. The key is to test frequently and keep the chlorine level up. The better job you can do with this, the faster the conversion will go.

Good luck.

Peter

i tried to download the exe file for bleachconverter but i have a mac and it won't let me install it.:(

we live in monmouth county, NJ. anyone know anyone that could help us? as we are not very confident and hesistant to do this on our own. we opened the pool before memorial day and now it is 7/13 and we have swam in the pool only a few times!! we have wasted time and money and are afraid to do it again if we try this on our own. we would need someone to come in and change the sand too as we don't know how to do that.

I've read other posts on here and I realize that other people have done this successfully on their own, but we've had so much bad luck with this pool stuff (we are first time pool owners) over the past almost 2 months that we assume something will go wrong or we'll do it incorrectly which will make the pool even worse. If you know someone reliable please let us know if how we can contact them. We would like to start this tomorrow. Thanks

I used the calculator to get the following information for your 19,000 gallon pool:

3/4 gallons of 6% bleach -----> 2.4 ppm chlorine increase
1 gallon of 5.25% bleach -----> 2.8 ppm chlorine increase

4 ounces of sodium bicarbonate -----> 1 ppm alkalinity increase
6 ounces of borax -----> 1 ppm algaecide increase*
1 pound and 8 ounces of cya -----> 10 ppm cya increase

15.2 ounces of sodium carbonate -----> 0.2 ph increase
19 ounces of socium gisulfate, dry acid -----> 0.2 ph decrease
15.2 ounces of 31% muratic acid -----> 0.2 ph decrease

*(for calculating how much borax to add to fnction as an additional algaecide, not phchanges - recommended target level is 50 ppm) I use the polyquat algaecide myself.

Mostly, around the Dallas area, the "ultra" - 6% - bleach bottles are 3/4 gallons, while the regular - 5.25% - bleach bottles are one gallon.

You CAN do this yourself, it is very simple. You need a good drops based kit. We are all partial to Ben's kit he sells here as it is hands down the best. You can run to Wal-Mart and pick one up until you can get Ben's kit. You need to see the above post, and add enough bleach to get your FC to 15. Do this 3x a day, and when it holds a reading of 15 overnight, you are done. I did this and it took me 4 days. My pool is simply amazing now. After you finish, you will sava a lot of time, $$$, and headaches by using the BBB methods as told here on this site. Go buy a lot of unscented ultra bleach, most use the Wal-Mart generic stuff, and a drops based kit, and get to work! I assure you, it is a lot easier than you think, and the folks here are great and will help you with any issues you may have. Good luck!