I'm not sure where to post this since I have questions both about Baquacil to chlorine conversion and about water testing, but here goes...
I discovered this site a few days ago when I decided to switch from Baquacil back to chlorine. I bought a Poolife Deluxe 6-way Test Kit from my local (25 miles away) pool supply company. The kit tests for total chlorine, pH, total alkalinity, total hardness and cyanuric acid. I have read many of the threads dealing with baq- to chlorine conversion. I'm still a little fuzzy on testing (I'm still a little fuzzy on everything right now.)
My pool is inground, vinyl liner, about 24,000 gal. I began the conversion process on Wednesday with a baquacil reading of 31. I added 25 pounds of a non-chlorine shock (44.7% potassium monopersulfate). That night I added 6 gallons of bleach (6% chlorine). I've since added 18 more gallons of bleach and 10 pounds of hth shock (47.5% calcium hypochlorite).
I'm testing my baq levels with test strips and I'm getting approximately zero readings. My chlorine testing is not so clear. I understand that I should keep my chlorine at 15 ppm, and my test kit only reads up to 5 ppm. I tried to dilute by using 1.5 ounces of pool water to 3 ounces of bottled spring water, mixing that well and then testing. My readings then look like 5 ppm (x 3 to compensate for the dilution, which equals 15 ppm.) But I'm not sure if it's really 5 ppm or if it's more than that. How would I know--would it be a darker pink than the test kit comparison? It's not changing over time--it's the same when I've just added chlorine or when I retest in the morning.
So one question is: should I buy a Pool Solutions test kit? Which one? Why? I've seen something about FAS DPD but I don't know what that is. Am I testing correctly now? Am I using too much chlorine? Shouldn't my chlorine be dropping overnight?
My water is beginning to clear a bit. When I began this process on Wednesday (four days ago) I couldn't see the bottom step. The pool was milky white and had been for two weeks. I vacuumed to waste last night and then backwashed. This morning I could faintly see the liner pattern in the shallow end.
Any help would be appreciated.
