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Hello, newbie pool owner here!! We have a 33' round AG pool (28,000 gallons) with a 1.5 HP Hayward pump and Swimpro Voyager Cart Filter. It has an AquaSmarte Delivery System #5720 on it. Is this similar to the Baquacil system? It is getting to be expensive to keep operating it and I want to convert to the BBB system, but I am not sure if it will hurt anything to just switch? Also, I keep seeing on the forum references to "DE" What does DE mean? Thanks!!
Cannot answer your questions about AquaSmarte, but DE is Diatomaceous Earth. Read more about it here.
Thanks Grace! The Aqua Smarte is a mineral/chlorine system. You buy a mineral reservoir that stays in the cycler for the season and you add "Bac Pacs" which is chlorine tabs inside a cylinder thingie that sits inside of the mineral reservoir (expensive little boogers!). I am going through about 1 a week and have already spent well over $300.00 for my chemicals (and I am almost out!!)
I doubt that I have spent over $30 so far this season for chemicals. You should quit using that, get your water tested and post the results.
Baqua is a non chlorine system, so, no, they are not similar I would ditch the $$$$$ bac pacs and go with BBB. JMHO! (and probably most everyone else's here, too! :D )Quote:
Originally Posted by circlenranch
Wow sevver!! I am so jealous!!! So do you think I can just take the mineral thingie out of the cycler and start the BBB right away? I tested the water yesterday evening and if I remember correctly the chlorine was at 0.5, the ph was at 7.2 and the CYA was at 0. I added some ph increaser last night and some pool shock also since the numbers were low.
JMHO! (and probably most everyone else's here, too! ) What does that mean?
JMHO = Just My Humble Opinion .......... on switching to BBB.
Practically everyone here uses BBB, so they would agree you should switch to save youself some $$$ :cool:
You will need to increase the The CYA, You should shoot for 30 to 40. The Ph was a tad low, as was the chlorine, but you are dealing with that. How about the Total Hardness and the Total Alk? You can get a 5 way kit from Walmart or else a better Talor or Ben's Kit. I have the 5 way, and if I want anything more I take in a sample. But I plan on getting Bens kit when I can swing it.
Is it possible to just take the unit out of the loop? Is this a Baquacil type system? If so, I am thinking you should also change the filter media. I have no experience with the system you have at all.
If you want to learn how to mantain your pool this way, go to PoolSolutions.com and read everything you can there.
Good luck
Grace, JMHO :) Ah, I Gotcha!!!
Sevver, I believe I can unhook the whole thing from the filter. When you say filter media, do you mean the cartridge? Sorry, I'm not too good with the lingo just yet!! I am going to Walmart today to get the 5-way kit. I only have the strips right now.
If it is a cartridge then yes, replace the cartridge, but wait for someone to say that who is familiar with what you have before you jump the gun. I am not sure what this system looks like or what it does or anything, I will look into it now though. There are smarter people than me on this board that is for sure, but do get the kit. It is money well spent.
Quote:
Originally Posted by sevver
Chlorine, therefore not Baqua.Quote:
Originally Posted by circlenranch
Filter media in your case is cartridge, but as you are already using a chlorine-based system, there may not be a need to change it. (If you change from Baqua to chlorine, your sand or cartridge wil get all gummed up with Baqua-goo! :p )
Sevver, I really appreciate you looking into it for me!
Grace, I sure hope I don't have to replace the cart. It's expensive too!!
Here is a link I found describing the Aqua Smarte system. This might shed a little more light as to what steps I should take to switch to BBB.
http://kingtechnology.com/pdf/Manual...al-English.pdf
I just briefly scanned the document, and it looks like you could just ditch the system and start with BBB.
Post some numbers so we can better help you! If you are following the guidelines outlined in step 2 on page 4 of the document, your water parameters should be pretty close.
Most here would suggest stabilizer (or CYA) between 30-50 ppm, and your FC will need to be increased accordingly (3-5ppm, 15 to shock)
You do not need to worry about calcium hardness, as you have a liner. (problems only occur >500ppm)
One Caution: Some here say they pour bleach into the skimmer: DO NOT do this if you leave your system connected. Mixing different forms of chlorinating chemicals is dangerous. (they can be mixed in the pool without any harm, however.) Add your bleach in front of a return.
ETA: get a drops-based test kit (Ben's kit, Taylor, or HTH 6-way)... test strips are 'lovingly' called "Guess Strips" around here! ;)
Thanks Grace!
Last night my numbers were: chlorine 0.5, ph 7.2, CYA 0. I cant remember what the alkalinity was.
my neighbor has the aquasmarte thing..he swears by it. your chlorine SHOULD be low with it, that's the whole point of having that particular system anyway. it uses copper ions to sanitize the water instead of chlorine. my neighbor didn't mention anything about the bac pacs or whatever, he says they only replace the copper things once every other year or so. they add a little bleach every week, because even with that you need SOME chlorine. you might want to contact another aquasmart dealer and play dumb to see if you get the same answers that your guy is telling you.
I just edited my above post, as you were replying! Where is Shepherdsville? we are near Florence...
You will need to add 30-50ppm CYA. Use the BleachCalc to find out how much. Shoot for the low end, because while you can always add more, you cannot lower it without draining pool! There are some CYA delivery methods discussed here.
You will need to up your chlorine according to your CYA level. Use Ben's Best Guess table to get the right numbers. I was a bit off in a previous post.
I think that running your chlorine low only makes for unsanitary water. The copper based solutions are not really a good idea, basically it is an expensive algaecide, and completely unnecessary with proper pool maintenance.
OOO, I did not see that copper part anywhere. That may change the whole ball game on switching to BBB. Man, nothing's ever easy, is it? :rolleyes:Quote:
Originally Posted by sc-pierce
sc-pierce, the reason I want to stop using this system is because it is waaaayyy toooo expensive! For not using much chlorine, it sure sucks it outta them little bac-pacs!!!
Grace, don't tell me it will change the whole ball game!! :( You're right of course, nothing is ever easy!!!!
can't disagree there.
Oh, and Grace to answer your earlier question, Shepherdsville is near Louisville.
i am admittedly a rookie here, but if it were my investment i would completely disconnect the system (or have someone more qualified do it more likely) let it cycle for a day or two, then test again and make adjustments according to the BBB methodology. since copper is the active ingredient in algaecides it's unlikely that you will have severe problems immediately, but just to be safe i would try and let it cycle a couple days with the system disconnected before i added anything else to the water.
That looks like the same system as the Nature2 system and you should be able to just remove the Canister and one hose, then connect the other hose where the removed one was. (makes sence to me...)
I simply do not know if it will change things or not :confused: The mention of metals scares me, simply due to what I have read here about staining and sequestering and stuff. But there are copper-based algeacides (not usually recommended by the smart folks here) that can be used in a chlorine pool, so someone else with more knowledge of copper products will have to chime in. Sorry I can be of no further assistance :(Quote:
Originally Posted by circlenranch
a metal remover would get rid of the excess ions. i think
Thanks for your suggestions! I have just come back from having a green pool, (& still a little cloudy) so I am a little leery of disconnecting it and not putting anything in.
well...then i would add some bleach to the water in front of the jets and have some borax on hand to adjust the ph and some baking soda to keep it clear.
Thanks SC!!
definately add bleach, and look into adjusting the CYA. See about raising the Ph too, although it is not really to bad now.
Thanks you guys!! I will let you know how it goes!
Hi CircleNRanch- what have you done with your Aqua Smarte?
I too have this system and have used up the chlorine bac pacs the company supplied and started using liquid bleach ala BBB. I set the control lever to MAX. I am keeping .5-1.5 ppm chlorine.
I am still using the mineral pac since it allows low levels of chlorine. I'll finish this season with it. I'll decide soon to buy a new mineral pac or not next spring. I must say the low chlorine level is appealing to me. My water is very clear. My parents had a pool while I was growing up and I never remember the water being this clear.
I was getting 2 weeks outta the chlorine bac pacs. My CYA is 25-30, a tad bit low maybe. I think your CYA being 0 is the reason you went through the chlorine pacs so quickly.
I think if we decide to go full BBB then it isn't any problem to just remove the packs, set the lever to MAX and go. I'll simply remove the white cycler if I find a reason not to use it next year.
BTW, since you mentioned prices, how much are cl bac pacs in your area? I find them on the web for $15 + ship. Also what was the price for a new cartridge?
The major problem with continuing to use the copper system is that when you get high levels of copper in the pool, you start to get stains when you shock it, and green hair and nails when you swim in it. If you anticipate switching to BBB method, I'd do it now before the copper gets to a point where you have to use metal sequestrant to keep it from staining your pool.
Janet
Aylad,
Are you sure the King Tech Aqua Smarte contains copper? I only ask b/c their websites states only silver and limestone are in the pack.
I only ask out of curiosity. I have no doubt silver isn't desirable either.
ePoolUser
ePoolUser, I have since converted entirely over to BBB and my water has never been clearer. You are probably right about my CYA level contributing to going through the bac-pacs so quickly so I did add some stabilizer. As far as the mineral system, I took it out as well. I had begun noticing that my return was starting to get a rust-colored film on it that I assume was copper. After removing the Mineral pack the film has not returned. I agree that a low chlorine amount was desirable in the beginning, however after reading through the forum, I believe that it is not as sanitary! I took back my remaining 5 bac-pacs to the pool store and got around $72.00 and some change for them. So that's about $14.00 or so each. Too expensive in my opinion!