It's my turn to convert...

Hello all! I've been mainly a lurker here reading the trials and tribulations of everyone else, but I decided to make the switch to Chlorine from Baquacil and began the process yest...

My pool: 18x38 above ground, 52" deep with a DE filter, on Baquacil for 5 or 6 years. First year or two went very well, and then all heck broke loose with blooms of mustard yearly, not to mention a large chunk of my paycheck leaving quickly to fight it with more shock and sanitizer.

My pool store has always been moderatly helpful at times, though at other times downright mean, and running the above pool with Baquacil has always cost me an arm and a leg and I constantly fight cloudy water and blooms in July/August. It's time.

The gents at the pool store, when I told them last night I was about to convert, tested my water for me and my results are:

Baq - 12
pH - 7.0
Baq Oxidizer - 7

(I know the rest doesn't matter just yet...)

My question is that they told me to add into my pool 8 pounds of Target Shock and Swim, and let that circulate for 24-48 hours and retest after that which will, in their words, get rid of the leftover Baq before I start shocking 2 times a day with a gallon and a third of shock (12.5% Cl).

Does anyone have any thoughts or experience on this? With the long weekend coming up and hopefully me being about to leave work a little early, I can do whatever I need to the pool easily for almost 3-4 days straight. And I have no issues waking up in the middle of the night to check a FC level too. ;) I'm so done with Baquacil, it's not even funny.

Also, the they tell me my pool has 20,000 gallons. If I use BleachCalc (and thanks to whomever wrote it!) it tells me I have just shy over 17.5 gallons.

18x38x52" deep oval.

I dunno..... The volume is essential to calculating how much Cl to add in, no? I prefer to trust the math, rather than the store...

Thanks in advance for any help, tips, and such! I look forward to a clear pool this year, for the first time years!

Jay

Volume: You have an 18'x38' pool 52" high--I'm guessing the water is 4' deep--4" from the edge to the water.

An oval is really a rectangle and a circle, but the circle's split in half and at each end of the rectangle. You KNOW it's an 18' diameter circle because that's the width of the pool.
Subtract 9' feet from each end (18' overall) and the you are left with a rectangle in the middle that 20' long (38-18) and 18 feet wide.

Area of a circle: Pi*r squared. R is 9' Pi is 3.1416. so... 81*3.1416 = 254 square feet.

Area of a rectangle L*W or 20*18=360 square feet.


Volume: (254 + 360) * 4 = 2456 cubic feet.

One cubic foot = 7.48 gallons so....2456*7.48 =18,371 gallons .

Figure this could be anything between 18,000 and 18,500 depending on EXACTLY how high the water is, and how precisely an 18*38 oval it is.

Using either 18000 or 18500 for your chlorine calculations isn't going to make any difference at all so use whichever you prefer.

Carl - now see, this is why I come here rather than the pool store. I always get a 'trust me' there, and they don't back it up with data.

Many thanks for taking the time!

jay

Don't know what is in Target Shock and Swim, but I would bet that it is probably costly. At any rate, you don't have to have it. Most people just start there conversion with dumping bleach in and then they are on their way. Be prepared. It will turn all kinds of lovely shades of green along the way, but you'll get there. The more often you dose it with bleach, the faster your conversion will go. Read through the other threads in this forum about other people's experiences with their conversions. Good luck. You'll be glad you switched!

A small update - I've decided to go ahead and start the shock process, in a few minutes actually. So here goes nothing!

But, an interesting occurance. I went back over to the Pool Store, and had my water tested one more time, more to see what they'd say then anything else.

According to them:

Baq: 32
pH: 6.9
Baq Oxi: 12

When I asked them how that was possible, as it was 12, 7.0 and 7 yest, the student behind the counter said he'd try another computer and lot of test kits. Once he did that, my Baq level read at a 2. The dip strips I have here that I'm about to toss said I'm extremely low too on the dreaded Baq, so my hopes are that I'm not too far away from a clear pool running on Cl.

I'm about to add 2.2 gallons of super shock (12.5%) to the pool, and hopefully start seeing pretty colors. (18500 gallons to 15ppm per bleachcalc).

Wish me luck!

Jay

Good Luck!

For you, figuring the gallons had only ONE thing you didn't know from Middle School geometry--7.48 gallons per cubic foot. And I'll bet you didn't even realize you knew it all the time!

I have never done a Baq conversion. I gather it's pretty scary and you are going to use ALOT of LC on the way...but once you are there, you'll never look back.

BTW, if you have a sand filter,when your conversion is complete, dump and replace your sand. It's one of the very, very VERY few times we recommend that.

I don't know if you can clean a cartridge after a convert or if you must replace it (OUCH!--sand is CHEAP, so replacement doesn't hurt)

But of course you should be able to clean a DE filter's screens and/or fingers.

Ok... I have a feeling I'm going to post often here.

About 4 hours into the conversion at this point, and I've been bumping the DE filter every 15 minutes or so. Flow isn't too low, but I figure it can't hurt knowing I need to change the DE anyway after I'm done.

I've used a little less than 4 gallons of 12.5% bleach at this point, and am about to go check the level again and add in more if I need to. I figure check every 2 hours or so while I'm awake, and see how that works for me.

Pool color wise - my wife says it's a light mountain dew color sorta. Not as bright a greenish as before, and I can actually see clear water next to the sides of the pool.

Thanks!

jay

If you keep at it, in no time you'll have clear water.

Residual CL this time!!! I got a reading of 6ppm. I added 1.3 gallons of bleach.

Ok, so progress is happening...

Took my last reading tonite, which would be the 6th reading and Cl addition tonite. I got between 2-3ppm Free Cl which I have to multiply x 3 as I'm using 2 shot glasses distilled h2o with 1 shot glass pool water, so I added into the pool one more gal of 12.5%.

Hard to tell color of the water when it's pitch black in the backyard, but I've gone through 8 gallons of 12.5% bleach now. I also bumped my DE filter, which is now at 23psi (meaning it's a tad higher than normal and I'll clean it out tomorrow AM).

We have no plans tomorrow other than yardwork (bark mulch is arriving at some point!) and I have to mow the lawn. Other than that, every 2 hours I'll be testing and adding Cl when needed.

Am I right that I'm looking for clear water, and no more green color when I shock it? And then I'm looking for it to hold the FC levels overnight?

I'm still less funds into the conversion than I would have been starting up the pool on Baq, so I'm still thrilled and excited. Of course, they're now predicting 86 degree weather on Monday here in southern NH, I figure there's a small (very small) chance we might be able to take a dip.

Am I also correct - I need less than 10ppm before I let the wife and kids in there, once it's nice and crystal clear and a Cl pool?

Thanks again!

Jay

Good morning all -

Here's an update:

At about 6:00A today, I woke up and checked the pool. It dropped about 6 or 7 ppm FC overnight, so I dosed it with another gallon of 12.5% Cl.

My DE filter also was almost completely plugged, so I took it apart to clean it. There was a brown mud-like substance which I can assume is the used up Baq covering the grids. A few blasts with the hose knocked most of it off, so I reloaded it up with DE and put it back into service. I'm back down to 13-15psi which is where the thing usually runs at.

Pool color wise, it's starting to lighten! I can't really give you a good color reference as I'm totally color blind, and have to rely on my wife and kids to help with that. I do know that my eldest daughter can read a FC color chart now, as just she and I are awake now. ;)

I'll recheck the pool around 8:30AM today, and post again then.

Thanks!

jay

1:30PM here...

I checked and added 1 gallon of 12.5% bleach at 10, 11:30 and now again at 1:30p. Each time I had a residual level of Cl around 6-9ppm.

The pool is beginning to clear now, and I can see all sorts of muck at the bottom I'll need to clean out once the water clears up totally. I have a feeling I'm almost done, which is exciting becaue I've only been at this for around 24 hours so far.

My filter now sits still at 15-18psi. and I continue to bump and swish it every 15-30 mins or so, just because I can.

Thanks!

Jay

My pool is now clear - and I'm holding off on more Cl until tonite. I know I need to change the DE and winterize it - but my water is clear. It's not 100%, but it's already better than the best it was on Baq!

I'll shock it to 15ppm tonite and see if it holds tomorrow!

Jay

Wow! That was quick. Just goes to show what persistence can do for you.
Your statement -- "It's already better than the best it was on Baq." is amazing. And, think of the amount of money you spent on 'baquayuck' as compared to what you will spend to maintain it with BBB. Congrats!

Thanks Watermom! I did my research here last year while I was deciding to convert when I opened this year.

I have learned a few things, and once I'm sure I'm done, I'll certainly post what I have found. Persistance is key, but also, at least in my opinion, is prep work for the conversion.

Thanks!

jay

I agree that researching things before you jump in is crucial and I'm glad you did your homework by reading here on the forum. Lots of good info here. Writing about what you learned through your conversion experience would be a great addition to this baq forum and would help other people just as some of the previous posts helped you. Again, congrats and enjoy your pool!

Holy cow. ;)

So my son woke up this morning with an athsma attack at 4:30A. (That's not the holy cow part, keep reading... ) After his breathing treatment, I got him back to bed and after having the first of I can tell many cups of coffee this morning, I decided that since it just became light out, I'd test my pool.

I have a residual Cl level of as close to 12ish ppm as I can tell (daughter's eyes here - she's an early riser), which is exactly what it was last night at about 8:30pm when I added in my last shock dose. I think this means I'm actually done! I'll head to the pool store today and get another sample tested there for Alk, Calcium, Cl, and such, and then head to Walmart to get the supplies. I may even start heating my pool today so that tomorrow, when it's supposed to be about 86 degrees, we can go swimming!

As promised - here are my lesson's learned from my conversion.

I need to preface this by saying I'm NO EXPERT in this. This is just the way I went about my own conversion, and your mileage may vary. But, I followed these steps and converted an 18x38x52" pool in just over 24 hours. And my water has never looked clearer, nor cleaner.

1. Research! I must have read through every PHMB to Cl post there was on this forum (and other ones), and took notes of colors, amounts of Cl used, and anything else that I could find in the posts. I discussed all of these with my wife, especially the color changes, as I can't see colors at all.

2. Test your water before you start, use a pool store if you have to. I took 2 samples, on 2 different days to the store to find out where I was, and got an invalid reading once on the Baq level. If the level on test 2 seems to be of, ask for a restest with a different compter and lot # for the reagents. Turned out I started with a small amount of Baq in the pool, and a small amount of peroxide. I can attribute this to 2 things. I made the decision last year to convert, and closed with 'less' than the normal amount of Baq and Shock added to the pool. This gives you a starting point, and will could allow you to track progress.

3. (My own one here!!) Give the residual Baq and Shock somthing to munch on. I store my pool furnature and steps outdoors, and they were a little icky from the long NE winter. I tossed them all into the pool overnight on the night before I started after I hosed them off... Since I knew we were going to shock the crud out of the pool during the Cl conversion process, I figured I had nothing to loose. turns out, I went from Baq level of 12 down to 2 overnight. I figured if I let the Baq and shock do their job and get used up, I'd be farther forward. And I removed them all before starting the conversion.

4. Get a drop based test kit, and plan on using it ALOT. Once I started the conversion, I tested literally every hour to two hours, and kept track of my results. I went thru 12 tests the first day.

5. Shock, with Liquid Bleach, and do whatever it takes to hold the Cl at around 12ppm to 15ppm. I had found in the research that this seems to be the level that works the fastest, and doesn't damage liners. This meant adding Cl to the pool every hour to two hours in the beginning, and then adding in smaller amounts as the rest of the Baq and such got zapped.

6. Plan on multiple DE changes, and make sure you have DE around. Bumping and swishing worked in the way beginning, and towards the, but I did need to open up the filter and hose off the grids after running the filter overnight.

7. Filter continuously. This helps get the icky stuff out of the water.

8. Brush the sides, and bottom of the pool every few hours. I tended to do this about 30 mins after I added in a dose of Cl. Took me all of 10 minutes each time, and each time I stired up a lot of gunk on the bottom for the filter to get rid of.

9. Vac to waste when possible, but watch the pool level. Before conversion, I purposely overfilled the pool to almost the top of the skimmer. This allowed me to vac to waste without having to add in more water. I did have to use my mesh skimmer thingy (whatever you call it) to get debris off the top of the water until the level came down, but I was about to lower the level by vac'ing to waste anyway.

10. Be sure of your volume!!! CarlD helped me understand exactly how much water was in the pool - and yes, I actually measured depth with a tape measure. The pool store said I had close to 20k gallons, when I'm closer to 18.5K. All that does for them is make me use more chemicals. It allowed me to dose effectively, or at least moreso then if I were to just use thier numbers.

11. Be dilligent! I decided this weekend for the conversion because I knew I'd be home. And told the family that's what the deal was, so leaving yardwork every hour or so to test was acceptable. (And yes, I still got the lawn mowed and 5 yards of bark mulch moved too during the process!)

12. Keep a close eye on filter pressure! Bump and swich, or clean when you need to. And also, when you don't need to.

In total, I used 13 gallons of 12.5% bleach. That's like 26 gallons on regular bleach I believe.

If you're thinking of making the switch, all I can tell you is that if you remain vigilant, and fight the battle with all your might (evil Baq monster there!), you will win, and it won't take forever.

Thanks for reading this long post.... Now, I'm off the to Cl forum to ask how one goes about managing a Cl pool!

Jay
jayc(atsigngoeshere)rennlist(dot)net