Baquacil CDX to Chlorine conversion

[gbwarrior]

I've never had a pool before. I don't know how long the previous owners used Baquacil. I went to the same pool store they used and opened the pool using the cdx system. We have an above ground 15'x30' pool that holds about 13,500 gallons. It runs a Pentair sand filter with a 1.5 hp pump. And we have well water here. We were able to get it pretty clean but then algae would start to appear on the walls, floor & ladder. The pool store would have me pour in more sanitizer which isn't cheap. It never seemed to go away, and recently one of the neighbors said there was an algae problem the last couple years with the pool. In searching the internet for solutions I found this forum and love the advice and support here. Of course I want to switch over to chlorine but am unsure of the direction to take. I'm a little gun shy after reading the posts of reese and aciam, who had the cdx system also. I haven't added any Baquacil for 2 weeks hoping the level would drop. Test at the pool store yesterday said baq level was still 27? They said with the algae in the pool the test for everything else would not be accurate. The last couple of nights I added Muriatic Acid to lower the ph from 8.4, as the directions for removing Baquacil says you want the ph closer to 7.0. I already have the Taylor 2006c and a lot of bleach, should I start the conversion or would I be better off with at least a parcial drain & refill or complete drain and refill?

results as of 10 am today

baq-27
ta=325
ph=7.8
cya=0

[gbwarrior]

Ok then....Here is what I have done so far;

day 1 noon added 446oz of bleach....water quickly turned a pale green from dark green

230pm fc=.5
cc=2.5
added 446oz of bleach

4:30pm fc=1.5
cc=3.0
added 446oz of bleach

7:30pm fc=5.5
cc=3.5
ph=7.8
ta=350
ch=200
cya=0
added 264oz of bleach

11pm fc=10.5
cc=3.0
added 182oz of bleach

day 2 7:30am fc=8.5
cc=2.0
ph=8.2 oto
added 264oz of bleach.....pale green is giving way to clearer water......surprised I'm not seeing more goop in the water

10am fc=4.0
cc=2.5
added 446 oz of bleach

11am fc=12.0
cc=2.0
added 96oz of bleach.....sweeping bottom I notice a white cloud being stirred up......I vacume best I can....gauge on sand filter still at 16 psi, no change......guage is new too, just replaced old one that was stuck on 10psi, probably because of high ta and scaling?

12:30pm fc=3.5
cc=1.5
added 384oz of bleach

3pm fc=.5
cc-1.5
added 480oz of bleach

4:30pm fc=3.0
cc=1.5
added 576oz of bleach....until now I have been following the calculators recommendations on amount of bleach to add, but either my pool holds more water than I think or the bleach is being consumed that fast? It has been sunny the whole time. Now I decide to increase bleach by about 50% of what calculator says.

6:30pm fc=12.0
cc=1.0
ph=7.6 taylor
ta=325
added 156oz of bleach.......pool is starting to look good, can see bottom fairly well.....a little dead algae in spots at bottom of wall. I stir it up with brush. Other wise walls & floor look great.

8:30pm fc=14.5
cc=1.5
no bleach added

day 3 7am fc=8.5
cc=1.0
added 288 oz of bleach

8:30am fc=11.0
cc=1.0
added 192oz of bleach

11:30am added 192oz of bleach

1pm fc=.5
cc=.5
added 504oz of bleach

2:30pm fc=1.0
cc=.5
ph=7.2 oto
ta=325
added 575 oz of bleach......I think I make a mistake here adding Clorox splash free bleach (the store was out of regular) after a while the pool seems cloudier. I'm off to another store to get regular bleach.

4pm fc=1.0
cc=.5
ph=7.2 taylor
added 575oz of bleach
added 1 quart of muriatic acid to adjust ta

6pm fc=11.0
cc=1.0
ph=7.2 taylor
added 182oz of bleach

8pm topped off water with about 2"

9pm fc=14.0
cc=1.0
no bleach added

day 4 8am fc=9.0
cc=1.0
ph=7.2 taylor
ta=325
ch=200
cya=0
didn't add bleach because expecting swimmers

10am fc=3.5
cc=.5
added 460oz of bleach....reconsidered my decision at 8am not to add....even with fc at 15.0 as long as cc is 1.0 it should be ok for swimmers right?


The pool is still cloudy a bit, can't make out the seams in the liner on bottom. Don't know if it's still due to the splash free bleach or maybe high TA. It looks like I'm making progress with the CC coming down. Still loosing fc quite a bit & it doesn't hold overnight like we need. I have vacumed & backflushed daily but am suprised at the lack of any goop in water. The woman at the pool store said it would turn to cottage cheese, LOL What do you all think?

[Watermom]

Hi Warrior! I'm sorry you didn't get any replies to your initial post in this thread. Somehow I didn't see this post until today. Sounds like you have been doing your homework and doing a lot of reading on the forum. I understand your worry after reading about reese and aciam's experiences. Those two were strange cases. We've helped with many conversions through the years and haven't come across cases like those before. Weird that they were both the same time period.

Keep hitting it with bleach. The more often you do so, the faster the conversion will be done. Never heard of the cottage cheese part before.

People can swim but should wear old suits and be extra diligent about watching swimmers in cloudy water.

[gbwarrior]

Thanks Watermom for the reply. To continue from above at;

noon fc=8.0
cc=.5
ph=7.2 oto
added 364 oz of bleach

2pm fc=9.5
cc=.5
ph=7.2 t
added 182 oz of bleach
added 6 oz of borax to try and raise ph slightly......does it suprise you that it dropped from 7.8 during this process?

Then we had a swimming party & it was great. I never added anything to the pool the rest of the day & night. This morning at 7am fc=0
cc=.5
added 642 oz of bleach

at 11am fc=2.0
cc=.5
ph=7.2
added 546 oz of bleach

I do have a few questions though.

1....I can't hold any fc numbers, do you think it's time to add stabalizer to raise cya?

2....I think you will probably tell me it's too soon to try the step by step to lower TA, but should I add more borax to raise ph?

3....The water is still a little cloudy, maybe because of splash free bleach or high TA. I still have a lot of splash free I would like to use up if you think it would be ok?

Thanks to everyone for sharing their knowledge here on this forum.

[aylad]

It's not time to add the stabilizer until you're able to hold FC overnight (sundown to sunup before sun is on the pool). At that point, you need to change out your filter media, and THEN add your stabilizer. Also, with the pH at 7.2, I would leave it alone for right now.

I also would not use the splash-free bleach--can you return it and exchange it for regular, generic bleach? The splash-free part means that there's been something added to change the bleach--and additives usually create problems in pool water.

I'm sorry that we were late getting to this thread--I somehow missed it until today, too. ;(

[gbwarrior]

Thanks aylad, I will wait with the stabilizer and try to exchange or return splash free bleach.

To pick up where I left off at 11am above, I did not add any bleach after that as we were swimming.

at 7pm fc=0
cc=.5
so I hit it hard with 728 oz of bleach

at 9pm fc=23
cc=.5
wow, no bleach added

today
at 6am fc=16.5
cc=.5
no bleach added.....pool really starting to clear up

10am fc=8.5
cc=.5
ph=7.4 Taylor
added 278 oz of bleach

1pm fc=6.5
cc=.5
ph=7.2 oto
added 364 oz of bleach

[Watermom]

You're doing great! Keep up the good work!

[virtually_john]

Someone please help me understand this. (and please understand, I am not trying to troll, I am honestly confused).

Bleach at Walmart currently cost 2 cents an ounce and according to my calculations for GBWARRIOR's 13,500 gallon pool he has spent approximately $192.00 for bleach.
I am located in Lexington North Carolina and have contacted Davidson Water, Inc to determine the cost to fill a 13,500 gallon pool using my garden hose. Their reply: 59.30 TAX included.

In my situation (at least) would it not make more sense economically to drain the pool, change the filter medium, fill the pool and then begin the BBB method from scratch?

[PoolDoc]

If you can drain and refill for $60, that would be MUCH easier and better.

BUT! (And this is a great BIG "but")

BUT, many pools can NOT be safely drained without professional help, and often can not be drained even then.

+ In ground liner pools can NEVER be strained without special prep, and usually, professional help.
+ On-ground liners can sometimes be drained, but sometimes they collapse. If the liner is old, it will often tear, rather than stretching back into place.
+ If there is the smallest amount of water in the excavation of an fiberglass pool, it will float out of the ground!
+ If the ground is WET, even a concrete pool will float!

And . . . all of those outcomes will cost you way more than $200 in bleach! So, be careful.