Converting Baquacil to Chlorine

[tgilbert]

I have been fighting the evils of cloudy water in a Baquacil pool (24 ft. abg - 14,400 ga.) for three years and I have finally given in to attempting the conversion to a proven Chlorine pool.

I discovered this forum a couple of days ago and discovered that I am far from alone in the Baquacil woes. Reading through the post I decided that the conversion didn't look that difficult...but that I would have to be patient and wait for the water to slowly clear.

I just want to be sure that I am doing things right and in the right order. Yesterday I started adding 6% Bleach to the pool. The pool was a cloudy (gray/white) color when I began. Upon addition of the first 1.5 gallons of bleach the water did turn a dull rust or orange color and then slowly returned to the gray/white color. I have since added the same 1.5 gallon quantities twice about 12 hours in between.

How long should I expect it to take, or how may doses of bleach, before I see the water clearing? I there anything else that I should be adding to the water in the meantime that might aid the conversion?

[Poconos]

Welcome to the forum.
I moved you thread to the Baquacil forum where it will get more attention. You are on the right track. Keep adding bleach and keep the FC up to 15 I believe. You'll have to check several times a day as the chlorine will get eaten up. You didn't mention what kind of filter you have. If sand you'll have to replace the sand when the conversion is complete. Other filters??? I have no idea what to do. Someone else can chime in here.
Good Luck.
Al

[tgilbert]

Thanks for the reply. It is a sand filter and I saw numerous entries saying to change the sand but to wait until the conversion is complete. I've already purchased the sand and I am waiting for the water to clear. Any ideas how much bleach I may go through? Just curious as to whether I should go ahead and buy more.

[Poconos]

Sorry, have no idea how much bleach you'll use. You may check a pool store for higher concentratons that they sell in refillable 5 or 10 gal containers. Trick is to keep the chlorine levels high and not let it drop.
Al

[prh129]

Look for any post from mwsmith2 and you will find a BleachCalc program in his signature that you can use to figure out how much bleach you will need to raise your chlorine level. This will at least give you a ballpark estimate for how much bleach you will be using in a day. From other posts is looks like the process will take at least several days. You will also need a test kit (drops-based preferred) so that you will know your FC level. Once you put your pool info (size etc) into the program, it will tell you how much bleach is needed to raise the raise by a certain amount.

Good luck!

Peter

[tgilbert]

Thanks.....I downloaded the Bleach Calculator and it tells me that I need a little less than 4 gallons. Is the a "per day" estimate?