Converting Baquacil to Chlorine

[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?

[aylad]

For the first few days, it's a "per addition" estimate (you really need to test and add more 2-3 times daily until you can start holding a chlorine residual), but after your pool starts holding chlorine, the demand will decrease.

Janet

[tgilbert]

At what point is it safe (recommended) to start adding Chlorine tabs to the pool?

I'm just starting Day 3 of the conversion and there is less reaction or color change at the addition of bleach to the pool but the color is still a dull rust -orange. I just checked the reading and I'm getting:

Total Hardness 150
Total Chlorine .05
FC .05
pH 7.0
Alkalinity 120
CYA 20

This is before the addition of bleach this morning. Looks like I'm off to Walmart for more bleach.

[Watermom]

Just use bleach during the conversion. And then even after, you can just use bleach for your source of chlorine and not even use the pucks if you want. That is what many of us do, me included. Bleach works well and doesn't add a bunch of unwanted stuff to the water.

Keep an eye on your ph. Don't want it to drop below 7.0 or your water becomes acidic and can damage your pool.

During your conversion, the more often you test your water and add more bleach to get back to shock levels, the faster your conversion will go.

[KWBourn]

Just keep the clorine levels up till you water clears and you will be happy with your desicion ti convert. I had the same problems with baquacil. When I converted I did not have a good kit and it took longer than it should have but it was worth it. I got the kit (ps223) and a lot of help form people here and I have a great pool with little to no problems for 3 years now.

[eyesfinallyopened]

tgilbert,
I've read your thread and wondered if you got the results you wanted.

--Deborah

[tgilbert]

Yes I did. I'm just getting around to posting this reply...but my conversion from Baquacil to Chlorine completed in 7 days with the result being a crystal clear pool. I probably could have done it quicker but I didn't want to push it. I added 2 gal. of bleach - 3 times a day for 7 days and the pool was clear. I have since washed the filter and replaced the sand. The pool is now in maintenance mode at a fraction of the cost of Baquasil.