Taking the Plunge - Baquabeast conversion starting

[lizzie64]

Hey Rev - I've been reading your forum as well. Glad you're finally done. 11 days scares me a bit. My kids are going to kill me when I tell them they can't swim. But, the weather here in NJ is going to be rather crappy the next couple of days, so I figured, nows the time.

I will be putting the skimmer sock on too.

I'm home so I'll be testing and adding bleach every couple of hours. Hopefully that will speed the process along.

Wish me luck.

I can't wait really. I'm tired of looking at a cloudy pool.

[Watermom]

It may not take your conversion 11 days. The more often you test and the more often you add bleach, the faster it will go.

[lizzie64]

OK first 6 gallons of 6% bleach are in.

What a lovely shade of green. LOL You had to see the family out there admiring this color.

My neighbors will wake up tomorrow and wonder what the heck happened.

Oh yes, tried to get the leslie's test kit, as I can't wait for Ben's but Leslie's was closed. I was only left with the HTH 6 way test from Walmart. I will go to Leslies tomorrow and purchase the right kit.

So - when I check tomorrow, it will check for TC not Free Chlorine. How do I know how much bleach to put in

Off we go!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[aylad]

Use the bleach calc at this link, based on your gallonage and strength of bleach...

http://www.hal-pc.org/~mwsmith2/BleachCalc262.exe

Each time you test, add whatever amount it takes to get back up to 12-15 ppm.

Janet

[lizzie64]

Well we added 7 jugs of 6% at 7:30

Tested at 11:30 and the TC didn't even register .5 which we expected, after reading many of the conversion threads.

Added another 7 jugs based on the bleach calculator.

Will test again in the morning

I'm so pysched. Can't wait to see crystal clear water finally

[lizzie64]

7:00 am Results

TC 1.0
PH 7.5

Pouring rain and windy, so I was being quick and didn't test for alkalinity.

Poured another 7 Jugs of 6% per calculator.

Pump pressure increased about 4 PSI overnight
Water in pump and skimmer not orange, but same pea green color as pool.

Will run out this morning buy some more bleach. I plan on checking and adding every 2 hours

This walmart kit tests CL to 5.0. is it when it goes higher that I will have to dilute or buy the new kit?? Are the CL readings I'm getting now good, since they are still low enough to register??

Thanks guys.

I'm starting to get nervous and want to make sure this is going the right way.

[aylad]

Hang in there, and backwash as necessary. You aren't the first person to get cold feet once the water started doing weird stuff--but the fact that your Cl keeps dropping means you're making progress. Go back and read some of the other conversion stories to remind you why you did this in the first place!! I promise you'll be glad you did.

You will have to dilute your water when testing higher than 5 with the WalMart kit, and yes the Cl readings are accurate, but keep it up there at shock level!



Janet

[lizzie64]

10 :29 am

Cl 2.0
PH 7.8

Looks like my PH is climbing a bit. Anything to be worried about???

Will be dropping 5 gallons of bleach per the calculator.

Also pump pressure went up 10 psi - so I've backwashed.

Pool is pea green and cloudy. - no clearing yet

I feel like a chemist. This is cool!!

[lizzie64]

2:00 pm

CL 1.0
PH 7.5

Off we go to the bleach calc.

Pool is still very green and can't see bottom at all anywhere.

[lizzie64]

6:00 PM

Sorry if I'm posting too much, but seeing it also helps me and I'm hoping someone will tell me this is normal.

Seems every time I check it's another 6 0r 7 jugs of 6%. I'm checking every 3 1/2 hours.

Does that make sense.

readings this time were

Cl 2.0
PH 7.5

I'm seeing lots of bubbles, so maybe thats a good sign. What I'm not seeing is lots of stuff floating. Is that a bad thing??