Taking the Plunge - Baquabeast conversion starting

[Watermom]

Congratulations! Aren't you glad you did it? Try the calcium hardness test again. If the first color never reacted to red, it probably means your water is very hard.

Not quite ready to add cya yet. First you need to change the sand in your filter as that baquajunk really gums it up. After that, then you can add cya (stabilizer). You can usually buy it at Walmart, Lowe's or Home Depot. If not, get it from a pool store. It may be called stabilizer or conditioner. If the ingredients say cyanuric or isocyanuric acid, it is what you want. Add enough per label directions to get to an initial reading of about 30. Add it directly to the skimmer while the pump is running, and then don't retest for it, add more or backwash your filter for a week to give it enough time to dissolve completely. (Don't broadcast it across the pool like some directions tell you to.)

Most importantly, YES TO SWIMMING! But, wear old suits. Cl of 15 with no cya may do some fading of swimsuits. Let your cl drift down and for now maintain it between 3-5. You may find that until your cya dissolves, that you have to test and add bleach morning and evening to keep cl in there. After it starts to dissolve, you should be able to just test and dose it in the evenings. Keep an eye on your ph. It is OK at 7.2 but if it goes any lower, you'll need to add some Borax and bring it back up to 7.4 -7.6

Have fun. Post some pics for us to see.

[lizzie64]

Watermom - Thanks so much!! I was so excited to see your reply.

OK so will wait for the stabilizer until the sand change. I think hubby is planning on that for tomorrow.

Is the stabilizer liquid or powder? I'm confused. You also said to add it directly to the skimmer. I've read about putting it in a sock and putting that in the skimmer. Which is the best way to go?? Also, is it a white sport sock??

[lizzie64]

One more question:

I've been running my filter 24/7 over the 4 days the conversion took. Do I need to continue that, or can I drop the hours down. Also, what do you recommend as optimal filtering.

We have a Jacuzzi 2 HP Zeosand filter

[Watermom]

CYA is a powder. I always add mine directly to the skimmer, others put it in a sock and hang it in front of a return jet. Either way is fine. A white sport sock will work if you decide to do it that way. You can probably drop your filtering back to 10-12 hours per day.

[VOLDADDY]

Lizzie- congrats on the beautiful pool! You will be forever grateful that you switched from Baquacil. It is so simple to maintain a pristine pool with the BBB method. Like Watermom said, change your sand. It will be pretty nasty. I put my CYA in an old pair of my wifes hose and tie it to the ladder in the deep end of the pool, right beside a jet. This way, I know how much has dissolved and how much is left. All of the information needed is on the bleach calc. Now go enjoy the fruits of your labor!


P.S. Is it not AMAZING how much clearer your water is?? I can see my bottom drain plain as day. On Baquacil, there was a foggy looking haze in the water, and the water smelled funny.

[lizzie64]

Voldaddy -

It is absolutely amazing how crystal clear the water is. I swear it never looked like that on Baqaujunk. Not one day.

My hubby was very skeptical about the conversion, as I was the one doing all the research, but now, he preaches to everyone we know, the wonders of BBB.

We've had rain the last two days, and it's so nice to have to shudder thinking about the expense of buying Baqua shock to dump in the pool.

Once I get my pics uploaded I will add them to the thread.

Thanks again

[VOLDADDY]

Ahh yes, I remember those awful days. I could sit in my house when it rained and almost watch the algae grow when it rained. Then run to the pool store and buy shock and sanitizer/algistat....another $150 later, I am brushing my walls for an hour, then vacuuming to waste, then adding chemicals, rinse and repeat. Congrats once again, and enjoy the summer!

BTW- if you haven't ordered Ben's kit yet, it is a must have!

[lizzie64]

Just wanted to let everyone know that we changed our sand on Saturday. What a messy green goopy slop. YUCK

Also added CYA and will wait till Saturday to do our first test. However, we have noted the change in chlorine usage. Since adding the stabilizer, our chlorine is holding much longer. Without it, we were adding a jug at night to keep us between 3-5 ppm.

We actually held yesterday without needing to add anything and I can't say enough about the beautiful water. It's amazingly crystal clear.

I'm so happy we did the conversion. Thanks again to all of you. Without this forum, I'd still be fighting an unhappy battle with Baquajunk.

[JohnT]

It is absolutely amazing how crystal clear the water is. I swear it never looked like that on Baqaujunk. Not one day.

Everybody who converts says the same thing!

[bcb1]

Re: running your pump. I put a timer on mine, and I run it from 6:00am to 11:00am, and then again from 6:00pm to 10:00pm. Approx. 9 hours a day. It keeps the water crystal clear. I also use an Aquabot to clean the pool (I haven't used the hand vacuum since we installed the pool) - and I throw it in about once or twice a week for a few hours each time.