Frustrated Baquacil Customer

[Jaybird70]

OK, I just happened along this website, now after $200.00 with the pool store and several stories about how I need to get rid of my baquacil so that I can convert to Chlorine.

I'm one frustrated person. This is my first full year with baquacil, we had it for a month last year, closed up the pool and it has not been clear since after spending hundreds of dollars on algecide, shock etc. For the conversion I was told first that I needed to drain my pool and refill, I called a few places and another place told me that I could use a Chlorine Free Shock to eat up the baquacil. We have now put in 25 lbs ($60.00) of shock over this week and after all this I was told yesterday that my baquacil level was 5ppm, went back today and they told me it was 10ppm, how can that be? They then informed that I needed to drain half my water, which is what the first pool store told me in the first place. Sigh!! So that would be a $75.00 water bill on top of the chemicals that I apparently didn't need.

I now have tons of shock, chlorine, tabs, stabilizer, you name it, so my question is I'm not sure I'm ready for the BBB method yet, my husband was not thrilled with the idea, but I'd like to take back all my unused stuff and just buy chlorine at Walmart, get a test kit and do this with the help of this group. Is it possible to do this with the Walmart Chlorine Bags?? Is my baquacil low enough to start conversion? Do I put stabilizer in first or wait until the conversion is over.

I am grateful for any help that can be offered. I'm going to get a test kit tonight and distilled water. Just need to figure out how much chlorine to put in to get the 15ppm and if I can use the Walmart brand.

[Jaybird70]

Just realized I forgot to give my info:

32x16 oval above ground
11,500 gallons
Sand Filter

[Jaybird70]

Answered my own question on the stabilizer, that doesn't go in until after the conversion is complete.

[CarlD]

In one sense, chlorine is chlorine. So you can use Walmart bags, but you're gonna need a lot of them. They add either stabilizer, which you don't want now, or calcium, which is OK until it gets too high.

But bleach or liquid chlorine is the best. You can get blue 5 gallon carboys of 12.5% at most pool stores--that's like 10 gallons of ultra bleach.

You basically will run Free Chlorine way, WAY up to at least 15ppm and keep it there, checking it 2 to 3x/day to keep it there, running your filter 24/7, and backwashing regularly for a couple of weeks. Then, when it's ALL clear of Bacqua-glop., you will clean your filter. If it's DE, you'll take it apart like for a winterizing cleaning. If it's cartridge, you'll replace the cartridge. If it's sand, you'll replace the sand.

The process of conversion is incredibly simple, but that doesn't make it easy.

[Jaybird70]

Thanks CarlD,

If I go the bleach route am I stuck using bleach from here on out or can I start using the store bought chlorine. Not sure why my hubby is opposed to pouring bleach in the pool but he is.

I ask this because I thought I read on one of the chlorine packages that you had to be careful mixing different chlorines or something. That is it will cause dangerous gases to come off the pool.

Maybe I'm confusing it with something else or possibly another chemical, I'll have to reread the package when I get home.

[CarlD]

Thanks CarlD,

If I go the bleach route am I stuck using bleach from here on out or can I start using the store bought chlorine. Not sure why my hubby is opposed to pouring bleach in the pool but he is.

I ask this because I thought I read on one of the chlorine packages that you had to be careful mixing different chlorines or something. That is it will cause dangerous gases to come off the pool.

Maybe I'm confusing it with something else or possibly another chemical, I'll have to reread the package when I get home.

In the water, chlorine is chlorine. Besides, liquid chlorine and bleach are the same thing--some of the pool store stuff is 12.5%, but a lot of them sell 6%--and that is IDENTICAL to Ultra bleach. 6% sodium hypchlorite solution--and the other 94% is salt-water.

You don't pour liquid chlorine/bleach on pucks or powders, and you don't mix pucks and powders. All very dangerous. Once they are dissolved in the water they are fine together.

So use bleach, use liquid chlorine--it's all the same. I just suggest the carboys because of the CONVENIENCE of them. Show hubby a bottle of Liquid Chlorine 6% and a bottle of Ultra bleach 6% so he can see they are the same.

[Jaybird70]

Thanks very much,

Went ahead and ended up getting the dry chlorine as I already had a bunch that I had already bought and opened. After a whole bunch, I now have my chlorine up to 15 ppm, took 52 oz of dry mix (3.5 oz raises 1ppm with the dry mix), but I have a kit that only measures chlorine and PH as Walmart was out of the others, I'm going to check another Walmart tomorrow.

I had my numbers checked by the pool place and they said that my PH was good. However I just check it it says 6.8, should I worry about the PH right now or should I go ahead and correct it. I realize now that I should have checked it first.

Pool is looking like a dark brownish green murky mess. Which I'm sure is good, no goop as far as I can tell.

[CarlD]

Do yourself a favor: never accept "good" as a measure from a pool store. Have them give you a number. "good" doesn't mean anything without the value it describes.

Be careful your powdered chlorine doesn't raise your CYA too high. If it's Di-Chlor it will raise it too high before your conversion is complete. That's why bleach/LC is better. If it's cal-hypo, it will raise your calcium level very high very quickly AND can make the water cloudy. Again, that's why bleach/LC is better.

[Jaybird70]

Can I go ahead and switch over to bleach even though I started with the powder?? The power I have doe not have stabilizer, but it is Calcium Hydrochorate. I'm going to do a quick hunt for the bleach conversion info.

Just returned from Walmart with the better testing set and dinner. Checked Chlorine, it had already dropped down to 6ppm and I had to add 32oz, is that normal?

Also, should I go ahead and correct my PH or wait until after the process if over?

Not to worry, I won't be accepting anything a pool store says from here on out at face value, I'm learning to do this stuff myself and only relying on them once a month and expecting the numbers from them not an "it looks good answer". I think I've learned my lesson.

I feel so much better now, at least if I mess up it's my own darn fault.

I just found the bleach calculator and I realize this is probably a stupid question and I apologize in advance, for the pool size it has an L, does that mean it should be in liters? For examle, my pool is 12,500 gallon which equates to approx 47,400 liter, is that the amount I put in??

[GraceByDesign]

on the BleachCalc, click More Calcs (top left) and then settings. Then choose Imperial for US Gallons.

The Baqua devours the chlorine very rapidly at first, hence the suggestion to test and add bleach at least 3 times a day. Fewer testings and additions will get you there, but it will take longer.

Chlorine is chlorine, so you can safely switch to bleach now if you want. It will prolly be cheaper for your conversion, and won't raise levels of things you may or may not want raised later (cal or CYA).

I think the answer to the pH question is 'don't bother with it yet' just work on keeping your chlorine up.

Sorry that I sort of answered your questions from the bottom up!