conversion

[chalk2024]

My water is muddy brown now. I have had to backwash 2 times now. I can't get the chlorine to hold so that must mean it is working. I keep adding more chlorine and testing. My baquacil sanitizer level was a little low so hopefully this won't take as long. Just need lots of patience right?

[GraceByDesign]

Right!

POPP -- Pool Owner Patience and Persistance -- is a key ingredient in the conversion to BBB!

[clayw1963]

Once my pool cleared it still took a while for it to hold the chlorine overnight. Yes, muddy brown is one of the colors that you will see. Yes, lots of bleach and patience is all it takes. I had the bleach, I had to work on the patience part! Sounds like you are on the right track, just keep up the good work!

[chalk2024]

Thank you guys. I feel better with encouragement from others that have went through this same thing. I have backwashed 4 times now and my water has white things floating in it. The people at Wal-mart gave me some funny looks today when I had a cart full of bleach. lol I do plan on upgrading my sand filter to a better one so after this conversion is done I will put in the new filter with new sand.

[chalk2024]

Just an update on my progress so far. I have spent all day yesterday and most of the day so far today dealing with the pool. The water today looks like a diluted mountain dew. I am starting to be able to see the bottom some today. I have vacuumed, and backwashed numerous times. It did actually hold the chlorine level overnight until the sun popped out this morning . Now what? And how soon will it be safe to swim? Will I need a stabalizer or just the bleach, borax and baking soda? Is that really all it will take to maintain the pool, in addition to the ph minus when or if that problem would ever come up?

[clayw1963]

Keep pouring in the bleach and try to keep the bleach level up to 15ppm as much as you can. If you are beginning to see the bottom it won't be much longer before the water clears completely. I didn't do anything to balance my water until I stayed at 15ppm for a couple of nights. Then I changed my filter (I have a cartridge filter) and balanced my water.
If you are planning on using bleach, then you will need to add stabalizer to help with the chlorine loss during the day. Check out Ben's best guess CYA chart, it has been a great guide for me. And Borax and baking soda if you need them to balance your water.
I promise you will be so glad that you did this. I spend a lot less time caring for my pool now and a lot more time enjoying it!

[chalk2024]

Yes I am finally beginning to see the bottom. It really is amazing how quickly this is working, at least for me. I plan on ordering the kit, since my local Wal-mart is new. Just got a Super Wal-mart and it is only about 2 weeks old. They are not restocking pool supplies and they don't have any of their test kits. My local Kmart is all out too. I did find one at Lowes for now but do plan on getting the better one. Is the one from Leslies pools the same?