Baquacil usage?

[schirico]

Okay,

I have had pools for several years and have learned a tremendous amount from these venerable pages!

I just had an in ground kidney shaped pool - about 17,000 gallons put in and the construction company started me on Baquacil. I know I know, I didn't know about these pages before then, so based on the fact that it's already there, I'm determined to give it the old college try.

If you are interested, I will keep everyone here up to date on the progress of the pool.

I do have a question or two though. The pool company, and brochure are recommending the following:

1. Algistat & Santizer: Polyiminoimidocarbonly-iminoimidocarbonly-iminohexamethalenehydrochloride.

Is this POLYQUAT?

2. Algicide: Ammonium Chloride

3. Oxidizer: Hydrogen Peroxide.

That's it, they also recommend backwashing with Sand Filter Cleaner 2x per year, adn the sand should last 3 years.

I don't see PHMB anywhere in here.....no Biquinide......

[aylad]

Sorry you haven't gotten any responses to your post so far, but please understand that it's because we're all, for the most part, chlorine users. I would be interested in hearing about your experience with your pool, but unfortunately don't know enough to help in answering your questions. Good luck with your pool, and if you decide to convert it to chlorine, there are plenty of folks around here who will help if you need advice!

Janet

[waterbear]

Okay,

I have had pools for several years and have learned a tremendous amount from these venerable pages!

I just had an in ground kidney shaped pool - about 17,000 gallons put in and the construction company started me on Baquacil. I know I know, I didn't know about these pages before then, so based on the fact that it's already there, I'm determined to give it the old college try.

If you are interested, I will keep everyone here up to date on the progress of the pool.

I do have a question or two though. The pool company, and brochure are recommending the following:

1. Algistat & Santizer: Polyiminoimidocarbonly-iminoimidocarbonly-iminohexamethalenehydrochloride.

Is this POLYQUAT?
Did a web search and found out for you that it is a synonym for PHMB (biguinide, BACQUACIL, REVACIL, SoftSwim) as I suspected!
Here's the link
http://www.chemindustry.com/chemicals/6255254.html
2. Algicide: Ammonium Chloride
DIMETHYL BENZYL AMMONIUM CHLORIDE is a quaternary algaecide (the stuff that foams---not polyquat--and probably what they are referring to (SoftSwim algaecide is listed as 40% Quaternary Ammonia Compound on the BioGuard website, Revacil uses polyquat according to the MSDS on the Mareva website, Bacquacil has 3 different algaecides...no idea what is in them)
3. Oxidizer: Hydrogen Peroxide.
Standard oxidizer for biguinide!
That's it, they also recommend backwashing with Sand Filter Cleaner 2x per year, adn the sand should last 3 years.
Revacil says once a year, Bacquacil says twice a year, Softswim doesn't say (sort of expect that from Bioguard)
I don't see PHMB anywhere in here.....no Biquinide......

Just a fancy chemical name for biguinide to confuse and make it sound very impressive, i guess
Hope this info is helpful!

[PoolDoc]

Just to echo what WaterBear said . . . it's an old ploy in the pool industry, to dig up the most obscure legally-permitted chemical name for their products they can find, in order to pull the wool over their customer's eyes.

Thus sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) becomes "sodium hydrogen carbonate" or "sodium acid carbonate", and so on.

It often ends up confusing pool dealers as well. I've had a pool dealer argue vehemently (and sincerely, I believe) that their BioLab "sodium hydrogen carbonate" was much better for pools than baking soda!

Ben
"PoolDoc"

[pedsrn]

Schiro,
I hate to see another person spend a ton of money on baquacil just because the installers (ie; pool store) started them on baquacil. I had my pool installed last April and stumbled across this website in desperation sometime in late May. Like you, I was determined to give Baq a try. I spent close to $600 in three months using Baq as the pool store recommended each time I carried in a sample. I was spending HOURS each and every day cleaning the pool and adjusting chemicals in an attempt to clear my water. You would not believe how attentive I was. Finally, in early July, broke and frustrated, I converted with the help of the knowledgable people here.

I have no financial interest in Ben's kit or chlorine. However, I can honestly say, the kit was the best purchase I ever made and swapping to chlorine has saved me tons of money and time. Now I spend less than $3 per week on chemicals. I spend less time in a week cleaning the pool than I spent in a single day on Baq. My Baq pool was NEVER as clear as my chlorine pool.

Give it a try if you must, but don't sink a bundle into trying to prove Baq will work. If it's not working in a month, chances are, it isn't going to get better.

good luck!

[SLS]

I also used Baq for three years after I bought a house with a pool. I had never had a pool so I called the local pool store (only one in town) to help get mine up and running. They convinced me Baq was the way to go, much easier to maintain, easier on the eyes, etc. The first year went ok. The second year the water mold started and most of the year I was going crazy trying to clear it up. By the way, the only help the pool store could give me was to sell me more of this more of that to put in the pool. The whole third year I never seen the bottom in the deep end and spent over 1200 in 4 months trying to fix it. I stop counting after 1200 because it was driving me crazy. I was seriously considering selling my house or filling the pool in because the pool store told me this was the easiest way to maintain the pool.
Three years ago I came across this site and read all the complaints about Baq and how to get rid of it. I can say the best thing I ever did was to switch to chlorine!!!!! I never worry about my pool being clear even after a rain. You hardly ever smell the chlorine when you use the methods on the this site. If you keep the PH in range you will never have red eyes. I also think Ben's kit is worth every cent. I now spend $3-$8 a week ( maybe more if I have to use pucks when I am gone) on maintaining a 32,0000 gallon pool. I now enjoy my pool instead of wanting to fill it in.
BTW, I have never spent another dime in that pool store and never will. They knew exactly what they were doing and I believe their store will go out of business someday because they pushed baq so much there.

[bcb1]

Yep, PHMB is the fancy name for Baquacil, aka Baquacrap. Pleeeeeease think carefully before you decide to use Baquacil. The sales pitch sounds so good..."gentle water"...."easy, once-a-week maintenance"...."no harsh chemicals"....it all sounds so great. But I can tell you, it's crap. The clearest our water ever got with Baquacil was "kinda, sorta clear". Usually it was cloudy in the deep end. And the money we spent. Good grief, hundreds of dollars just in the few months we used the stuff. Total scam.

We switched to Chlorine about mid-summer of the year that we built our pool. It was the best thing we ever did, and I kick myself for not starting out with chlorine in the first place. Our water is always crystal clear now, and I spend maybe 2-3 minutes a day on our pool -- no kidding.

Chlorine is CHEAP too. I use 6% ultra bleach from Walmart (it's chlorine only, no stabilizers or other gunk in it). I use perhaps 1 jug of chlorine per week, and I keep a tablet or two of Trichlor pucks in the floater. Throw in the Aquabot once a week to clean the pool for a few hours, and that's it. Very easy and simple.