It's my turn to convert...

[JayC]

Carl - now see, this is why I come here rather than the pool store. I always get a 'trust me' there, and they don't back it up with data.

Many thanks for taking the time!

jay

[Watermom]

Don't know what is in Target Shock and Swim, but I would bet that it is probably costly. At any rate, you don't have to have it. Most people just start there conversion with dumping bleach in and then they are on their way. Be prepared. It will turn all kinds of lovely shades of green along the way, but you'll get there. The more often you dose it with bleach, the faster your conversion will go. Read through the other threads in this forum about other people's experiences with their conversions. Good luck. You'll be glad you switched!

[JayC]

A small update - I've decided to go ahead and start the shock process, in a few minutes actually. So here goes nothing!

But, an interesting occurance. I went back over to the Pool Store, and had my water tested one more time, more to see what they'd say then anything else.

According to them:

Baq: 32
pH: 6.9
Baq Oxi: 12

When I asked them how that was possible, as it was 12, 7.0 and 7 yest, the student behind the counter said he'd try another computer and lot of test kits. Once he did that, my Baq level read at a 2. The dip strips I have here that I'm about to toss said I'm extremely low too on the dreaded Baq, so my hopes are that I'm not too far away from a clear pool running on Cl.

I'm about to add 2.2 gallons of super shock (12.5%) to the pool, and hopefully start seeing pretty colors. (18500 gallons to 15ppm per bleachcalc).

Wish me luck!

Jay

[CarlD]

Good Luck!

For you, figuring the gallons had only ONE thing you didn't know from Middle School geometry--7.48 gallons per cubic foot. And I'll bet you didn't even realize you knew it all the time!

I have never done a Baq conversion. I gather it's pretty scary and you are going to use ALOT of LC on the way...but once you are there, you'll never look back.

BTW, if you have a sand filter,when your conversion is complete, dump and replace your sand. It's one of the very, very VERY few times we recommend that.

I don't know if you can clean a cartridge after a convert or if you must replace it (OUCH!--sand is CHEAP, so replacement doesn't hurt)

But of course you should be able to clean a DE filter's screens and/or fingers.

[JayC]

Ok... I have a feeling I'm going to post often here.

About 4 hours into the conversion at this point, and I've been bumping the DE filter every 15 minutes or so. Flow isn't too low, but I figure it can't hurt knowing I need to change the DE anyway after I'm done.

I've used a little less than 4 gallons of 12.5% bleach at this point, and am about to go check the level again and add in more if I need to. I figure check every 2 hours or so while I'm awake, and see how that works for me.

Pool color wise - my wife says it's a light mountain dew color sorta. Not as bright a greenish as before, and I can actually see clear water next to the sides of the pool.

Thanks!

jay

[Watermom]

If you keep at it, in no time you'll have clear water.

[JayC]

Residual CL this time!!! I got a reading of 6ppm. I added 1.3 gallons of bleach.