OK, Im going to start my baquacil to chlorine conversion this weekend, weather permitting. I have a 18’ x 36’ oval vinyl abg pool with a Pentair 150 sq ft cartridge filter and 1 ½ hp pump.

I uncovered the pool last weekend and had a lot of what appeared to be dirt and leaves. My baquacil was at 52. I drained my pool down to about 16” from the bottom and refilled it. I got three different baquacil readings from two dealers and myself – one indicated the baquacil level still at 48, but my reading and the other store indicates around 0 to 15.

My ph is 7.4, total alkalinity is 100, and total hardness is 265. The water now has a cloudy, greenish tint to it, I assuming that algae is starting to grow. I’ve gotten some of the trash and sludge, off of the bottom – I’m sure that I got more, I can’t see it right now because of the cloudiness.

A pool dealer is telling me to either start with a non- chlorine shock powder or put a chlor-tab in the dkimmer to burn off the rest of the baquacil. Looks to me, I just need to start dumping bleach in as referenced in other threads. Is my baquacil low enough to start putting bleach in? That's my main question. Any other gotcha’s?

I’ve read where sometimes the precipitates that result from this process need to be vacuumed to waste – I assuming with a cartridge, I just have to keep shutting it down and cleaning it…

I was planning on getting the fas-dpd and oto test kits this weekend. Any tips would be appreciated. I'm nervous and need reassurances, I guess. Thanks …