Taking the Plunge - Baquabeast conversion starting

[lizzie64]

Hey all,
Well after weeks of dealing with milky water, and reading every post on this forum and spending several hundreds of dollars of that Baqua Junk that I fell for, my hubby and I decided to go ahead and convert.

Didn't want to lose any swim time, but this is supposed to be a cruddy week here in Jersey and the pool is a little cool for the kids, so I guess this is the perfect week to attempt this

I'm quite nervous about it, but confident that with your help, we can do this and have a sparkling pool in a few days. I hate looking at this milky water stuff.

Off to buy bleach and a test kit. I would like to order Ben's but we have to do this now and I can't wait.

Does it matter what concentration of bleach I use, whether 6 % or 12 %. I know to use the bleach calculator to get appropriate amounts, but is there a difference???

And I assume pool filter is to run 24/7

Wish me luck

[Watermom]

It does not matter what concentration of bleach you use. Yes to running the pump 24/7. Be prepared for the water to turn green! But, it will be well worth it. Good luck and keep us posted how it is going.

[lizzie64]

Thanks Watermom.

I will post numbers as soon as I can.

I will go out for the bleach this evening and begin dumping tonight.

[lizzie64]

Here's another question:

Since I've only used Baquacil, I'm guessing I will not have any cya in the pool??? So I can type 15 ppm into the bleach calculator and not have a problem with too much bleach and fading my liner?

[VOLDADDY]

15 PPM will be fine. As soon as you dump the bleach in it will start attacking the Baquacil. It is pretty cool when you first start pouring it in when it starts changing colors. Did my conversion last year and couldn't be happier. You need to buy A LOT of bleach. I have an 18 x 36 IG pool and used around 75 jugs. You need to test and bump back to 15 PPM 3x a day and backwash often. Watch your filter pressure. It took me about 4 days to convert, and my water is simply amazingly clear now, with no algae. Good luck, and post any questions you have. Keep us updated. I posted pics of my conversion from start to finish if you want to see what you are getting ready to face. Look on the first page of this thread.

[lizzie64]

Voldaddy - your thread is one of the reasons I pushed my hubby to do the conversion.

I plan on taking lots of pictures. Although I warn you, the area around the pool is not pretty. We plan on putting a full wrap around deck up, so right now we are in the process of backfilling.

18X38 AGP 52 inch wall with a 6 1/2 foot deep end

With all the backwashing that needs to be done, did you add back any water??

[revhendrix]

Hi Lizzie...I just read your question to me over in my thread.

I did run the filter 24/7 throughout the conversion and I backwashed and cleaned out the skimmer basket everytime I added bleach (up to 6 times a day). The nylon sock over the skimmer basket saved a lot of goop going through the filter. We ended up using over 80 gal of bleach (20,000 gal IG). I found a good deal at Sam's club - 3 nice 1.4 gal jugs in sturdy box. I think it was $6 and change per case - but also convenient. The process took us 11 days...but was well worth it.

Feel free to fire more questions, and hopefully, I can help...

REV

[lizzie64]

Hey Rev - I've been reading your forum as well. Glad you're finally done. 11 days scares me a bit. My kids are going to kill me when I tell them they can't swim. But, the weather here in NJ is going to be rather crappy the next couple of days, so I figured, nows the time.

I will be putting the skimmer sock on too.

I'm home so I'll be testing and adding bleach every couple of hours. Hopefully that will speed the process along.

Wish me luck.

I can't wait really. I'm tired of looking at a cloudy pool.

[Watermom]

It may not take your conversion 11 days. The more often you test and the more often you add bleach, the faster it will go.

[lizzie64]

OK first 6 gallons of 6% bleach are in.

What a lovely shade of green. LOL You had to see the family out there admiring this color.

My neighbors will wake up tomorrow and wonder what the heck happened.

Oh yes, tried to get the leslie's test kit, as I can't wait for Ben's but Leslie's was closed. I was only left with the HTH 6 way test from Walmart. I will go to Leslies tomorrow and purchase the right kit.

So - when I check tomorrow, it will check for TC not Free Chlorine. How do I know how much bleach to put in

Off we go!!!!!!!!!!!!!!