Home » Got the Baquacil Blues?The easy way to change back to chlorine in your pool.
Got the Baquacil Blues?The easy way to change back to chlorine in your pool.
Posted: Thursday, January 05, 2006
by Rob Dr Duck Coxworth
Webfoot Leisure.com
s-serif">Got the
Baquacil Blues?
Here's the easy
way to change back to chlorine in your pool.
Baquacil
was a huge hit when introduced to the pool market in the late 1980's. While pricey, it gave pool owners the
convenience and confidence of a "cook book" solution to the hit or
miss job of pool care. If you followed
the Baquacil recipe your time invested in keeping your pool water clean and
ready was drastically reduced and water quality was rarely a problem. Sound too good to be true?
After a
time word began to circulate that it was too good to be true. Too often after two or three years of using
the product not only did water quality decline but some weird and unusual
infestations took hold in pools on the Baquacil program. Don't misunderstand, Baquacil is safe and
has all the proper approvals but as with other sanitizing systems things can go
wrong. Unfortunately with the Baquacil
system putting things right again usually involves draining the pool and
starting fresh.
If this
has happened to you and you've decided you want to switch back to good ole
chlorine here's the simplest recipe I know to do it.
1. Shut
off your pump and shock your pool with 2 lbs. of granular dichlor per 10,000
gallons. Prepare for a jolt because the
pool will almost instantly develop a heavy and unsightly surface scum. This is supposed to happen.
2. Let the
scum sit overnight. Next day the scum
should be sitting on the bottom of the pool in a fine layer. At this point turn on your pump and set the
filter to waste and vacuum the scum out of the pool. You will lose some water during this process.
3. Shut
down the pump again and test your water with the Baquacil test kit. If it shows Baquacil still present shock the
pool again as in step 1 but use 1 lb dichlor per 10,000 gallons. The scum may reappear but should be much
lighter and easier to remove. Let the
pool sit overnight, vacuum and retest.
4. If your
test kit shows no Baquacil present you can refill the pool and restart on a
chlorine program right away.
This
program is virtually foolproof and is what the pool chemical manufacturers
actually recommend. Instead of having
your pool drained and out of service, not to mention the expense of refilling,
you're up and swimming again in a couple of days.
VITALLY
IMPORTANT-Never vacuum the scum into your filter or you will have to change
your sand or replace your cartridge.
Always vacuume to waste during this process. Baquacil is NOT compatible with chlorine products (that's why it
scums up) and is extremely difficult to remove once introduced into a filter.
Dr. Duck
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More comments
» left by Bruce
from Ohio 3 years 204 days ago.
Hi...i too am using Baquacil...this is my third year and algae every year.
This year the worst.....If I change to chlorine....are there different types of chlorine?
How long will it take me to get blue water again after changing sand and going to chlorine???
Just put in 4 gallons of oxidizer and 5 bottles of algacide and my pool is still green and I am frustrated
Thanks
Bruce
» left by Chris from Grand Rapids, MI 3 years 202 days ago.
Am ready to convert to chlorine…
I am in my second year of a Baquacil, in-ground 18x36 liner pool. I think about 27,000 gallons of water. I use a sand filter. Built and opened in July 2007. Water was crystal clear for about 6 weeks back then and then turned hazy. Fought with it most of the end of August and into September and October. At the advice of my pool specialists, I used Floc a few times, added 2 gallons of Oxider every 3 or 4 days, did an initial dosing of Algecide, etc to try to get it clear. Didn’t come close and ended up closing the pool for the winter mid October (live in Grand Rapids, Michigan).
Opened the pool this year Memorial Day weekend. Water was a medium green color and could not see my drains in the deep end. Had water tested. Total Alkalinity is 125, Calcium Hardness is 225, PH 7.6, Copper 0, Iron 0. Pool specialist told me all levels were good so I added startup dose of Algecide, Oxidizer. After a three or four days, pool went from Green to Grayish to Very Hazy. Filter runs 24x7, backwashed when pressure in return lines was minimal. After 9 days pool got to Slightly Hazy (meaning I could see the drains now but barely). I was told to Floc it - which I did and vacuumed to waste. That seemed to make it more clearer but it was still very hazy. After about 2 weeks since opening I was told to add DE to the skimmer (??? – don’t remember if this is what is was but it was a white powder and I was told it was a filter aid). I did this. Here is where it gets weird and ended up clearing up very nicely. I am not sure what part did it but it cleared up. The day I added the DE (or whatever it was) the pressure in the sand filter went up from about 16 PSI (where it normally runs) to about 22 PSI. Pool specialist told me this was normal and to not backwash for 12 hours unless pressure goes up further when at that point to “bump” the filter lever to relieve a little bit of the pressure. That evening we had a tremendous downpour of rain, actually had 4+ inches in just over 2 hours. Needless to say, my water level rose up so I went to check the filter PSI. I was at 24 PSI so I decided to backwash: one - to relieve the pressure, two – to drain some water. I backwashed for about 3 or 4 minutes until water level was just over half way up the skimmer. Turned to filter and went back inside. I happened to look out at the pool about 4 hours later and noticed the water level way below the skimmer! Yikes! I went outside (mind you it was pouring rain again) and couldn’t see much since it was dark and decided to just shut the filter off for the night. The next day I went out and tried turning on the filter again. I had it set to Filter but could hear and see a trickle of water coming out of the backwash/waste line. I tried different filter settings and the Recirculate setting also had a trickle. I determined that the night before, while the setting was on Filter that the water slowly drained out to below the skimmer. I researched online and took the top off the Sandfilter and found that a rubber gasket was dislodged and not lined up. I lined it up and put it back together and turned it back on and voila, no leaks! In the meantime, I put my house hose into the pool to get water level back up. When I looked at the pool low-and-behold the water was crystal clear! So, a weird sequence of events but I was happy I got to clear water! That was about June 8th or so, 3 weeks after opening the pool.
Fast forward now to July 20th. Since June 8th I’d been maintaining Baqua Sanitizer level (between 40 and 50 ppm). I did weekly maintenance of 8 oz of Algecide and a ½ gallon of Oxidizer. Water temperature was between 78 and 81. Never needed to vacuum much as water was crystal clear. Two weeks ago we had air temperatures in the upper 80s, low 90s, high humidity for about a week straight. Pool water temperature went up to 86 or 87 (I stopped using the solar cover when the water temp hit 83). About 10 days ago the water started to get a wee bit hazy. I’d add a ½ gallon of Oxidizer and the next day no reading on my test strip. I added the full start up dose of 2 gallons, again, less than 24 hours and the reading was nothing. For the past 10 days I’ve been adding 2 gallons of Oxidizer every other day as every time I took a reading it showed zero. Keeping in mind that every day the water was getting more and more hazy. Baqua Sanitizer still between 40 and 50 ppm. About a week ago I did an initial start up dose of Algaecide even though there was no visible signs of algae growth. Yesterday I went to my pool specialist to get more Oxidizer and we got to talking about my scenario. He told me to add 3 pounds of a non-chlorine granular shock (from Poollife) before I add the Baquacil Oxidizer. I did that last night and this morning when I woke up, BAM – pool is no longer hazy but GREEN! I just went out this morning and added another full initial start-up dose of Algaecide and dumped in the two gallons of Oxidizer to see if that will do anything.
Here is my question and dilemma. I have a big party on August 16th, 3 weeks from now. I am leaving for a 10-day vacation 9 days from now. I’ll return to my home on August 10th or 11th. I am ready and willing and wanting to convert to Chlorine. Should I do it now knowing I have to leave for vacation on July 19th (9 days from now)? Should I wait and keep throwing Oxidizer and Algeacide (and money) at the pool hoping it clears? Should I wait and convert on August 10th when I return?
» left by Anonymous 3 years 197 days ago.
Sorry about the tardiness of my replyl. I was not notified until 7/24 that you had left a message.
The general problem with Baquacil is that the oxidizer used is hydorgen peroxide. While an excellent oxidizer it is GONE right away and leaves no residual unlike chlorine. This leaves the Baquacil algaecide to carry the load alone which sooner or later leads to problems.
I suspect your pool will be pretty ugly when you return from vacation so I would do the switch to chlorine at that time. Remember to vacuum the scum to waste!
Rob "Dr. Duck" Coxworth
» left by Carrie from Las Vegas 3 years 190 days ago.
HI,
Well, after submitting to using CDX, I have had much clearer water as that keep the baquacil oxidizer in solution. Well, due to money issues, I have decided to switch to chlorine. BEFORE I read how to do it, the guy at Leslies told me to do a non-chlorine shock and said it would turn green, but that would help to kill the baquacil level... It didn't. I am going to use your method now as my daughter walks out the door to pick it up. I took out my DE grids and hosed them off. WHAT do I use to get any baquacil residue off, OR should I spend 300.00 and replace all my girds. PS: Is DE a carcinogen?
» left by Anonymous 3 years 183 days ago.
Baquacil does have a bad rap for water mold BUT what most people do not realize is that water mold can be formed just as easily as algae. When a chlorine reading drops below 1 algae starts to form. With Baquacil, when the Oxidizer and Sanitizer reading drop to zero and stays or that reading is constantly fluctuating, along with heat, a bacteria called water mold is formed. The best rememdy for getting rid of water mold is to add the Water Clarifier to the skimmer with the filter running, add the Flocculant as a filter aide, let filter for 8-12 hrs, vaccum to waste and chemically clean the filter. The most important step is to chemically clean te filter because the other steps will clear the pool but the water mold will trap itself in the filter and go right back into the water.
» left by Anonymous
3 years 145 days ago.
I've been fighting the pink slime and cloudy water for a couple of years now and am switching to chlorine. The water is so cloudy (milky) now that I can't see the bottom. My concern is that if add the dichlor, I won't be able to see the bottom properly to vacuum out the resulting scum. Will the particles causing the milkiness also settle (or go away)? I have had my pump off for a week now and whatever is causing the cloudy water is not settling.
» left by Anonymous 3 years 128 days ago.
I'll answer my own question. No. Water stayed cloudy for at least a week, then it settled. Other than that, seems to work. Am looking forward to clear water with chlorine next year season. Also, I just used 1 Gal of shock as a substitute for each unit of dichlor. Same stuff, just in liquid form and only about 60% of the price.
» left by Tra 2 years 231 days ago.
Thank God for this article because I am just about ready to pull my hair out! Have had problems with baquacil for the past 2 years (1st year was great). Last year was cloudy whole season. this year am going to use chlorine and thought the bacquacil was gone but I put shock in it and it turned a wierd yellow/green. I turned the filter off and tomorrow will vacuum to waste. Hopefully it will work but at least I found others with the same problems and hopefully a solution! Thanks!
» left by John
from Mass 2 years 169 days ago.
Are the procedures any different for a DE filter?
» left by Shannon from Michigan 2 years 93 days ago.
I have been using Baquacil for 3 years now and have had pink algea every year! Im switching back to chlorine when I set up again. I drain my pool about 1 foot below the inlet valve. When I refill my pool in the spring, do I just check the levels of the Baquacil and if it is 0...do I still add the liquid shock??? I am looking forward to chlorine...growing up my mom always used chlorine and NEVER had a green pool or the problems I have been experiencing.
» left by dachek5 from Sacramento 1 year 253 days ago.
I don't have a waste setting with my system. What do I need to do to get rid of the scum?
Dachek5
» left by Roxie from plainwell mi 181 days 21 hours ago.
as Chris from Grand Rapids, MI said, I am to dumping money into this pool an am very frustrated. My hubby will be picking up shock for our now greenish with a yellow like mold covering the whole bottom of our pool, 1st time pool keepers when we bought our new home with a beautiful underground pool, we don't have many swimmers and they say put bodys in it. this shock is 18$ a gallon from what I have read I am not using enough but I am doing what I have been told by my dealer, so I to am doing the switch starting to night, I was just wondering if I shall put Algecide in there or will the chlorine kill it? Thanks
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