Baqua To Chlorine Or Bromine?

[tubblyfub]

Had both spa and pool with Baquacil

Recently bought new spa-switched it to bromine

Need to convert pool by summer

Should I use bromine in pool or switch both to chlorine for pool season (plan to drain and clean the tub around that time anyway)

[chem geek]

For the pool chlorine probably makes more sense. For the spa, it depends on your usage. If you use the spa every day or two then chlorine isn't too difficult as you add it after each soak, but if you don't use the spa that much then bromine can be easier since you can use bromine tabs to maintain a bromine level in between soaks or if you have an ozonator then it can create bromine from a bromide bank.

[tubblyfub]

Thanks chem geek, for your reply. I thought spa and pool had to be on the same sanitizer ( we use the spa extensively year round, especially in early summer when the pool is still cold ) Spa is presently on bromine, but I bought a second filter in case we need to switch it to chlorine for pool season)

I am not looking forward to the conversion of the pool, but as soon as I know what I'll be converting TO, that's my next question!!

[chem geek]

If the spa is attached to the pool and shares the same water, then yes they need to use the same disinfectant, but it sounds like your spa is separate so the two can use different disinfectants. Just rinse off your swimsuit if you use a Baquacil pool since it will react with chlorine/bromine producing colored by-products. Or use different swimsuits for your pool and your spa until you switch away from Baquacil.

[tubblyfub]

I still want to switch the pool to chlorine. Which Taylor kit do I need? What kind of chlorine will I need for the conversion? Pool is 24' round-how much should I put in to begin, and when during the process should I change the sand?

[chem geek]

The Taylor K-2006 is the kit to get. You can use chlorinating liquid or unscented bleach (usually 8.25% concentration these days) can be used. The conversion will be very colorful. See Convert Your Baqua Pool to Chlorine for more info. You change the sand after the conversion is complete.

[tubblyfub]

Excellent info and links-thanks so much!!

[tubblyfub]

I will need to add a foot of water before connecting the skimmer-should I do the conversion before adding the water? I have a robotic cleaner I can use to circulate and clean the water. Seems crazy to contaminate fresh water with baqua if its not necessary

[chem geek]

Mmmm. Well I don't think the robotic cleaner is going to circulate the water that well. It actually is not a bad thing to replace by dilution some of the water in the pool. I don't mean just adding water, but also removing more of it -- that is exchange it. If water is fairly inexpensive for you, then that will be lower cost than using tons of chlorine to get rid of the Baquacil/biguanide/PHMB. You could fill from one end at the top and drain from the other at the bottom (or vice versa). Then you would add chlorine and do the procedure as normal, but it will take a lot less chlorine to do the conversion. It's up to you, but I would fill the pool to have the main pump circulate the water. You really need to circulate well to get the chemicals to mix, react, and the Baquagoo to get filtered out.

[tubblyfub]

took a water sample to be tested for Baqua to see how much was left after winter-1ppm

balanced PH, TA and CH, started to add bleach

tested for FC yesterday 10

this am 1

added more bleach

circulating, backwashing and robot cleaning constantly

water looks like milk

will this go away?

How often should I be adding bleach?

should I use a stronger chlorine product?

how long will it take for the wtaer to clear of do I need a different product for this?

[chem geek]

Chlorine will eventually oxidize the Baqua and it may turn colorful, not just milky. It should filter out, but your cartridges may be a mess and may need to be replaced (you can try cleaning them, but with a lot of Baquagoo they may be very hard to clean -- fortunately with only 1 ppm Baqua you may be OK).

[tubblyfub]

Ok, I spent last week adding bleach, scrubbing and circulating, and the water is crystal clear ( yay!).

I finally added 2 gals of 12% bleach last night because I had not been able to get an FC reading.

The reading was 15ppm after an hour of circulating, 7ppm this morning and after 6 hours in the bright sun, back to zero. PH is fine.

Can you advise what I should do next? Should I keep adding 12% until it holds, or is to natural for it to dissipate after a day in the sun?

Also, I 've read a lot about CYA, and would prefer not to have to deal with it ( by using tabs) . Can I exist with using only 12% bleach all summer? I can get it for $3 a gallon locally.

Thanks in advance for your help.

[chem geek]

You need some CYA in the water or else you'll lose roughly half the FC every hour in full noontime sun. You can buy pure Cyanuric Acid from the pool store which is the way to get the CYA into the pool faster. Using tabs will also add CYA but more slowly. Dichlor will get it in faster along with chlorine, but only at a rate where for every 10 ppm FC you add 9 ppm CYA. Up to you. Most people use pure CYA for pools. I add mine by putting it into a T-shirt into the skimmer basket, but I have a bypass to the skimmer and floor drains so there is no risk of breaking the skimmer by starving the pump of suction.

[tubblyfub]

So if I get pure CYA how much do I add? And do I keep adding 12% bleach, or add CYA first and then bleach? What do I want the CYA reading to be?

Sorry for all the questions, but I am new to chlorine!

[chem geek]

Add some bleach to keep some chlorine in the pool, but add the CYA as soon as you can get it.

10 ppm CYA in 10,000 gallons takes 13.35 ounces weight of CYA so scale up accordingly. If your pool does not get very much sunlight, so is mostly shaded, then 30 ppm CYA may be enough; otherwise 50 ppm is a common middle target. You'd only go higher than that if your pool was in full sun in a southern climate (and you'd never go above 80 ppm and that's mostly just for saltwater chlorine generator pools).

To prevent green and black algae growth, you need to maintain at least a minimum FC that is 7.5% of the CYA level (once you have CYA in the water).

[tubblyfub]

I have added CYA and have maintained 50ppm for several days, but I can't get the chlorine level above 2.5 and it won't even stay there for 24 hours.

This am it was down to 1.5. PH and TA are fine

Should I keep adding 12%? or is 1-2.5% an OK range.

The pool is in full sun, but I am the only person who swims in it regularly, so bather load is low ( unless we have guests)

Thanks again for your help

[chem geek]

Something is still consuming your chlorine -- either leftover Baqua or perhaps algae growth. If you measure how much you are losing overnight that will tell you that it isn't from sunlight. You should lower your pool pH to around 7.2 and shock your pool by adding enough chlorine (chlorinating liquid or bleach) to raise it to 20 ppm FC (40% of your CYA level) and maintain that level until the overnight chlorine loss is <= 1 ppm FC. After you were done with your Baqua conversion, did you replace your filter media? Usually you can't clean out the Baquagoo from the filter, but you didn't have much Baqua left so I'm not sure.