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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