Pool opening time?

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Yeah the house came with a mesh cover. It was probably much nicer when it was purchased but by now the cover has gone to the way side. This past fall I repaired some holes in it. I understand what you mean on fine dirt getting in there. I'm not too surprised by the green either. I closed when it was below 60 and it's below 60 now. Doesn't mean that it hasn't gotten above 60 over the last few weeks. I may have to try your tarp cover idea. How did you keep it down over the mesh cover? Water bags?
 
Ok for the curious ones, and also the experts. I went and bought 11% liquid chlorine. I put in two gallons and 30 mins later I am at 2.5 FC. Pool math should have had it closer to 14. Also yesterday I added 16oz of Muriatic Acid to lower Ph. I don't know what it was at because it was above 8.2. Today my Ph is still above 8.2 and I added 16 oz more. Pool math shows that 8.2 to 7.5 should be 16oz of MA.
Unfortunately it looks like my "green buddies" are giving me an ammonia problem because of the FC issue mentioned above. What is my next step? Thanks for the tips.

Edit- My CC is at .5
 
Now that your FC is very low, adjust pH first before attempting a SLAM or raising FC. Once pH is confirmed to be down to about 7.2-7.5, then do this (have lots of bleach ready):
1. Begin a SLAM and dose FC up to SLAM level. Do not add additional CYA at this point.
2. Retest FC at 10-minute intervals.
a. If FC loss is greater than 50%, add FC to bring back up to SLAM level and continue retesting FC @ 10-minute intervals.
b. IF FC loss is 50% or less, add FC to bring back up to SLAM level. Go to Step 3.
3. If CYA is below 30 ppm, add enough CYA to bring level up to 30 ppm.
4. Continue SLAM as directed in the SLAM article until the SLAM Criteria of Done are met. Test as directed in the SLAM article - no longer need to test FC at 10 minute increments at this point.
 
awtrizzle said:
Yeah the house came with a mesh cover. It was probably much nicer when it was purchased but by now the cover has gone to the way side. This past fall I repaired some holes in it. I understand what you mean on fine dirt getting in there. I'm not too surprised by the green either. I closed when it was below 60 and it's below 60 now. Doesn't mean that it hasn't gotten above 60 over the last few weeks. I may have to try your tarp cover idea. How did you keep it down over the mesh cover? Water bags?
Click to expand...

I used water bags around the entire perimeter several winters. They worked well, but are a pain to fill, empty, and clean (the bottoms get pretty gross over the winter). The past two winters I tucked the excess tarp under the mesh cover and used bricks to help hold it down. It's not quite as effective as the water bags....sometimes the wind will pull the edges of the tarp loose and I have to tuck it back in. Next winter I might try just a few water bags on sections that are more prone to coming loose and bricks for the rest. Perhaps this will be a good balance of effectiveness and ease of installation/removal.

Here's with water bags
View attachment 45829

Hmmmm.....I don't have a pick with the tucked/brick method. I can take one if you like and post it.
 
I am sure I will do something very similar this year when I close. Just going to have to improvise on how I keep it down. Maybe a mix of bags and bricks like you are talking about doing....

On a side note my Ph is not going anywhere. I know that the highest my test can read is 8.2. I have added 64 oz of MA and it is still above 8.2. How high could it have possibly been? Pool math suggest that it would have started out at least above 11. Is that possible or am I having other problems?

With that, there is a tiny air leak somewhere as there are a few bubbles at the top of my pump's strainer basket. I am also getting some random spurts of bubbles coming from my returns. Just brainstorming here but could those bubbles be "aerating" the pool and keeping the Ph from going down? Any suggestions for my next direction would be appreciated.
The FC levels from yesterday's addition of bleach worked somewhat because I have some dead algae in my strainer baskets.
 
awtrizzle said:
I am sure I will do something very similar this year when I close. Just going to have to improvise on how I keep it down. Maybe a mix of bags and bricks like you are talking about doing....

On a side note my Ph is not going anywhere. I know that the highest my test can read is 8.2. I have added 64 oz of MA and it is still above 8.2. How high could it have possibly been? Pool math suggest that it would have started out at least above 11. Is that possible or am I having other problems?

With that, there is a tiny air leak somewhere as there are a few bubbles at the top of my pump's strainer basket. I am also getting some random spurts of bubbles coming from my returns. Just brainstorming here but could those bubbles be "aerating" the pool and keeping the Ph from going down? Any suggestions for my next direction would be appreciated.
The FC levels from yesterday's addition of bleach worked somewhat because I have some dead algae in my strainer baskets.
Click to expand...

Is the MA you're using the regular stuff, or the "safe" stuff? The "safe" stuff is much weaker (half strength?). I guess it's possible your pH was way out of whack. Are your test reagents fresh? Where do you store your reagents/test kits? Perhaps test your tap water and see if you get a reasonable result. That may tell us if your reagent is working properly.

I doubt a small air leak would cause enough aeration to raise pH that much. Check the seal on the pump strainer basket. If it looks good, maybe try some silicone lubricant on it (like this stuff)
View attachment 45837
 
So... turns out I was using the "safe" stuff. I had to google what I had because it wasn't even on the label. Usually a tell-tale sign of weakness. I got it from Lowes and it had a green label on it. Also could have given me a clue. Either way I picked me up some 20° baume stuff from the pool store. I have put in the recommended amount according to pool math with the right stuff, and we will see those values here soon.

I tested my tap water Ph and it was a little bit higher than 7.8 but not quite 8.2. I don't know what typical levels look like. Either way it was lower than 8.2 so i can assume I don't have an issue with my reagents. Also I store them indoors and there not even 8 months old yet. So I'm thinking it is just some really jacked up Ph.

I also rechecked all of my seals. I already had some of that lube and used it on the pump basket seal. I already did that but I cleaned it up and redid it. There is a little leak that I discovered in the pump basket drain plug. I tried lube and changing out the o-ring. I think it is going to need to be replaced. It was pretty sad to begin with.

I will let you know how the latest addition of proper MA goes.

Edit- Just wanted to throw in that I cant stand going to the pool store!
 

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Thought I'd chime in here as well. This is the second year we have not covered our pool for the winter, and I doubt we ever will. It has made opening so much easier! Ours is technically not 'open' yet (plumbing still disconnected, etc). But the huge advantage of not covering it is not having all that icky water slide into the pool when you pull off the cover. It's been a very mild winter, so I've just gone out a few times and scooped out any leaves I can get with the net, and I'd dump a gallon of bleach in if things looked a little murky. So far so good! Of course there is some debris on the bottom that I won't be able to get until I can vacuum, but the water is nice and blue, and I can monitor it better when I can actually see the water!
 
There is no way I could leave the cover off. Literally thousands of leaves fall around my house. We cut down some trees about three weeks ago so I'm hoping it helps a little bit.
Here's some progress pictures.

55e9fd9bcbec55b89ac6c1eba58eff9c.jpg

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ccf7b9ed2a3477166cfd091448ded032.jpg
 

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