Water temperature and opening pool

[bluskyguy]

Just took the cover off my pool here in North Carolina, vacuumed up debris remnants on bottom. Water is a little cloudy. My question is
with water temp below the point where my SWG will not produce chlorine, can I go ahead and shock, adjust Ph/Alkalinity, adjust stabilizer etc
and just use chlorine tabs in my skimmer until the water temp comes up. I guess basically what I'm asking is Do I have to wait for temp to
come up to a certain point before adding any chemicals to get water clear and balanced. Thanks

 

[Bama Rambler]

You should not wait until the temp comes up. You can start adding the chems now, especially chlorine. I don't recommend using trichlor in the skimmer unless the pump is running 24 hours a day because they're acidic. They are, however, a good way to get CYA in your pool as long as you don't need to add too much.

If you can go ahead and post a full set of test numbers and how you got them.
pH
FC
CC
TA
CH
CYA
Water Temp

 

[bk406]

Yes what Bama said.

But, i'm not so sure about using the tri chlor at all. While it's convenient, it could be a problem with pH and here is why. The OP has a SWG. So..he needs to keep the TA around 70-80 or so once the SWG gets going. If he balances the TA at 70 and uses trichlor, the pH drop could be problematic until he stops the trichlor. Now, if he stays on top of the pH, it might be ok. But, at a TA of 70-80 plus the pucks, the pH can get out of control fast. He could bring the TA up to 100 where the pucks would not be as big of a problem, but then bringing it back down will be a PITA with adding acid, aerating, etc. Now if there was not a SWG, the TA would be balanced high enough to compensate for the pucks. IMO, if you have a SWG and want to open with an alternative chlorine source, either use liquid or di-chlor (if you want to add CYA as you add FC). The liquid or di chlor will not mess with the pH at SWG TA levels like pucks will. But again, just my opinion here.

 

[bluskyguy]

I will test the water and get you the numbers, by the way, shouldnt the first thing I do is shock the pool?

 

[Bama Rambler]

We really don't know until we see the numbers and we have no idea how high to get the FC until we know what the CYA number is. Keep in mind that shock is a process, not a product! Even though the pool stores sell it like it is.

 

[frustratedpoolmom]

I will test the water and get you the numbers, by the way, shouldnt the first thing I do is shock the pool?

"First" thing is always Test!
You may end up having to shock since the water is cloudy. But you need to know a starting point. Also, testing is key during the shock process to know if the FC is holding (an indication you are done shocking); if CC's are present...etc.