Hello I live in MN and this was our first winter with our above ground pool. We live in a newer development so there are little to no tree's in close proximity to our pool, so we decided to not purchase a winter cover this year. I closed the pool as instructed by the post on this site. This spring when everything thawed the pool looked great, crystal clear. However since we have had an extremely early/warm spring things started to turn a little cloudy as of last Sunday. I decided I would open it this weekend, but it is now turning a little on the green side. I guess my question is when I open it this Saturday do I just fill it up, add bunch of bleach, run the vacuum and let the filter run 24hrs a day while keeping the chlorine levels up at shock level until it clears up?
Warm spring has acellerated my opening time line - green
- Thread starter jourdanbennett
- Start date
that's my plan for the weekend, along with testing CYA and starting to replenish it if needed (hanging a sock in front of a return).
Short answer: Yes.
Long answer: Fill it. Test the water. Use the Pool Calculator to determine how much bleach you need for the shock level that's appropriate to your CYA concentration. Add bleach and stabilizer, vacuum (if needed), run the pump, test again the next day. There's some good information on how to shock your pool in Pool School.
I'm not familiar with the type of chlorinator you use. What goes in there? Trichlor tabs?
Long answer: Fill it. Test the water. Use the Pool Calculator to determine how much bleach you need for the shock level that's appropriate to your CYA concentration. Add bleach and stabilizer, vacuum (if needed), run the pump, test again the next day. There's some good information on how to shock your pool in Pool School.
I'm not familiar with the type of chlorinator you use. What goes in there? Trichlor tabs?
I actually have to update my signature. On the recommendations from some people here I pulled the chlorinator and just use bleach.
Please help me understand why one would need to adjust pH/TA before beginning the shock process. I'm not clear on that.
jourdanbennett's chems are likely off. We know the FC is zero and so, probably, is the CYA. Adding a goodly amount of bleach will change the pH somewhat anyway. In my mind, it makes more sense to manage the algae which have begun to grow in this pool by shocking the water. I would assume 0 CYA when calculating the amount of bleach needed—or test for it if I had the reagent handy.
At any rate, I would deal with the algae first, then balance the remainder of the chemicals. Would that not work?
jourdanbennett's chems are likely off. We know the FC is zero and so, probably, is the CYA. Adding a goodly amount of bleach will change the pH somewhat anyway. In my mind, it makes more sense to manage the algae which have begun to grow in this pool by shocking the water. I would assume 0 CYA when calculating the amount of bleach needed—or test for it if I had the reagent handy.
At any rate, I would deal with the algae first, then balance the remainder of the chemicals. Would that not work?
Anna, pH tests are inaccurate at FC levels of over 10, so you should not adjust your pH while shocking.
A pH that is very high or low can cause significantly more damage, especially if it takes a long time for the water to clear, than the algae will in the day or so it will take to adjust the pH.
A pH that is very high or low can cause significantly more damage, especially if it takes a long time for the water to clear, than the algae will in the day or so it will take to adjust the pH.
Okay, thanks. You're saying it's better to let the algae go for now while working on getting the pH within acceptable range (if it's out of whack) and then shock. Gotcha!
Well the pool has gone from a little cloudy on Monday to full blown green on Friday, great!! Now I understand the old saying"why wait to do something till tomorrow when you can do it today and just sleep less" or something like that. Wish me luck I am starting the opening process tonight when I get home from work.