Add liquid chlorine before “official” opening

[xxcmpxx]

Hi all,

Our 20x40 is scheduled to be opened the first week of May. I took a peek under the cover and noticed the water is already green. Is it ok to add liquid chlorine now, without pump circulating the water? We had liner replaced last season so I definitely don’t want to cause any issues with fading. I was thinking of removing the cover, adding 4 gallons of liquid chlorine and running the robot vacuum for a few hours. Do you think this will help it from getting worse before the official opening day? Seems like every year we open to a swamp and would love to get ahead of it.

 

[Texas Splash]

Is it ok to add liquid chlorine now, without pump circulating the water?

Genrally speaking, no. It's best to wait until your system is operational to move chemicals properly. We would hate to see chlorine settle against that new liner. If it's that green already, waiting a bit longer isn't going to make a huge difference. You can start shopping for chlorine now though.

By the way ...... Welcome to TFP! :wave

Also see:
Pool Care Basics
SLAM Process

 

[Mdragger88]

It may be time you adjust your closing & opening times & procedures so you can open trouble free next year

Closing an In Ground Pool

Winterizing a pool is essential for keeping your in-ground pool protected during cold-weather months. This Pool Repair guide will show you how to do it.

www.google.com

 

[xxcmpxx]

It may be time you adjust your closing & opening times & procedures so you can open trouble free next year

Closing an In Ground Pool

Winterizing a pool is essential for keeping your in-ground pool protected during cold-weather months. This Pool Repair guide will show you how to do it.

www.google.com

Thank you for the links. I’m in CT. Last season we closed mid-October and opened mid-April to change the liner. I didn’t care about the water last year, since we pumped out, but I noticed it was already green then. It must be something with our procedure or the type of cover we have letting too much sunlight in. Unless I should be closing in November and opening earlier in April?

 

[Newdude]

It must be something with our procedure or the type of cover we have letting too much sunlight in. Unless I should be closing in November and opening earlier in April?

It's the rain, and the unusually warm 'winter' we had.

While draining some weeks back, I took water samples at 3 depths and the top had 0 FC and 0 salt, 2 ft down had 2 FC and 1200 salt and 7.5 ft down had 6 FC and 3000 salt.

The 0 FC rain water, stratified on top, was festering all those warm days. After draining I threw the hose on top of the cover and pumped the deep end for an hour, 20 mins each cutting the pool into thirds.

This is now part of my regimen every time I drain in the off season.

 

[Mdragger88]

It’s not about a date on the calendar, it’s about the water temperature. You want the water temperature to be below 60 degrees & falling before closing & open before the water temperature approaches 60 degrees ensuring you have adequate fc the whole time.
Checking the fc throughout the winter is important if you’ve had warm spells. As Newdude mentioned a submersible pump is helpful if you need to mix the water/add liquid chlorine especially if your cover allows rain water in.
If fc falls below minimum for your cya algae will grow period.

I close my pool @ slam level around halloween usually (sometimes a touch later based on water temp) & I check fc around Christmas then again in February. I have never had to add more lc but I’m prepared to if needed.
I raise the water level & get the pool running (on a reduced schedule) around april 1st & begin chlorinating with the cover on (because of all the junk that falls out of the trees). I usually run the robot a few times under the cover.
I finally took my cover off last weekend (after the major katkins dump) & increased my pump run times, swg run time etc. then did an
Overnight Chlorine Loss Test to be sure I am good to go.
In that 2 weeks the water temperature rose from 58 degrees to 72 degrees- if I had waited even a week longer to begin maintaining fc it would have been swamp city.