Anyone in the Midwest opening early?

Yes! It’s crazy!! I bought all new reagents from TFTestkits a couple weeks ago during the sale and I’m wondering if it’s one of the reagents acting funny? Like the DPD powder or something. I do not know how it’s possible for me to open to 9ppm!! 🤯 No CC either! I closed at 17ppm on 11/10 and did not add any chlorine or touch the pool at all up until I opened it 2 days ago. The testing drops just kept coming and the pink was taking FOREVER to lighten up. 🤦🏻‍♀️ I’m just like…HOW?! lol

My pool is open all winter (mid-Dec to late Feb constitutes the 3 months of winter around these parts). Pumps are running and the water gets cold enough for the SWG to stop. The pool is uncovered and exposed to whatever daylight and UV is around (which is still pretty good in "winter"). Even with all that, I rarely add more than 2 gallons of 10% LC over 3 months. That's 12.4ppm FC TOTAL for 90 days or a loss of 0.14ppm/day ....

with a covered pool that is properly cleaned and near freezing for months on end, the FC has nowhere to go.
 
  • Like
Reactions: thefloatqueen
My pool is open all winter (mid-Dec to late Feb constitutes the 3 months of winter around these parts). Pumps are running and the water gets cold enough for the SWG to stop. The pool is uncovered and exposed to whatever daylight and UV is around (which is still pretty good in "winter"). Even with all that, I rarely add more than 2 gallons of 10% LC over 3 months. That's 12.4ppm FC TOTAL for 90 days or a loss of 0.14ppm/day ....

with a covered pool that is properly cleaned and near freezing for months on end, the FC has nowhere to go.
Oh wow. I expected to still have some FC left, but not more than half of what I added at closing. 🥴 Oh well. I guess it saves me money even though I have been stocking up on bleach. Water is still really cold (low to mid 50s, I think?), but I assume with the cover being off, FC will be consumed much quicker from the sun and whatnot?
 
So I brought my water sample bottle inside yesterday after I tested my water around noon and forgot about it. It’s definitely at or above room temperature now but is the sample still good since it was from 24 hours ago? I am only using it to test CYA.

It’s fine for CYA testing.
 
We opened because we can't stand looking at the green monster anymore. We had to leave it uncovered this past winter but with this crazy weather swing, its green. It wasn't green at this time last year.
Oh no! I’m so sorry. How’s the SLAM process going? You’ll be back to crystal clear in no time! I went without a cover for two seasons with my old (Intex) pool and would just keep up with scooping the leaves and testing the FC every couple weeks and swirl a lil bleach around, if needed. I was probably a little too OCD about it lol. I’m really glad I opened 2 weeks ago. It’s supposed to be mid to upper 70s this week and supposed to hit 80 this weekend! 😳
 
Last edited:
I’m considering opening the weekend after this coming one.
It’s gonna be in the mid to upper 70s here all week. My water temperature (I do not have a heater) is currently 62 degrees Fahrenheit. Really glad I opened when I did. You’re further north than I am tho, so you should be good. But yeah, def open as early as you can!
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: IceShadow
Oh no! I’m so sorry. How’s the SLAM process going? You’ll be back to crystal clear in no time! I went without a cover for two seasons with my old (Intex) pool and would just keep up with scooping the leaves and testing the FC every coupme weeks and swirl a lil bleach around, if needed. I was probably a little too OCD about it lol. I’m really glad I opened 2 weeks ago. It’s supposed to be mid to upper 70s this week and supposed to hit 80 this weekend! 😳
SLAM is going good. No longer green, dead algae collecting on the bottom and very cloudy. We can see the shallow end but not the deep end. I started a process thread you can see here if you want: Taming the big green monster
We get hard freezes during the winter so we're not able to add bleach and stir it up. And the last month below freezing temps for days or weeks in a row but the water did not freeze. That's when it turned green quickly. Now finally with the threat of hard freeze over with (may have some below freezing temps but not a concern of equipment freezing), we are into full SLAM mode day 2.
The water temp is 60. Firing up the heater - maybe in our near future. LOL
 
  • Like
Reactions: thefloatqueen

Enjoying this content?

Support TFP with a donation.

Give Support
SLAM is going good. No longer green, dead algae collecting on the bottom and very cloudy. We can see the shallow end but not the deep end. I started a process thread you can see here if you want: Taming the big green monster
We get hard freezes during the winter so we're not able to add bleach and stir it up. And the last month below freezing temps for days or weeks in a row but the water did not freeze. That's when it turned green quickly. Now finally with the threat of hard freeze over with (may have some below freezing temps but not a concern of equipment freezing), we are into full SLAM mode day 2.
The water temp is 60. Firing up the heater - maybe in our near future. LOL
So glad the SLAM is going well!! I’m gonna check out your thread for sure! Haha
 
Thread Status
Hello , This thread has been inactive for over 60 days. New postings here are unlikely to be seen or responded to by other members. For better visibility, consider Starting A New Thread.