Let’s see your water after removing winter cover!! **RESURRECTED FOR 2025!**

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Casey said:
I already know I'm pulling green. I've never opened crystal clear since I had my pool installed due to the mesh cover.
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I've had a mesh cover for my pool for the past 5 years, and the only time I have opened to a green pool was 2 years ago, (When I lost my wife and had to open WAY late).
I swear by them! I don't have to deal with water collecting on top of them during the winter, OR that same water getting into the pool in the spring when opening it.
I plan on opening my pool within the next 3 days, and will post pictures once done.
 
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Well the pool company showed up and opened the pool this morning. I'm very happy with the water being crystal clear. There were some leaves and small stuff that were able to get under the cover during the winter but overall I'm very pleased. Now I'm waiting on my new test kit to hopefully help keep it looking good


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2 passes with robot and manually sweeping tanning ledge. 52 degrees and floating 5 trichlor pucks (15 cya right there once they eventually dissolve) until turn on SWG. 8 jugs of chlorine on ready reserve (had wally world send me 4 boxes of 4 last year). Will measure CYA, salt, and borax in couple days and add accordingly. Target 65 degree before salt/SWG


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Here's my contribution :)
I opened Saturday, April 12. I didn't snap a pic right away, but I have a video clip that I grabbed a shot from - this is just a few minutes after being uncovered. You can see some of the felt pads from the cover still in the pool, and clean spots from where some were already retrieved. You can also see (maybe?) that the water is pretty clear, but the bottom looks like a sandbox. We've had several days out of the last couple months where it has been really windy (like, "monitoring the weather radio for tornado watches" windy). I think that's how so much sand got in there.

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This next is a pic from about 1:15 later. I've been adding water, have my suction-side cleaner sitting in the pool (on a short leash) just so I can run the pump and start filtering. I've also started running my robotic cleaner through the pool - it clogged up quick on the coarser sand. Water's getting cloudy from all the agitation of the sediment.
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Here's a pic from today (taken for this post). I think something is wrong with my filter, or I have a ton of very fine dust in the water (or both). My levels are good - FC is just getting back down to 7 after SLAMing it to be sure I wasn't dealing with a bloom. But the water is still very cloudy. I've run the pump on high for probably 72 hours since opening, and the balance on low. I've back-washed the sand filter twice, added DE to my filter to try to help catch the dust, run my suction side cleaner several times, robot several times, and even spent an hour manually vacuuming from the sides yesterday. It's improving, but very slowly. I haven't had this problem before (starting 4th season with this pool). Seriously considering getting a cartridge filter. Ladder is still 'reclining' because the water is still in the low 70's, so I don't want to get in to fix it :)
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Newdude said:
This will help speed it along
www.troublefreepool.com

Add DE to a Sand Filter

A clean pool filter will increase the efficiency of your pool! ... your filter are to backwash it, clean the manifolds and grids, and add new DE.
www.troublefreepool.com www.troublefreepool.com
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I'll give that a shot... again :) I did try adding some two days ago, but I made a critical mistake in using some that I had on hand which is NOT pool grade. I don't think I'll make that mistake again!
 
I cant seem to open clear to save my life .... I have beautiful water all season long. Brilliantly clear and stable as can be. Never need to SLAM - nothin'. Every year I open green. The water is clear and passing the OCLT typically within the first week and its smooth sailing until I close in October. I just wish I knew what I could do differently. Yes, I do follow the closing steps :( Or so I think so!!!IMG_6095.jpg
 
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wpturner05 said:
I cant seem to open clear to save my life .... I have beautiful water all season long. Brilliantly clear and stable as can be. Never need to SLAM - nothin'. Every year I open green. The water is clear and passing the OCLT typically within the first week and its smooth sailing until I close in October. I just wish I knew what I could do differently. Yes, I do follow the closing steps :( Or so I think so!!!
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Closing in October is probably a factor. You could try closing later and opening earlier.
 

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This was probably the best condition I've opened my pool. The chlorine levels were still at 2 ppm from closing. I vacuumed the bottom to waste and filled. I'm currently doing the season start slam. The water is cloudy but it isn't really using any chlorine. Based on past experience I'll be clear on Monday
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wpturner05 said:
I cant seem to open clear to save my life .... I have beautiful water all season long. Brilliantly clear and stable as can be. Never need to SLAM - nothin'. Every year I open green. The water is clear and passing the OCLT typically within the first week and its smooth sailing until I close in October. I just wish I knew what I could do differently. Yes, I do follow the closing steps :( Or so I think so!!!View attachment 639038
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Tell us how you close (test values including water temperature ) & what type of cover you have.
 
JasonBigCountry said:
My levels are good - FC is just getting back down to 7 after SLAMing it to be sure I wasn't dealing with a bloom.
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Sorry to be late to the party but your statement caught my attention. Please read
SLAM Process as your not done a slam until ALL three criteria are met and you definitely missed the mark.
 
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wireform said:
Sorry to be late to the party but your statement caught my attention. Please read
SLAM Process as your not done a slam until ALL three criteria are met and you definitely missed the mark.
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Right you are! When I did that, I had forgotten the proper procedure, as I'd never had to do it before (I'm sure I read it back when I started frequenting the site). I was thinking I just had to get it to the right FC level (per the app and my CYA level - 30ish, maybe really closer to 20-25), and maintain it ... "for a while" - I figured 36 hours was good enough. I did NOT do OCLT, and in fact, I had my SWG running on 'max' during the first leg to make it easier to maintain the levels. I'll do an OCLT tonight to be sure, but at this point, I don't *think* I'm dealing with an algae problem. My water is slowly getting better since I've started using the right DE.

More to say, but I don't want to turn this into a troubleshooting thread - I've posted additional comments in another thread.

Thanks!
 
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We moved into the house late last summer and this was my first time opening a pool. Water's clear (and cold!) with a good amount of leaves and debris at the bottom. Mesh cover must be close to 20 years old and had multiple holes in it. After letting the cover dry, I patched the holes.

Of course my brand new Intelliflo3 pump that I finished plumbing is not working and I likely need to get shipped a new board or entirely new pump. So I have stagnant water for now and will just keep topping off with liquid chlorine.


Pool opening.jpg
 
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loamyroots said:
. So I have stagnant water for now and will just keep topping off with liquid chlorine.
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Circulate it a couple times a day with a submersible pump. Lanchez makes a 1.6 HP monster on amazon ($83), or a few bucks more gets a 0.5 hp at the box stores locally.

It'll help disperse your LC additions greatly too.
 
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loamyroots said:
We moved into the house late last summer and this was my first time opening a pool. Water's clear (and cold!) with a good amount of leaves and debris at the bottom. Mesh cover must be close to 20 years old and had multiple holes in it. After letting the cover dry, I patched the holes.

Of course my brand new Intelliflo3 pump that I finished plumbing is not working and I likely need to get shipped a new board or entirely new pump. So I have stagnant water for now and will just keep topping off with liquid chlorine.


View attachment 639656
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Scoop out what you can - the less organic debris the better. Keep the fc up and you’ll be fine 😊
 
Hopefully Friday we can get ours open. I was planning for yesterday but I've been sidelined due to a minor shoulder injury that I don't want to aggravate. The hubs offered to do everything for me but I just can't. I like to fuss with it in my own way. I know the worms are going to be out of control and it will be lots of slow scooping...
 
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