opening after a long winter

[adopted owner]

I have just opened my pool after a long winter here in Toronto. I only opened it just early because I assumed I would uncover a green mess or at least some murky water so I wanted a few weeks to SLAM the pool and get it ready for mid May. To my surprise after pumping the water off the cover and pulling it off the surface the pool water was crystal clear. Some debris at the bottom of the pool but nothing a good vacuum can't solve. The chemistry was showing an FC of 2.0, pH of 7.4, Akl 100, Calcium was 200.

I deep cleaned the sand filter, refilled to teh skimmer lines and have restarted the pump. everything is working beautifully. I would say I am just lucky but I think I can attribute this to hadr work at the end of last season plus some great advice on this board.

My question is am I just lucky? Our should I still bring the pool up to SLAM levels to see if the FC holds? The water is currently crystal clear.

 

[JimJimR]

If it were me here in Richmond, VA, I would run the pump and clean it up and expect it was a good benefit of the pre-work you did closing it up last year.
I would be interested to know what you did when closing as I opened to a green mess and would like to be able to do a little during the winter to open in the shape you are in.
Good luck!
Jim

 

[Texas Splash]

Congrats on the successful opening of your pool this year. Sounds like you did a solid job. Not sure what your CYA is at this time, but you might want to at least keep your FC elevated for a couple days then run an overnight (OCLT) test to see if you have any excess chlorine consumption. If you lose more than 1 ppm overnight, then you can bet a SLAM is in order. If not, pat yourself on the back and enjoy your swimming season.

 

[duraleigh]

I would be interested to know what you did when closing as I opened to a green mess and would like to be able to do a little during the winter to open in the shape you are in.

In case OP does not respond, "open early and close late".

It's all about water temp....getting your pool closed AFTER there's little chance for algae to get back in and then opening BEFORE algae has a chance to get a foot hold.

Of course there are many things you can do to assist that but your pool temp seems to be the most important thing.