In the past we owned an Intex pool we drained and took down each year. This we went big and bought a used Esther Williams 15 x 30 and have thoroughly enjoyed it. Just bought a used Esther Williams 15x30 Carousel As my year moves from swimming to using my smoker more and winter sadly approaches I'd better get prepared to close it down. I've searched and read numerous threads and see people seem to vary in their approach. Drain below skimmer. Don't drain and use Aquadoor and Gizmo or such. Mesh leaf net or non mesh cover. Polyquat algaecide and bleach or just bleach. I really don't want to undo my skimmer to put a face plate on it. So unless there are options which just go over the existing face I'll drain just below the skimmer. (besides, to replace the face plate I'd have to drain it down. [at least this year]) Since my plumbing is flex spa pvc hose I can remove the line below the skimmer. Do people seal the skimmer cover or plug the hole in cover? I can probably put a plug in the return jet fitting hole. Drain my lines. Drain filter. Remove multiport valve and pump and move to heated garage. It does seem smart to get some sort of leaf cover to avoid having to fish out leaves or if left in gloppy masses of leaves. Or am I better off using a tarp like cover? Do I really need to add the algacide? I can. It seems to read hard for a simpleton like me. Meaning it acts with the bleach and does this or that and lowers my FC level? Or, just get to shock level and check for FC monthly and swish some around if it's way low? Once I get it done once all will be good. Thoughts? Thanks for getting me this far!!