Mosquito larvae in pool before opening?

[coilerman]

My pool still has a cover on it (porous safety cover) but it's starting to warm up. I'm wondering, do mosquitoes breed under that cover? It seems like an ideal stagnant breeding pond.

If so, do you do anything about killing the mosquito larvae? I thought about throwing some goldfish in there (and netting them out before I open the pool, obviously).

 

[CJadamec]

As long as your water chemistry is correct and you have enough FC in the water in your pool is a death trap for mosquitos.

If your pool is green or has no FC and just waiting to turn green yes your pool is a great place to bread mosquitos. So if fish can live in your pool so can mosquitos. You should never let your water get to the point where fish can survive in it.

 

[coilerman]

Wait a minute. You maintain your chemistry over the winter? I just cover mine and forget it. There is no way I can even remove the cover for most of the winter with the snow and ice.

 

[richierich]

All you need to do is close your pool with your FC at shock value. I close mine at about 16 FC and essentially it just sits from October-April untouched. I open to clear water. If you close your pool with your chlorine numbers low at say 3 or something that chlorine will get consumed quickly and algae will grow.

 

[CJadamec]

I cover my pool last week of October with an FC of around 13 and didn't touch it until this past week when I pulled the cover off.

If you close your pool clean and when the water is around 60 degrees the FC that is in your pool at closing will last a very long time. The cover keeps the UV light out of the water which drastically slows down FC consumption.

I may have peaked under the cover once or twice over the winter but I certainly never tested or added anything to the pool.

 

[Casey]

If you have any larva or even tadpoles in your pool/swamp, a SLAM will take care of the Lil buggars.

 

[coilerman]

I close it clean and shock it just before I put the cover on. When I open in the spring, the water is black. I have a lot of leaves and debris that gets blown in under the cover and I think that just helps the organic matter grow.

I wonder, would it help with the opening if if I peel back the cover a bit, throw in some liquid shock or bleach and then replace the cover? I wouldn't open for another month yet.

 

[Pauls234]

Coilerman - the key to opening to clear water is waiting until water temp is below 60 degrees, raise to SLAM level, close and cover, and then open before water gets above 60.

The debris getting in as well as (presumably) sunlight are also eating your chlorine.

You don't want to add chlorine in the winter with no way to circulate it.

I often measure 6ppm of FC when I open, though the fact that the water is frozen for a couple of months surely helps too!

 

[RonsPlc]

I closed my pool last fall and put the cover on it...
I opened to THIS last weekend!

Can NOT thank you guys enough!!

2nd year in a row!

Follow the advice given here, and you can't go wrong!
We get days into the seventies here in the winter, and weeks of sub freezing temps.
Welcome to Alabama... if the weather doesn't suit you now... wait 10 minutes!

 

[coilerman]

Coilerman - the key to opening to clear water is waiting until water temp is below 60 degrees, raise to SLAM level, close and cover, and then open before water gets above 60.

The debris getting in as well as (presumably) sunlight are also eating your chlorine.

You don't want to add chlorine in the winter with no way to circulate it.

I often measure 6ppm of FC when I open, though the fact that the water is frozen for a couple of months surely helps too!

The 60 part is my problem. I cannot open my pool before late May due to the massive Norway maple in my neighbour's yard that drops millions of keys in the spring. I opened early one year and had to empty my skimmer four or five times a day. Even then, the keys would build up to the point where it would restrict flow.

What about chlorinating now and then dropping a sump pump under the cover to circulate the water. I think the pump I have does about 800 gph. That's decent enough turnover, I would think. Does anyone do that?

 

[zea3]

You can circulate bleach and start killing algae, but you will not be able to filter anything out until you are able to run the pool pump. I don't think if would give you much if any advantage at this point, however next spring when the weather starts to warm up you can drop in the sump pump in and add chlorine before the algae starts to grow. Do you have a main drain that is plugged?