Question - whatcha all recommend for mesh covers so I don’t have to do this next year?
I'll let the others walk you though the SLAM. But as someone who overwintered an Intex two winters, near trees, successfully, I have a couple tips for you. These apply more or less in general, but with an uncovered pool, or mesh cover, much more so.
Firstly:
3 weeks of notes to go over, exhausted from this pool - will try to remember all relevant info. Seems like info overkill, but this seems like a pretty detailed oriented community. Here goes:
You cannot wait till the end of June to open. I know, life gets busy. But as you've unfortunately learned, clearing a mess is WAY harder than maintaining a clear pool.
Here's my pool March 13th, 2021, the end of my first overwinter. This was the first day the pool had had no ice since November of 2020. Note that there is a
slight green tint. Despite the water being some 40 degrees, with the full sun and leaf debris, algae was already starting to take hold.
March 16th. Green is more pronounced.
March 20th. Here is where I woke up on the weekend, looked at it, and said "I've got to open
now or this will turn into a giant mess."
The thing is, at this point it's still not bad. But again, we're now exactly 1 week since the ice melted. It's not even officially spring yet! But open I must, as I overwintered without a solid cover. Note that a solid cover will
help keep the pool from going green. You won't have lots of debris, and the shading from sunlight will slow algae. But it won't
eliminate it, and even with a solid cover things will be bad if you wait till June to open.
So, I said not bad. I added two gallons of 12.5% if memory serves, pouring around the edge of the pool. I brushed to mix it around. Then I spent the rest of the day hooking up my filter and starting the fill. Note the green vanished about instantly.
If you catch it by this point, it's easy, but wait any longer and...well, I don't need to tell you.
Note this picture was taken mere hours after the above picture, as I was putting together the filter and filling the pool back up completely.
I netted out the leaves, finished filling by afternoon, and got the pump running. Kept it at SLAM levels and it only took a day or two to finish. Water is cold still, and algae hadn't gotten established, so it was quick.
March 28th. Pool is clean, clear, and ready to swim. Except you'd want a dry suit cause the water was still 50 degrees.
And that's the sucky part. My pool is now clean and clear and a joy to look at. But I could only look for
two months until the water actually got warm enough to swim! But, and here's the key point: Maintaining a clear pool when it's cold? Dead easy. You need to add chlorine like once a week. Empty the skimmer basket as needed as dead leaves or helicopters fall in. Occasionally net/vacuum as needed. Very,
very little work.
And as soon as the water is warm enough? Jump right in! The pool is just ready and waiting for you at this point!
Going hand in hand with this, once it's too cold to swim, you can't close the pool. Again, you have to maintain it for another couple months. But as the water cools off, it becomes easier and easier. Same as the spring, the chlorine demand slows WAY down, so eventually you're back down to once a week chlorine additions. Heck, you're at twice a week not long after the water is too cold to swim. Again, just net as the leaves fall, empty the skimmer basket as needed, occasionally vacuum. Only after the water drops below 50 should you consider an official close. I like waiting even longer, but once things start hitting freezing for anything more than a light frost at night your latest deadline has arrived.
When the water is finally cold enough to close, make sure you've netted and vacuumed out all the leaves before closing. Follow the guide for closing an above ground pool here. This includes a final take the FC up to SLAM level 24 hours before you do the partial drain and pull the filter. Without a cover, some Polyquat 60 algaecide also wouldn't be a bad idea. Note, however, this is the only time TFP recommends the use of algeacides, and only this particular type (we DON'T want to any any algaecide that contains copper or other metals!).
If you close and then a warm snap hits, check and maintain the chlorine by pouring around the edge (go all the way around in a circle, spreading it out), then brush to mix it in or throw a submersible pump in and stick the hose to circulate water around to mix.
For vacuuming, I did have a simple manual vacuum that attaches to the Hayward through-wall skimmer I have. I can recommend both. But my Aquabot Pool Rover Jr did the vast majority of my vacuuming for me. Occasionally I'd intersperse a manual vacuuming to get finer stuff the Pool Rover Jr doesn't get.
The most annoying part of this entire thing was the main leaf fall. I had to empty the simmer basket twice a day some days just to allow water to flow, and net out leaves regularily. But this is only for a week for the majority of this, and just a few weeks total.
Hopefully this helps you have a truly trouble free pool next year.
P.S. You're already so far into the SLAM, it's probably best to just continue. But at some 9000 gallons or less your pool holds, if it ever ends up as bad as your first picture again, my personal recommendation for an above ground pool like this is that is it's easier and cheaper to wait for a calm two days, then drain the pool, clear out the junk at the bottom, rinse it out, refill, and start fresh. Unless you're on a well that can't fill the pool in one go, and trucking in water would be expensive.
. Got excited when I could read the numbers on the tape measure down to 25”, but then realized I lost an 1” to evap and backwash. Oh well, I’ll still take the improvement.
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