To chlorinate or not?

[robrinker]

I'm getting my pool replastered sometime in May. I just took the cover off a week ago, so the contractors could take a look and give me quotes. The water was clear, although the pool is pretty dirty. With the unseasonably warm weather we are having, my water has gone from 40* to 55* this week and it's starting to get cloudy.

Should I dump some chlorine in and circulate it with a small sump pump, or just let it go? I don't care so much about the algae, since the water is all going to be dumped in a month or so, but I'm concerned about mosquitoes. I have enough of them already, so I don't really want to give them a place to breed.

On the other hand, there are at least a dozen frogs and toads that have taken up residence in the pool. Are they enough to keep the mosquitoes in check by themselves?

Thanks!

 

[duraleigh]

Interesting question. It probably doesn't matter and I assume the plasterers will have to clean the pool thoroughly to assure a good bond to the existing surface.

I would still be tempted to keep the old surface as clean as possible just in case they don't do as good a job as they should.

 

[robrinker]

The current surface has several layers of paint on it, so I believe a through sand blasting is in order.

 

[Ohm_Boy]

The problem w/ chlorine in this case, is that all of the chlorine will get used up in very short order, and unless you're ready to fully recover the water balance, meaning to chlorinate the pool until everything is dead and sanitized, you're just gonna waste chlorine.

You should probably just toss in a handful of Mosquito Dunks.

 

[robrinker]

Didn't know about mosquito dunks. That looks like exactly what I need. Thanks!

I definitely don't want to completely balance the water only to dump it in a month.

 

[Kias]

It's my understanding, and that could be totally wrong, that mosquitos only go to the stagnant water that isn't moving.

Ergo, putting a sump pump in, and spraying it on the surface should keep the skeeters away. If that's all you're worried about.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk

 

[Ohm_Boy]

When my neighboring house went into foreclosure, and the pool got black and began to swarm mosquitoes, I called our county mosquito control folks - they came out and captured some larvae/mosquitoes to determine whether they were malaria-carriers, and they tossed some cakes into the pool. If you have such a county agency, you can just call them to see what they recommend.