Not sure what to do

[Smeade]

This past year was my first year using TFP methods, and in nearly twenty years of pool ownership, it never looked better. I closed the pool MUCH later than in years prior; hyper-chlorinated and put on the loop-loc mesh cover. Ignored the pool all winter.

A few days ago I peeked under the cover hoping to see clear water underneath; alas, the water is green. Clear, but green.

So, my questions are twofold: what should I have done differently over the winter, and what do I do now? We have never opened the pool before Memorial Day before, although I was planning to open maybe in April sometime. It will be too cold to swim in before June. Do I try to balance the water even though the pool isn't full and pump not running, or do I let it go, clean up the mess when we do decide to open and vow to do better next year?

And yes, I have a good test kit.

 

[Patrick_B]

You really can't address it properly without the equipment running, so I would say decide on what you want to do.

I'm not telling you to do what I do, but if it were me, I would get it running and SLAM it. I don't like the idea of letting Algae grow and become advanced, but that's my OCD thing. However, you may still be in freeze danger, but I don't know. If you are, you have to consider that. If I lived there and thought I was beyond that danger, it would be in kill mode ASAP.

 

[Casey]

I too would get her up and running if you're past all danger of freezing. If it's just a little green, you can save yourself some headaches and clear it fast than letting it get pea green soup n spend more time n effort on clearing it.

If you remember your closing numbers, we could possibly help you figure out what MAY have went wrong. Temperature could also play a role in it if you had a mild winter. So if you are open to it and can remember, post up those closing numbers.

 

[duraleigh]

Yeah, I'm with Patrick......SLAM it.

In your climate, a serious freeze seems really unlikely and getting it cleaned up now will make it that much easier to jump in soon!!

Impossible to tell why your pool got green without a full set of test results when you closed and a full set now.

 

[Smeade]

I'm sorry to say that I didn't write down my numbers when I closed. I kept pretty decent records over the summer, starting late May when I got my kit. TA started around 120 and decreased to around 60 over the course of the summer, and CH was around 250-280. I added MA frequently over the summer as the pH kept wanting to creep up. I THINK I got FC to around 15 at closing.

My numbers today:
Water temp 50 degrees
FC and CC 0
pH 7.0
TA 20
CH 60
CYA <30

A fair amount of the water in my pool is rainwater/snow melt (mesh cover), so I'm guessing that's why TA and CH are so much lower than the end of last season (although it still took me by surprise). For grins, I tested my tap water, and got:
TA 50
CH 80

Just adding water to fill will help those numbers a little.

The water is very clear (didn't appear to be any algae suspended, just on the surfaces).

Maybe the water was not as cold as I thought at the end of October and/or maybe we had a warmer late fall (I don't remember)? We had a fairly average (cold) winter, so don't think it's that.

Is part of the problem the fact that we have a mesh cover?

I really hesitate to fully open this early (and I'm sure my husband won't be in favor), and opening to green water would be nothing new to us (although if it wasn't swampy, THAT would be new). Can I dump in some bleach every week or so and swirl it around with a brush until maybe Easter and then consider opening? I don't EXPECT a hard freeze going forward, but I can remember one year not so long ago that we got snow flurries on Mother's Day.

Thanks for the replies thus far. I really do want to do this right at least once before I die!

 

[Casey]

It very well could be the mesh cover. I do not have a mesh cover as I like to keep all debris out of my pool.

Do not add bleach to the pool unless you are going to take the cover off and complete a full start up.

 

[Mr Bruce]

It very well could be the mesh cover. I do not have a mesh cover as I like to keep all debris out of my pool.

Do not add bleach to the pool unless you are going to take the cover off and complete a full start up.

Why should you not add bleach unless you are going to take the cover off? I added some (old, weakened) bleach to my pool the other day since I am planning on taking the cover off soon and figured why not, better than pouring it down the sink drain.

 

[Patrick_B]

In this case, it won't do much good because nothing is running. In your case that didn't hurt to dump the bleach.

Ok back to the OP questions...