Spring peek - concerning stains. How should I tackle?

[PrivatePilot]

Last fall we didn't get around to cleaning all the leaves out of our pool cover after they fell. Long story, part lazyness and part too many ****ed trees that dumped all their leaves into the pool at once just before things froze up for the winter.

Anyhow, I was out today starting to clean up the mess and get them out, pumping water off the cover, etc. I started pumping off water a few weeks ago as the spring melt took hold (There was several feet of snow and ice from yet another brutal winter here) but just today I got enough off where I could start inspecting things.

FWIW I'm still probably 3 weeks from wanting to open the pool but I like to start getting things ready around now.

Anyhow, I peeled back the cover around my stairs and immediately noticed some concerning stains. I'm going to guess that they're a direct result of all the tannins from the leaves sitting on the cover and some of that stained water going through the winter cover into the water underneath.

I got out my vinyl and stairs cleaner and a bristle brush and had limited success. I went and got some liquid cholorine and worked with that and had good success on the stairs (they cleaned right up) but the liner, not so much.

How should I tackle this? I'm now contemplating removing the winter cover today if I can (There's still some spots with ice), raising the water level above the stains (which are now above the waterline, see pics), and hitting the pool with some chlorine so that the stained area is sitting underneath the water level.

Thoughts?

IMG_5800 by oshawapilot, on Flickr

 

[Richard320]

Organic stains should fade away in a few weeks once the proper FC level is in the water.

 

[PrivatePilot]

Organic stains should fade away in a few weeks once the proper FC level is in the water.

Thanks for the reassurance.

I finished draining the cover and getting as much of the leaves and **** off the top as I could, peeled it back somewhat, and this is the gong show underneath. See pic below. It's not great as there was reflection on the surface of the water, but you get the idea.

I'm reluctant to add any chlorine as I've no circulation to move it around, and it's just going to be consumed immediately anyways, but I'm contemplating getting a jug of algaecide (yes, I know, a bad word around here) and hitting it to just stop things from getting worse? The forecast is for pretty darned warm temps and we are on vacation in a few weeks (and the housesitters are *NOT* into pool maintenance) so there's no option except to let it sit really, but I envision this nightmarish black swamp with stains that are even worse by the first weekend in May when I get down the opening it.

Am I overthinking this? Should I just put the cover back on, have a few drinks, and forget about it?

- - - Updated - - -

And what about raising the water level above the stained areas in the meantime...will that prevent them from "setting" any worse..or does it not matter? With the water/snow/ice weight off the cover the water level in the pool has dropped a lot as you can see from the waterlines.

Dropping the garden hose in there isn't a big deal honestly if it's at all helpful. Obviously when I go to open it I'll be adding a lot of water anyways, so what I add now won't go to waste.

 

[Richard320]

Algae won't grow well if there's no sunlight. If your cover is solid, put it back on and deal with the mess later.

You'll have the same problem with algaecides that you'll have with bleach - how are you going to mix it well without any circulation? What if it has copper in it? Metal stains are a whole lot harder to remove than organic tannin stains.

And that's about all I can share on that. My pool is "open" 365 days a year in SoCal. It's just too cold to swim in and too expensive to heat.

 

[PrivatePilot]

Although I know opening season has long but passed us, I just thought that I would follow up for anybody who bumps into this thread in the future with a similar issue – as I was reassured, it took about three weeks but all of the stains did completely disappear. The pool is beautiful and stain free.

I will not ever make the same mistake with pre-winter cover cleanliness ever again however!