Decoy’s 2023 AGP thread

Decoy205

Silver Supporter
Jan 11, 2022
516
Central NJ
Pool Size
10300
Surface
Vinyl
Chlorine
Liquid Chlorine
Hey Pool people! I see lots of action on the board with the springtime coming way early this year.

Some of you know last year we installed a 21’ round pool and it was quite the journey.

The good news is we got our certificate and all is well with the town!

in Nj we had a couple of 80 degree days but mostly in 60s with nights in 40s now. I popped open the cover today to take a peak and get some samples.


Current status:

-Cover on and super dry. I’ve been pumping the water off the top regularly.
-water level seems good thank god!
-water temp just below 60*
-water looks clear! I can see the bottom easily. Thanks to TFP closing process

Test results

FC 8.5
CC .5
PH 7.6
CYA 30 I think ( at first quick glance it was 40 buy I looked more and added more water so I’m calling it 30)
TA 70

I tested FC twice and got 8.5 twice. I closed at slam levels.

So my questions to the experts:

Should I fill and hook up the pump now? I’m so tempted to pull the cover as it dry and will be easy but I knot the ornamental cherry in my neighbors yard will be dumping more stuff in the next few weeks so not sure.

so open yes or know or can I wait one more week?

If I should Open should I with or without cover?

We’re also getting rain tonight around 8pm and it’s supposed to be heavy ish.

Here’s my local forecast:
kjKX3No.jpg


Thanks all!
-John
 
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Hey Pool people! I see lots of action on the board with the springtime coming way early this year.

Some of you know last year we installed a 21’ round pool and it was quite the journey.

The good news is we got our certificate and all is well with the town!

in Nj we had a couple of 80 degree days but mostly in 60s with nights in 40s now. I popped open the cover today to take a peak and get some samples.


Current status:

-Cover on and super dry. I’ve been pumping the water off the top regularly.
-water level seems good thank god!
-water temp just below 60*
-water looks clear! I can see the bottom easily. Thanks to TFP closing process

Test results

FC 8.5
CC .5
PH 7.6
CYA 30 I think ( at first quick glance it was 40 buy I looked more and added more water so I’m calling it 30)
TA 70

I tested FC twice and got 8.5 twice. I closed at slam levels.

So my questions to the experts:

Should I fill and hook up the pump now? I’m so tempted to pull the cover as it dry and will be easy but I knot the ornamental cherry in my neighbors yard will be dumping more stuff in the next few weeks so not sure.

so open yes or know or can I wait one more week?

If I should Open should I with or without cover?

We’re also getting rain tonight around 8pm and it’s supposed to be heavy ish.

Here’s my local forecast:
kjKX3No.jpg


Thanks all!
-John
Glad to hear all is well and the pool held up over the winter! I have to be honest I was watching the level of the pool cover waiting for it to drop .. so far so good.

Wow, you have that much chlorine left over the winter, I'm impressed.👍

We always opened our pool Memorial Day weekend but this year we are going to try middle of May. If it were me and I knew I was going to get a mess I would leave it covered. But I have seen people mention filter socks so that can be a game changer. If your itching to open it up, try those filter socks and see how it goes ... you'll have a better grip on it next year and can know what/what didn't work.
 
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Welcome BACK Decoy !!!


can I wait one more week?
You can wait as long as your FC remains above minimum. We are beyond pipe breaking freezes now so you can hook up the pump whenever it's convenient. If we do get a cold spell, it won't be single digits and it won't be for long. Running the pump will keep the pipes/equipment from freezing.

You can run under the cover indefinitely and circulate to add FC as needed. FC will last longer covered than uncovered.

Me ? I'm open because I'd rather clean the pool than look at the covered pool. I'd probably spend twice the time looking at the covered pool all sad than it took to clean whatever crud fell in because I opened it. :ROFLMAO:
 
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Thanks both!

Me and my daughter just hooked up the pump and filter and it’s almost to skimmer level. Glad I took the tarp off the filter because I had the start of a nice hornets nest going.

The water looks so clean. I think I’m gonna try to run with the cover on for now.

@VinnyinNJ the water temps are getting in the 60 range so I didn’t want to screw up all my hard work by letting it get green lol.
 
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the water temps are getting in the 60 range so I didn’t want to screw up all my hard work by letting it get green lol.
The 60 part never matters when you have the 8.5 FC part. :salut:

Don't trust the CYA without a full day of mixing.
 
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With all this rain we had plus the trees dropping a blizzard of seeds im super glad I kept the cover on!
I drained and cleaned the cover 2 weekends ago and I was so proud of myself in how clean it was; it had tree crud and brown green water forming on it. A few days later it looked as if I didn't do anything to it as far as tree crud. Fast forward to this past weekend and it looks as if I did nothing to it at all except for the color of the water was clearish. I was off today so I drained the cover but it now needs to be decrudded again! I found if I use my old leaf rake it is much better than using a skimmer so I will attempt that again ... shooting for Mother's Day weekend. In the past I have had good luck opening Memorial Day weekend, hopefully my luck stays the same with an earlier opening!
 
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I hear you Vinny! I had the cover clean and dry most of the winter. The green pollen definitely did some work on the clean part haha.
I still have the cover pump on so it will reduce any water build up. Then my plan is to wait until it dries up as much as possible use the leaf blower to blow off any major debris, then remove cover . It will require a week of no rain to make it as easy as possible. I also still have the leaf net on there so that should help.
 
Still have the cover on. I may remove it tomorrow as it’s expected to rain Sat and it’s nice and dry right now so removal will be easy before more rain.

I been testing a couple of times a week and Fc has been holding strong at 7ppm and my PH is 7.4 not changes this whole week with cover on. Water temp is about 70*

So far so good.
 
So ordered the Dolphin E10. I’m battling the constant fall of tiny petals from a tree blossom. I hate this tree!

There is also some sandy dirt on the bottom of the pool. The regular vacuum won’t get it. I have to try and get it off the floor and see if more turns up after. Then I’ll know if I have a filter issue or if this stuff was just too fine to get caught in the sand.
 

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