Not the best at opening.

[pb4uswim]

Kind of like that old pilot saying - any landing you can walk away from is a good one. So I guess my first opening was a good one. The good parts are that the air lock seemed to hold and I do not see any cracks from the freeze. That's a big one. Also, my pump came back on with no apparent issues. So in that respect, I'm thankful since last year was my fist DIY closing.

However, the water was less than hoped for. I haven't seen so much green algae in my pool since the stagnant water from the original build. Still, it wasn't like a green pond, but it wasn't good. Oh well, I'm sure I can have it back to TFP clear in a few days.

So far, I'll I've done is put a couple gallons of chlorine in it and brush. I also started the robot. All the green is gone and it just looks like a lot of dirt settling. My understanding is that is dead algae. For tonight, I'm done. I'll keep the pump on tonight and check everything in the morning. I'll also do a full test of the water to see what I need to do.

In retrospect, I think the issue was that at the end of last season, I was running low on CYA. My guess is that, without the stabilizer, there wasn't enough chlorine to get me through the winter. Thankfully, I opened a bit earlier than I was anticipating. I'm thinking in a week it would have really been a mess.

We have one more warm day, tomorrow, and then a cool down. I would think cool weather is a good time to do a SLAM. The chemistry starts tomorrow.

Thanks go to this site and those that helped me close last season for giving me the confidence to do this stuff myself. It's a little harder than writing a check, but I do get some pride of ownership out of it and I know it's being done properly. Thanks!

 

[mknauss]

Good job.

 

[ajw22]

It depends on your pools environment if it likes to turn green over the winter.

Did you add Polyquat 60 during your winterization closing? I find PQ60 helps keep the water clear over the winter.

After a few tries you will probably stumble into the right closing formula for your pool.

Algaecide - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[pb4uswim]

I did not add an algaecide. The year before, I just used chlorine and it opened fine. I may try the algaecide next year, but I like the idea of only using chlorine. Of course what I prefer and what I'll need to do may indeed change over time. I certainly did not like seeing green. It ain't St. Paddy's day.

 

[YippeeSkippy]

Folks who live in areas with long winters sometimes add algaecide as a bit of extra protection. But we only recommend it to be a Polyquat 60 type. Don't fall for the cheaper ones that also add copper to your water- bad news!

Maddie

 

[dw9000]

I opened to 1/4 of black silt on the pool floor.. Got the pump running, I dumped in 3 gals of chlorine and started vacuuming. That was Saturday about noon. By this time last night whole pool was vacummed. I threw the robot in and let it run over night. Pool is clean, a little cloudy. I added another gal of chlorine and its pretty much clear now.
I alwas close the same way, some years its much better than other years. Its like Forest Gump said, life can be a box of chocolates.

 

[V___25]

FWIW, I add Polyquat at closing and the last 2 years when we opened, it's not green. I could have been flirting with disaster this year because I had sooo many worms get into the pool after closing and I think their decomposing bodies ate up all my FC quicker than anticipated. The pool is hella dirty from the worms and dirt they brought but I can see the bottom main drain clearly.