Opening my pool - need advice about this strategy

[pfitz4]

Hello! I am fairly new to opening the pool myself, so your advice would be helpful. I have a mesh safety cover, sand filter, and I live in the South so it's already getting pretty warm here. My water temp is about 55. I pulled the cover back today and the water is quite green.

I got everything running so that I could drop the water down to the right level. We are expecting storms and significant rain this week and will be out of town next week, so I would ideally like to wait a couple of weeks for the official SLAM/brush process. But I am afraid that if I wait two more weeks, the water will be a total green swamp.

My thought is to leave the cover on, but run the filter intermittently and start adding/monitoring liquid chlorine now. The hope is to have clearer water in a couple of weeks when I do the full SLAM/opening process. Is this worth my time? Or just pouring chlorine down the drain?

Secondly, should I go ahead and add salt and turn on the SWG, or wait?

Thanks for your advice.

 

[Flying Tivo]

If you are not able to commit to the slam, then just wait and leave it covered. You can drain some as to prevent overflow by rain. Some will say to add a gallon of liquid chlorine a day, but i would save it for the slam.

 

[Newdude]

The hope is to have clearer water in a couple of weeks when I do the full SLAM/opening process. Is this worth my time? Or just pouring chlorine down the drain

Well that is a bit of a double edged sword but still worth it. If you add 4ppm a day of chlorine it won’t clear the green, but it won’t get any worse either, so it willl be easier when the time comes.

Algae grows exponentially so if you are already seeing a good deal, it will bite you if you completely wait. I often got my equipment running weeks before pulling the cover. It can run underneath just fine and would stir up your added chlorine for you in the meantime.

Secondly, should I go ahead and add salt and turn on the SWG, or wait?

You can add the salt anytime but you’ll need the SWG off to properly SLAM Process and Overnight Chlorine Loss Test. So the salt can wait if it’s easier for you.

 

[Bperry]

I’d add a gallon or two of chlorine if it’s already green and cover it back up until your ready to open. That is after you drain whatever your planning to.

 

[PoolGate]

I would add chlorine now for sure. I'd add a few gallons now and until you open. If your equipment isn't on yet you can add it and mix it by hand with a brush.

 

[Pool_Medic]

I regularly open a lot of pools, get everything running and then put safety covers back on until the maple buds are done falling.