Pool start up March 2015 - just for posterity's sake.

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ozone is know to break down chlorine. and really serves no useful purpose in residential pool.

You could try getting a slimebag from pool $tore or amazon or dudaenergy. It adds a bit more filtration for the really small particles. Usually, a cartridge filter does a good enough job though. Have you cleaned it recently?
 
wow! if your system has a pressure gauge, you can hold off cleaning the filter until the pressure goes up about 25% of the clean reading. I've read that a slightly dirty filter works somewhat better than a clean one.

Since I slammed my pool and use a sock, I haven't had to clean my cartridges yet. Been over a month.
 
Wife uncovered pool today and added 4 g bleach. By the time I got home after work, the numbers are:

pH = under 7.0
CYA = less than 35
TA = 75
FC = 9
CC = 0
Borate = 15.
Temp = 70.
Salt: SWG was not unhappy, so I'm happy.

Water has leaf and pollen debris on the bottom from a few rips in the cover, but clarity is neither good nor bad.

Yesterday I installed a solar blanket roller. Not looking forward to getting in the water to attach the blanket to the roller. BRR!


Now I'll go back to school for a moment and re-learn what those numbers actually mean!
 
Numbers look pretty good. You need to get the PH up to 7.2 asap. PH below 7 is bad for stuff. Enter 7.2 as your target in Poolmath and add that amount of acid borax with the pump running. Test it again in 15 minutes. It may still be below 7, add acid borax again and test in 15 minutes. Repeat until PH gets to 7.2 or more and stays there.
 
Two days ago, I added 8 boxes of Borax and a sock full of CYA. Chose 8 boxes and a sockful by gut feeling without doing the math. Today borates are right at 50, so I made a good guess. Didn't add any acid, so pH was off the chart high, as expected. Wife and I read the CYA test differently. She says 50. I say 60. So, I'm adding the remainder of the container, which is to say about 1/3 of a sockful. Some of these "tests" can be awfully subjective. Water temp down to 65 this morning. (Offshore winds are 20-25 mph with seas up to 11 feet, which is how it's been for most of April so far. Weather is changing from winter to summer. Hopefully, this week is the last cold snap before it gets hot and stays hot.)

On a side note, Winn-Dixie 8.25% bleach and Ace 10% were both $4/gal. Then I found 10% at Wal-Mart for $2.50/g. We are well stocked on bleach now.
 

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Added muriatic acid, by gut feeling, got it almost right. Added some more (about 3/4 gallon total) and got it dead on at 7.5 pH this past weekend. After two years of contemplation, it finally dawned on me how to use an extra aquarium pump and garden hose to make a solar water heater. Turned out that female end of garden hose didn't fit the male drain plug built into bottom of Intex pool. Ordered adapter from Intex for $1.85 with $5 shipping, whereas Amazon, etc wanted to charge $22 and $35, plus shipping, for the same part. Might get around to posting some pics. Then again, might not.

Water temp at 5:30 PM was 72 while air was 65. Solar blanket must've worked today. Still too flipping cold.

Forgot to mention that I had trees cut or removed to eliminate some of the shade over the pool. Watching the crane pick up and lift the heavy wood over the house, from back yard to dump truck in street was really cool!
 
This past weekend, I connected the solar blanket to the solar blanket reel, got most of the big stuff (leaves and Spanish moss) off the bottom (wore shorty wet suit while doing so as water was 71 degrees), turned the water green in the process by stirring up all the fine pollen particles, added a box of borax since pH was 7.0, noticed FC was @1, so added bleach yesterday and again today while running SWG an extra cycle. Still need to vacuum all the fine dust off the bottom. Bought materials for and starting working on a better method of sun heating water in a garden hose as just zip stripping 150 ft on top of metal frame around pool was ineffective. Temp was, amazingly, at 77 today. Showed wife how to use new solar blanket reel.
 
Wife has been managing the pool. We have been thinking water was not as clear as it should be. As I vacuumed it yesterday, I thought the water clarity was good, but then a guest asked why it was so cloudy. Added bleach and it passed OCLT this morning, but pH was off the chart high. I am thinking the fact that the blue checkerboard liner has faded on the bottom may account for the appearance, perhaps. Wonder why pH went up, as we adjusted it properly after wife put that extra box of Borax in last month. Perhaps just SWG/Ozonator aeration creep?. Will buy acid today as I just added the last few teaspoons left in the container.
 
It's 2017 and I'm mighty thankful for this thread as I would have forgotten most of it, but am wondering why there are no posts in here from last summer. Last year, the original Intex pump died, so I upgraded to sand filter and more powerful pump (both still Intex), bought a better cover which went on in mid-October 2016, after Hurricane Matthew without me getting all the leaves out first. (I wasn't willing to get in the cold water.) Water lever has dropped about a foot over the winter, probably down to the level of the outlet as it was slightly leaking last October, but haven't peaked under cover yet to see.

In 2015, March was obviously too early to open. In 2016, wife opened in in mid-April. Not sure when I'll open it this year, but I put my tiny pump for the garden hose solar heating on a timer and have been running it 9 AM to 3 PM for a few weeks now to start warming the water.
 
Vince, is there a question here? I can tell you your pool should be opened now....don't wait any longer or you will have an algae bloom. If you need advice, please post a set of test results.

This pool is unrelated to the Elk's pool, right?
 
Yes, two separate pools, both still covered as it's still a bit chilly. I do, however, plan on opening both of them in a few weeks. It's the Elks pool that worries me. ATM, my back hurts from shoveling a P/U truck load of topsoil to make two mounds for planting two avocado trees in the yard. Getting old . . .
 

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