WOOHOO! We're open!

[l1ltaral1l]

To my surprise, when I got home from taking my great aunt to a doc appt yesterday, our pool was open. We had planned on DIY'ing it this weekend, but apparently our PB decided to start and we were the first ones. So while I'm not thrilled as they threw chemicals in, I am SO happy it's open!

Today I am working on brushing down the sides so we can vacuum later or tomorrow. Am I right that we should not use the robot for this initial clean and instead use the good ol' suction hand vac?

We had a TON of rain last night, so I didn't test anything yet. Per my husband, this is what they did:

6 scoops of DE into the skimmer basket
4 oz Regal Pool Care Algaecide 60 (thrown across the pool surface)
Some packets (I'm assuming shock?) into the skimmer baskets

The water looks good! I expected dirt as we have a mesh cover and had a muddy yard all fall and winter along with dogs that like to run across the cover. But it is easily brushing off. Doesn't appear to be any algae. Should I wait any certain amount of time to test based on what they added? They did start the SWCG, but did not add salt because they added it in the fall before closing.

 

[Newdude]

First off, Sooooooo Jelly. Can I take your GA somewhere and come home to an open pool too? Clearly the lady is magical. Maybe take your Grandma also and have the weather warm up before we get home too !!

Your pool looks almost full to the brim. I like to kill 2 birds with one stone and brush as much silt to one corner and then vac it to waste by hand. It will never touch the filter and lower the pool at the same time. The brushing takes a couple attempts tho. The first sweep disturbs as much as it cleans.

you will want the pump to run at least 24 hours to mix before getting any reliable water test results.

you will need salt to treat any rain water that got in yesterday or over the winter. Not sure how much the tarp let in under the mesh cover, or if it was all yesterdays storm but that water needs to be treated just the same. So yeah, Let it mix good first.

the water will be too cold for the SWG to work for a while anyway, until the average daily temperature (and hence the water temp) is at least 60 degrees for several days. The pool takes a while to catch up when we finally get out of the cold. You’ll treat the old fashioned way until then.

 

[l1ltaral1l]

Thanks!! I will give you my GA ANYDAY. HAHA.

Yes, it is very full. Apparently the pool guy told my husband not to worry about it as some will be removed when we vac. It's been rainy here lately.

I was wondering about the SWCG. Should I turn it off? Or maybe it doesn't hurt anything by being on and not working right now?

 

[Newdude]

If at any point you add salt, Turn it off while it remixes for another day

 

[Newdude]

Apparently the pool guy told my husband not to worry about it as some will be removed when we vac.

You will drain enough in 10 or so minutes which is why I have as much crud as possible in a small area and that way can get most of it removed in time.

 

[l1ltaral1l]

OMG the worm pile My boys would have a field day diving for them if it was warm enough! LOL

 

[eldender]

We don't have the option of vacuum to waste (not sure why, we have a cartridge filter?) so we were going to use our robot. I am not sure why it would be bad for the robot assuming you get anything big out first? I asked in another group and someone there said it was okay so we are going to go with it!

 

[l1ltaral1l]

We don't have the option of vacuum to waste (not sure why, we have a cartridge filter?) so we were going to use our robot. I am not sure why it would be bad for the robot assuming you get anything big out first? I asked in another group and someone there said it was okay so we are going to go with it!

Let me know how you make out! It's amazing how awesome ours is looking after just a few days.

The 6 yr old went in the brisk 64 deg water yesterday afternoon

 

[l1ltaral1l]

Not even a week later and we are dirt free! LOL

 

[DoubleEcho]

I read in your first post that the pool boy put some stuff in the skimmer basket. In the future I'd avoid doing that if it was chlorine - putting shock or trichlor tablets directly in the skimmer basket can wear away at the pump parts and make the skimmer basket brittle. If it's DE powder go for it! Anything else, no way Jose.

 

[l1ltaral1l]

I read in your first post that the pool boy put some stuff in the skimmer basket. In the future I'd avoid doing that if it was chlorine - putting shock or trichlor tablets directly in the skimmer basket can wear away at the pump parts and make the skimmer basket brittle. If it's DE powder go for it! Anything else, no way Jose.

Thanks! And yes - he put the Cal Hypo and DE into the skimmer. I know now only DE in there =)

 

[eldender]

Let me know how you make out! It's amazing how awesome ours is looking after just a few days.

The 6 yr old went in the brisk 64 deg water yesterday afternoon

Turned out great!! Ran it over the weekend about 4 times per day and on Monday when they opened it was crystal clear within an hour.