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beaverplt
09-24-2018, 06:54 PM
In the past couple of weeks, since the weather here in Wisconsin got cooler, I've let my pool get away from me. Of course, in that week we had a couple of warmer days and my pool turned green. I'm guessing that because I kept my chlorine levels around 2-4 (my CC was 0) missing a couple of days checking levels hurt me.

All that being said, my question is considering we probably will be closing the pool in a few weeks, should I worry about it? We live in a heavily wooded area and I cover the pool earlier than most. I use a safety cover which, of course, lets light through. A few warm days toward the end of October have always turned my pool green in the past even though I closed it clear. I could spend a few days to clear it up again, but I'm thinking that if I'm going to deal with a green pool in spring, maybe I should let it be and close it now.


All thoughts welcome.

Thanks

PoolDoc
09-24-2018, 07:13 PM
If the green pool is inevitable . . . being green a little longer doesn't matter.

In fact, the worst case is that your pool gets really, really green, but not for too long. What happens then is that the bacterial biofilm that forms with the algae STARTS eating, and digesting, your stabilizer, but doesn't FINISH. What happens in that case is that you can end up with HUGE amounts of ammonia in your pool, that take even HUGE-R amounts of chlorine to remove.

But if you let the biofilm FINISH eating the stabilizer, you just end up with some nitrates, or even better, nitrogen gas!

beaverplt
09-25-2018, 07:49 PM
Thanks Pool Doc. It seemed like it would be a waste of money to clear it. If I want to let the biofilm finish eating the stabilizer, I'll probably leave it uncovered until the leaves really start to fall. I'll put it bed then and look forward to spring.

PoolDoc
09-26-2018, 11:08 PM
No guarantees, but that sounds like a reasonable plan!