Re: Leaving for 16 day vacation - what to do with pool
On the old forum I remember PoolDoc saying that Algae is your real concern here. It is hard to give advice without knowing your current CYA level, but here goes. Your biggest concern here is that you don't want algae when you return, so adding polyquat is the best advice around.
Echoing other people's advice, and giving my advice from a shorter vacation I took last year, I would let your chlorine drift down a couple of days before you leave, then put in an "initial dose" (see the bottle for your size - could be up to a quart) of Polyquat (which is great at preventing Algae). 24 hours or so later, bring chlorine up to shock levels. For 16 days, assuming nobody can check in on the pool, I agree that leaving the pump on is risky, so I would turn it off. I think having floaters in the pool is a good idea. It's your call on the solar cover -- but if you are using floaters, 16 days of contact could hurt the cover, so I would keep it off (unless your cover is on its last legs anyway). There are people with much better advice than I have, though.
Link to further explain polyquat for you
bbb = bleach, borax, & baking soda
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