It’s springtime, and it may be time for a big reveal. You may be wondering about the colors of the algae for the year, or you may even be lucky and see crystal clear waters! It’s common for many homeowners to stand at the edge of their pool deck and remove the covers to see if their efforts during the winter days made a difference.
Whether this is your first season or the 10th, it’s essential to get ready with your needs. Regardless of what’s waiting for you under the tarps, you can be prepared with anything if you get the best above ground pool equipment online and add some more on your supplies if needed. This way, you can start working on shocking the pool and killing the microorganisms living in the waters.
Checklists for Supplies
Kits for Opening Day
One of the best things that you can prepare on opening day is a whole box of supplies containing stain removers, algaecide, clarifiers, shock treatments, and absorbent sponges for attracting oils. It’s highly recommended to get a boxful of brands that will give you products that act as clarifiers and algaecides in one package so you can save more. For pool shocks, you can order about extra 12 bags to ensure cleanliness.
Fresh Reagents for the Test Kits
Never skimp on test kits because they will tell you the actual condition of your swimming pool. You may have purchased test kits before, and you can just save more when you have a fresh stock of reagents, especially if you’re doing tests several times a week.
Some strips can become convenient, but they may not be enough when you’re opening your pool for the first time after many months. Homeowners may not notice, but the shelf lives of reagents with chemicals are shorter than the other pool treatments. It’s best if you can replace the reagents every season so you’ll have accurate results.
Every season, you may want to do some tests using your test kit reagents to see if they are still working. The cold weather can be a factor that will change the reactions and structure of the chemicals, and they will result in a more cloudy pool. Read more about chemicals like chlorine on this page.
Balancing the Water Chemicals
It’s unavoidable that once you know the situation in your pool through the super accurate and newly stocked reagent testing kits, you’re going to make many adjustments. Some of the things that you need to balance are the water’s pH levels, calcium hardness, alkalinity, and more.
You may want to test the water some couple of days before you’re opening a pool at a party and ensure that you have a decreaser or increaser stashed away somewhere. Once you know which ones you’re going to use, you may want to check the conditioner or stabilizer levels. This should be a level of 30 to 50 ppm containing cyanuric acid, and this can let you save on chlorine significantly.
Leaf Rakes, Poles, Brushes, Hose, and Vacuum Heads
You may want to get the pool maintenance accessories like brushes, holes, vacuums, poles, and leaf rakes to ensure the cleanliness of the water all throughout the summer days. The goal in many swimming pools is not to change the water, and everything is always filtered, cleaned, and checked for alkalinity and acidity levels for a safer swim.
You need to ensure that the filters are working well, you have adequate equipment to get the water ready for the summer. This may include buying a new vacuum head if the old ones are not efficient or replacing the old brushes.
Update the tools every season, and don’t let the vacuum break on you in the middle of cleaning. If you’re still using some old tools that the builders have given you a few years back, maybe it’s time to upgrade some that use technology.
Leaf Blowers and Garden Hoses
Garden hoses and blowers may not be on top of the list, but there are some of the essentials that you should never miss. During the opening process, you need to raise water levels, which can be done through a garden hose.
Although it will take time to fill everything up with water, you may want to start with the garden hose and wait for a few days. In-ground pools may need a bit of spraying on the deck areas. Leaf blowers can come in handy before you remove the covers so that cleaning can be a breeze. Learn more about cleaning tips here: https://www.wikihow.com/Clean-Your-Own-Pool.
Tape Made of Teflon
Teflon tapes can be used in pressure gauges, drain plugs, and threaded plugs. This is a minor detail that will benefit you a lot. If you miss using any threaded connections or sealant, it can lead to air and water leaks. Wrapping the tape about 3 to 4 times around the threaded plug can help, especially if you do it in a clockwise direction.
