Opening day sets your whole season's chemistry.
Seasonal pool care in North Texas is its own science. The advice below is calibrated to DFW pollen counts, freeze risk, hardness levels, and heat. Generic national pool advice gets you most of the way; the local nuance closes the rest.
The 15-step DFW opening
- Remove cover, clean and store
- Brush walls thoroughly
- Inspect for tile/coping cracks from winter
- Reinstall return jets and skimmer baskets
- Refill water to mid-tile
- Prime pump
- Run filter 24 hours before testing
- Full water test (7 parameters)
- Adjust alkalinity FIRST
- Then pH
- Then calcium hardness
- Then cyanuric acid (if needed)
- Initial chlorination
- Inspect heater + salt cell
- Document baseline readings
Doing this right takes 90 minutes. Doing it wrong costs months of cloudy water.