When it comes to keeping your pool algae free, clear and blue, chlorine is the most important chemical that you will use in your swimming pool. Whereas, Cyanuric Acid (CYA), also known as conditioner/stabilizer, helps prevent chlorine loss in swimming pools. As much as this chemical is vital in your swimming pool, it can also be extremely difficult to manage when the levels get too high! During the hot summer months the sun’s ultraviolet rays destroy free chlorine but having the proper amount of CYA in the swimming pool can prevent that and we hope that this post helps explain why CYA is necessary for your swimming pool and how to lower it when the levels get higher than normal recommended amounts.

Typically, the ideal amount of CYA in your pool is between 30 and 50 parts per million (ppm). Please note, this level might be different if you own a salt chlorinator. If your swimming pool gets more direct sunlight, that number might need to be a little higher. If you own a salt chlorinator please refer to the owner’s manual as each system has different CYA requirements. But, what happens when the number gets much higher than 100ppm and why does this happen? When CYA levels rise above 100ppm, it can cause a fair amount of problems. It can actually “bind” up the chlorine and reduce its effectiveness thus making it harder to kill algae and other bacteria in your swimming pool. The most common reason why CYA increases is because stabilizer is one of the main ingredients in chlorine tabs. Tabs are typically way overused and cause CYA to rapidly rise. When this happens you can do numerous backwashes in your swimming pool if you have a Sand or DE filter but that can be extremely time consuming and also a huge waste of water. Another option, which we highly recommend is using our Reverse Osmosis (RO) mobile filtration system to recycle your swimming pool water instead of draining it. This service is available to both residential and commercial swimming pool owners.

Just this past week we processed a swimming pool that was dealing with high levels of CYA and algae blooms. The following was the initial chemistry:

  • Calcium Hardness – 950ppm
  • TDS – 6250ppm
  • CYA – 200ppm

After filtering this 20,000-gallon swimming pool for 14 hours we were able to lower their above levels to the following:

  • Calcium Hardness – 150ppm
  • TDS – 900ppm
  • CYA – 30ppm

Our service is a much better option than a drain and refill and we give you much better water quality. To learn more about our service and how we can help you swim in drinking quality water, please contact us today!