Lowering Cyanuric Acid in Swimming Pools in Orange County

When it comes to keeping your pool sanitized, clear, and blue, chlorine is the most vital chemical that you will use in your swimming pool. Whereas, Cyanuric Acid (CYA), also known as a conditioner/stabilizer, helps prevent chlorine loss in swimming pools. As much as this chemical is important in your swimming pool, it can also be extremely challenging 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.

Cyanuric Acid and Swimming Pools

In an outdoor pool (indoor pools typically do not need CYA) with no CYA, chlorine is consumed within the first two hours of sunlight hitting the pool.  CYA serves to protect the chlorine and allow it to stick around longer.  However, too much CYA will bind over the chlorine and will not allow it out to work.  We often hear that “I can’t keep chlorine in my pool” when it really is present but unable to break through the grip of CYA.

When it comes to understanding CYA and its effect on your water chemistry the following is the most important:

• There is a direct relationship between the amount of CYA in a pool and the proper chlorine level. The multiplier to figure out how much chlorine (in ppm) you need is. 075   In the case of a pool with 50 ppm CYA, we would take 50 times .075 to get minimum chlorine residual of 3.75 ppm (we always talk about free chlorine here).  A pool with 150 ppm then would require a minimum of 11.25 ppm free chlorine as 150 X .075 = 11.25.  Oftentimes in our industry, we hear that 2 – 4 ppm Free Chlorine (CH) is good, with no regard for the relationship it has with CYA.  With this simple example, you can see that a pool with 150 ppm CYA and only a 3.75 ppm free chlorine residual is asking for trouble (algae)!  You must either lower your CYA level or increase your free chlorine to keep a safe and sanitary pool in this case.

At Pool Water Recycling we regularly see pools with high CYA and the best way to lower it is with Reverse Osmosis filtration. RO filtration is great at providing excellent water quality as well as conserving up to 85% of the existing water in the pool. To learn more, please contact us today!

Pool Water Recycling proudly services Santa Ana, Yorba Linda, Laguna Hills, Laguna Niguel, Dana Point, Huntington Beach, Newport Beach, Balboa, Corona del Mar, Laguna Beach, Irvine, Los Angeles, Burbank, Pasadena, Glendale, Culver City, Anaheim, Calabasas, Beverly Hills, and Malibu.