Removing CYA In Your Pool Without Draining
When it comes to keeping your pool sanitized, clear, and blue, chlorine is the most important chemical that you will use in your swimming pool. Whereas, Cyanuric Acid (CYA) is the conditioner and/or stabilizer that helps prevent chlorine loss in swimming pools. Many will think of CYA as sunscreen for your pool. As much as this chemical is vital in your swimming pool, it can also be a nightmare when the levels get too high! During the long, hot, and muggy 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 get rid of it when the levels get higher than what is considered normal.
The Proper Amount of CYA
Typically, the ideal amount of CYA in your pool is between 30 and 50 parts per million (ppm). If your swimming pool gets more direct sunlight, that number could be a little higher. For those of you that have salts pools, please refer to the manual in regards to CYA levels because they might need to be higher. Again, this is ideal but what happens when the number gets much higher? Why does this happen? When CYA levels rise above 100 ppm, 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. To help drive this point let’s discuss how high levels of CYA affect Free Chlorine (FC) levels. Anytime you want to know how much FC is needed to combat algae in your pool you need to multiply your current CYA level by .075. So if your CYA is reading 200 ppm you would need 15 ppm FC to combat algae. You can get this reading by taking 200 x .075 which gives you 15. Getting that type of reading can be extremely challenging especially during the summertime which means you need to lower your CYA levels or remove them and the best way to do that is with Reverse Osmosis (RO) filtration. If you are struggling with algae and are looking for the proper amounts needed for your pool, check out The Pool Calculator.
Reverse Osmosis Filtration to Lower CYA
Our mobile filtration trailer will lower the following issues:
- Calcium Hardness
- Total Dissolved Solids (TDS)
- Cyanuric Acid (CYA)
- Phosphates
- Nitrates
- So much more
If you maintain proper CYA levels, it can reduce the cost of operating your pool because it prevents chlorine loss and reduces the amount of chlorine needed to properly sanitize your swimming pool. Remember to always check the water chemistry in your swimming pool for adequate levels of chlorine, pH, CYA, and Calcium Hardness. It is vital that all of these levels are within normal ranges to prevent algae growth in your swimming pool.