Removing High Cyanuric Acid Levels From Swimming Pools
When owning a residential or commercial swimming pool, dealing with high levels of Cyanuric Acid (CYA) isn’t uncommon. The problem is what happens when those levels get too high and you want to remove or lower them.
Cyanuric Acid (CYA) is also known as “stabilizer” and conditioner for your swimming pool. It is necessary to help retain chlorine in your swimming pool but again, what happens when the levels get too high? In this blog post, we want to analyze this, what CYA does, and what you should do if the levels get too high! Please note, if you’re speaking with a pool professional about high levels of CYA, TDS, or Calcium Hardness, chances are they will recommend a drain and refill. But, before you do that, we have a much better solution and will show you how!
When you are concerned about chlorine loss, one of the most common chemicals used is CYA. The conditioner protects the free chlorine from being destroyed by the ultraviolet rays of the sun. CYA is known as a stabilizer for the chlorine in swimming pools exposed to sunlight. It helps reduce chlorine loss by protecting the free chlorine in the pool from the sun’s ultraviolet rays, which in turn reduces the amount of chlorine needed to maintain proper sanitizer levels. Because of this, cyanuric acid can help reduce the cost of maintaining a safe and clean swimming pool. Depending on whether or not you have a salt system, the normal range for CYA in your swimming pool is 50 to 80 parts per million (ppm). But, what happens when those levels are higher than 80 ppm? The biggest issue would be the effectiveness of the chlorine to act as a disinfectant. When you have higher levels of CYA it will bind with the chlorine, making it slower acting to kill bacteria and microorganisms and prevent algae from growing. Higher levels will also increase cloudiness in the pool water; making it very susceptible to algae growth and challenges with taking care of your swimming pool. It could also increase the amount of chlorine you will need to use to keep it clear and free of algae growth.
At Pure Water Industries, it isn’t uncommon for us to pull up to swimming pools with CYA levels as high as 100, 200, or even 300 ppm or higher! When this happens it can be much more challenging to keep free chlorine working optimally in your swimming pool because the factor to establish the level of free chlorine needed to combat algae is the level of CYA x .075. So, if you had 200 ppm it would take approximately 15 ppm (free chlorine) to keep your pool algae free and that can be challenging especially when the water is warm.
At this point, most pool professionals will recommend a full or partial drain of the water to lower CYA levels. Although they are correct in the need to lower the levels of CYA we don’t recommend a drain and refill. First and foremost, our fill water is extremely “hard”. It is loaded with calcium, magnesium, and other hardness minerals which defeat the purpose of putting good water back in your pool. Instead, Pool Water Recycling would like to introduce you to our Reverse Osmosis (RO) mobile filtration trailer that comes to you. This process lowers Calcium Hardness, Total Dissolved Solids (TDS), and Cyanuric Acid (CYA) without draining the swimming pool. The filtered swimming pool water that returns to the swimming pool is drinkable water, which means it is the best water possible for your pool. By using our service, we can also conserve up to 85% of the existing water in the swimming pool, we never expose the interior finish and you can swim in the pool while the process is being performed which is great for commercial properties.
If you’re dealing with high CYA levels or calcium and someone recommends a water change, please contact us first to learn about all of the benefits of using our service because you will be much happier with the end product and you will also be saving water!