Removing Cyanuric Acid From Swimming Pools
If you own a swimming pool, learning how to reduce cyanuric acid is extremely important!
When it comes to sanitation in your swimming pool, chlorine is the most important chemical to keep it clear and free of algae if used appropriately. With that said, the most common chemical used to prevent chlorine loss in swimming pools in Cyanuric Acid (CYA) and we are going to learn how to reduce it in your swimming pool when levels get too high. During the long, hot summer months the sun’s ultraviolet rays destroy free chlorine but having the proper amount of CYA in the swimming pool can prevent this. Knowing that we hope this post helps to explain why CYA is necessary but also how to lower cyanuric acid in your swimming pool without draining it!
Chlorine is vital to have in the swimming pool to prevent bacterial growth but maintaining proper pH levels, phosphate levels, and calcium hardness levels are also important in maintaining crystal clear blue water in your swimming pool. The bottom line is, if CYA is used properly it can reduce the cost of maintaining a swimming pool because it prevents chlorine loss and reduces the amount of chlorine needed to properly sanitize a swimming pool. But, over time CYA levels will increase in your swimming pool and with our current drought condition all over the world, there has to be a solution to lowering it in the swimming pool without draining it!
With that being said, let’s discuss what are normal amounts of CYA and what is considered too high. Typically, the ideal amount of CYA is between 30-50 parts per million (ppm) but depending on how much direct sunlight the swimming pool gets, that number might need to be a little higher. Whereas, when the CYA levels rise above 100ppm, that can cause a fair amount of other problems too. The biggest issue when CYA levels rise above 100ppm is the effectiveness of chlorine because the higher levels tend to bind up the chlorine making it harder to kill algae and other bacteria. When this happens, most pool professionals will recommend a water change in your swimming pool. This can be done by a typical drain-and-refill which wastes on average 20,000-gallons of water or using our Puripool Process.
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 like the pool we just filtered 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. Just last week we filtered a 38,000-gallon swimming pool because of high CYA and this is how our Mobile Filtration Reverse Osmosis (RO) Puripool Process performed:
Initial Chemistry:
Calcium Hardness – 1070 ppm
Total Dissolved Solids – 3428 ppm
Cyanuric Acid – 200 ppm
After filtering this swimming pool for 26 hours we were able to leave them with the following ending chemistry and they got to conserve 85% of the existing water in the swimming pool.
Calcium Hardness – 140 ppm
Total Dissolved Solids – 748 ppm
Cyanuric Acid – 30 ppm
If you’re ready to have that good feeling that you have just conserved a valuable and limited resource, then you need to call us. In addition to the fact that your waterline tile will no longer get that nasty buildup on it, and that you will use a fraction of the chemicals you did before the process to maintain your pool, you will get the experience of swimming in a soft water pool. Chances are you have never experienced that before and will never want to experience anything less from now on!
Take that first step, your pool and you will thank us 🙂