Liquid Stabilizer vs Dry

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vittoria

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May 5, 2008
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Northern NJ
I have a question on liquid stabilizer. I opened the pool yesterday and basically have a CYA reading of 0. (In-ground vinyl pool.) I use a mesh safety cover and partially drain the pool each closing and it gets new water throughout the winter, but there's usually some readable but low CYA level.

I just got back from buying the usual dry crystal cyanuric acid, (didn't add it yet), but now I'm thinking I should have bought the liquid stabilizer I saw in Leslie's just to get it dissolved right away. Aside from cost is there any other negative to using the liquid vs the dry?

Will the CYA readings using the Taylor tests kits still be accurate? (I saw the liquid is a salt of some kind and I'm not sure if it becomes CYA once added and if the CYA test reagents can still read it.)

Thank you.
 
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The Instant Pool Water Conditioner made by Natural Chemistry and sold by many including Leslie's produces the identical Cyanuric Acid in the water. The only differences are that Instant Pool Water Conditioner costs about twice as much (see this post) and that it is close to pH neutral. It's just a tradeoff between cost and convenience or speed of getting larger amounts of CYA in the water more quickly.

Richard
 
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I just added the crystal form, 4 lbs total. I poured it into one of my wife's stocking and placed it in front of the return. It took just over a day to disperse. I did shake it every 4hrs to help release it. I went from 0 CYA to 30 CYA in a 32k pool
 
I thought I'd post a follow-up. With a CYA reading of 0 in my 27,000 gallon pool I added two gallons of the liquid stabilizer. It brought the level to around 20, so I added some dry CYA I had around to get it around 30-35. (If it were cheaper I'd have bought a third gallon.) Rather gloppy and really needs to be shaken. It does seem to work well, though. (I do not use stabilized chlorine, so I hope that reading is good for the season.)
 
I just got conned by a Leslie's employee saying that dry CYA is bad for my SWG cell and that I should buy the liquid one, at $38 per gallon. Of course, Leslie's return policy specifically says chemicals are not refundable.
 
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Just bought 2 gallons of liquid CYA from Leslie's since i am starting a new pool with 17,100 gallons of water. Wanted to get it going quick then will go to dry.
 
I completely understand the cost argument, but I like the convenience of the liquid. I bought dry CYA granules for the first time this year because I couldn’t find liquid. I hung it in a sock and 3 days later it was still not dissolved - not even close. I had squeezed it a number of times, but not every 4 hours. I dumped it in a bucket and stirred it vigorously and still could not get it to dissolve completely. When adding more a few days later, I put the granules in hot water and that helped, but it still took several hours and lots of stirring to get it only partiality dissolved. I still had granules when pouring into the skimmer.

Maybe there’s a better CYA that dissolves more easily - I used the Leslie’s brand. If not, I’ll gladly go back to liquid. I don’t mind maintenance tasks, but there’s value to me in keeping it quick and easy. I only add CYA a couple of times per year, so the expense of liquid CYA isn’t huge.
 
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