Just uncovered AGP and it is green. I'm following the guidelines of shocking and testing every 30 mins. I live in NW Louisiana the pool gets about 10 hours of sun a day and of course its hot here. Given this what should my CYA be? In the past I was told to lower it to 30 to 40. But in pool school it says 70-80. Right now it is 30.
What is the right CYA level
- Thread starter gtrum60
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Well..........I tried 30-40 like you. Pool in full sun in Texas all day. I'm setup for 60 now and we'll see how that works this summer. I wouldn't try over 50-60 to start unless it has a SWCG. Easier to go up than down for sure. DON't increase it until your pool clears and is stable.
While you're shocking, I'd leave CYA at 30. Once the pool loses the green tint, then think about raising it. Like Woody says, and I can attest, CYA is easy to add, hard to remove.
Not an expert but I'll pitch in - first hello to fellow Louisianan! I'm an Evangeline Parish native but in CA now.
CYA is a bit of a trial and error. I'm in sunny CA - not near as humid but far more sunny because there are simply no clouds from May to September. Hard to grasp coming from LA. I kept my CYA at 30 last year and really felt my daily chlorine loss was too high considering I've had no trouble with algae. I've bumped to 40 and will try that for a month. I figure I'll have to go to 60.
I think the best answer is CYA should be as low as possible - between 30 and 80 - and not have unacceptable chlorine loss during a day. You need to refer to the CYA/FC chart to see what your minimum reading for the day should be. Of course, you never want to hit zero, even for a few hours, especially in heat.
CYA is a bit of a trial and error. I'm in sunny CA - not near as humid but far more sunny because there are simply no clouds from May to September. Hard to grasp coming from LA. I kept my CYA at 30 last year and really felt my daily chlorine loss was too high considering I've had no trouble with algae. I've bumped to 40 and will try that for a month. I figure I'll have to go to 60.
I think the best answer is CYA should be as low as possible - between 30 and 80 - and not have unacceptable chlorine loss during a day. You need to refer to the CYA/FC chart to see what your minimum reading for the day should be. Of course, you never want to hit zero, even for a few hours, especially in heat.
If you are shocking, then CYA around 30 is ideal. But if you have a SWG then day to day CYA levels around 70-80 are much better. If you don't have a SWG, then most people want CYA between 30 and 50. But in extremely sunny areas you may want CYA a little higher than that even without a SWG.
Thanks for all the helpul advice. I am so grateful to know that if I have a problem someone will help me handle it. How do you figure too much chlorine loss in a day? I looked at the CYA/Chlorine chart and is it the difference between the min. and the target?
There isn't any specific line between too much chlorine use and just fine, more of a wide gray area. If you are using more than 2 ppm of chlorine a day and have completely ruled out algae, then it is probably time to think about raising CYA.
Health Dept standards are lower than most people will tell you to keep your CYA at... i like to keep mine on the higher side, between 70-80. Esp if you have a Salt system.
But it just depends on your pool and your chemical demand. Of course in hotter climates, pools that get a lot of use or are always heated, dark plaster, etc, you obviously want your CYA higher.
I've had pools with almost no CYA level and never had a problem with chemicals or algae, and vice versa. Just depends.
And make sure you use the good, domestic Cyanuric Acid, in the round brown cardboard barrel. You'll use twice or triple the amount of the import stuff so in the end it's not worth the cheaper price.
But it just depends on your pool and your chemical demand. Of course in hotter climates, pools that get a lot of use or are always heated, dark plaster, etc, you obviously want your CYA higher.
I've had pools with almost no CYA level and never had a problem with chemicals or algae, and vice versa. Just depends.
And make sure you use the good, domestic Cyanuric Acid, in the round brown cardboard barrel. You'll use twice or triple the amount of the import stuff so in the end it's not worth the cheaper price.
ThePoolNinja said:
That is interesting about the imported CYA. I figured if it said 100% Cyanuric Acid it would not matter. I just bought some based on a topic is saw here on the forum, 16lbs for $37.51. The pool store gets $28 for 4 or 6 lbs I can't remember for sure. How do you tell if it is imported? I will try and monitor the results when I add it to my pool to see if there is any difference.
There have been a few bad batches of CYA over the years that either contained a much lower percentage of CYA than they claimed, or none at all. Other than that, it doesn't matter where you get your CYA, it is all the same stuff.
If your FC is at 10ppm will that give you a bad reading on the CYA. We went out of town and I know not to do it but used a floater with the tabs and ran the pool day and night and the CYA jumped from 40 to 70 can that be right?
FC level has no effect on the CYA test.
Running a floater in the pool can certainly raise the CYA from 40 to 70 in a short while, especially if the outlet was opened pretty far. How long were you gone?
Running a floater in the pool can certainly raise the CYA from 40 to 70 in a short while, especially if the outlet was opened pretty far. How long were you gone?
We were gone over a week. Like i said I know better but it was convenient while we were gone. Really don't have anyone to check the pool for us. Are all the tabs bad? The pool store(where I didn't purchase them) said theirs do not have stabilizer in them. I would only do this when going out of town.
There are only two (ok three but Lithium Hypo is crazy expensive) Those with stabilizer and those with calcium. If your calcium is low then you could use cal-hypo and it doesn't add CYA.
Require is the wrong word. SWGs work better at high CYA levels, but they still work at all at normal CYA levels. A SWG tends to reduce the frequency of several of the common problems with high CYA levels and at the same time higher CYA levels allow the SWG to last longer and helps prevent/stabilize some of the common disadvantages of using a SWG. The net effect is that you have better odds of being trouble free with a SWG at higher CYA levels, and better odds without a SWG at lower CYA levels.
Thank you!! I am constantly learning new things about caring for my pool. I really appreciate the help!!
Thanks again for the info on the chlor tabs. I don't plan on using them except when we are on vacation or unless I can find someone to watch the pool while we are gone. I was just using the pool calculator and its awesome. We have 27ft ABG pool I know its 52in deep and I plugged those numbers in to get the volume but I'm wondering where the water level should be to keep it consistent - middle of the skimmer?