If you've been in control of all chemicals added, and you are sure you haven't added cyanuric acid (aka CYA aka stabilizer) in any form, then you could certainly go ahead and add some CYA. If you aren't sure, best wait for your test kit (which should arrive soon, as you mentioned ordering it 4 or 5 days ago, I think ?).
If the only form of powdered shock you've added is the cal hypo, then you know that no CYA came in by that route.
There is a liquid (slurry) form of CYA available, usually only from pool stores, which will go into the water very quickly. That liquid form is more expensive, however, than the more commonly available granular CYA. If you use granular, put it in a sock, in front of a return, and squeeze the sock from time to time. At this time of year, if you have cold water in the pool, and hope to close for winter soon, I would have some concern that the CYA in a sock will take a long time to dissolve (it goes more quickly in warm summer water temperatures).
Another approach that I have sometimes used to get CYA into new water quickly is to use dichlor (a form of chlorine 'shock' which also contains stabilizer). Dichlor will dissolve pretty readily in a bucket of water (e.g. one pound dichlor into 2 gallons of water in a bucket) and can then be poured into the pool. The downside of dichlor is that it will add a relatively large amount of chlorine along with the stabilizer. Play around with PoolMath (effects of adding chemicals, down near the bottom of the page) to better understand this. EDITED to add: Note that adding dichlor also drops pH significantly, as does adding straight CYA for that matter - as these are both acidic chemicals. END EDIT
Regarding the idea of a floater with trichlor tablets (standard 'pucks') -- those are very slow to dissolve, so probably won't do much for you short term to add either stabilizer or chlorine, especially if your water is cold.
I'm a little concerned with the color change you described in one of your earlier posts -- the water going from turquoise to light green, in your words. The greenish color might indicate iron precipitating out when you added chlorine initially. Your printed test results do show some iron content in the water. If that was the case, adding a lot more chlorine (as you would do with the dichlor approach) could make this much worse. Was the water clear when you observed the turquoise and then green hues? Or was it ever cloudy?
Thinking out loud, if you are positive you have not added CYA in any form, and if time is of the essence (closing coming up soon), the liquid CYA is probably the best bet, although more costly.
If test kit arrival is imminent, check levels yourself first. What is your water temperature?
Oh, and if you decide to add CYA, don't overdo it -- 20 to 30 ppm is plenty at this time of year. If you've been reading on the forum, you probably already realize that MANY people have trouble because of excessive CYA -- the stuff is not easy to get rid of once it's in the water.
If the only form of powdered shock you've added is the cal hypo, then you know that no CYA came in by that route.
There is a liquid (slurry) form of CYA available, usually only from pool stores, which will go into the water very quickly. That liquid form is more expensive, however, than the more commonly available granular CYA. If you use granular, put it in a sock, in front of a return, and squeeze the sock from time to time. At this time of year, if you have cold water in the pool, and hope to close for winter soon, I would have some concern that the CYA in a sock will take a long time to dissolve (it goes more quickly in warm summer water temperatures).
Another approach that I have sometimes used to get CYA into new water quickly is to use dichlor (a form of chlorine 'shock' which also contains stabilizer). Dichlor will dissolve pretty readily in a bucket of water (e.g. one pound dichlor into 2 gallons of water in a bucket) and can then be poured into the pool. The downside of dichlor is that it will add a relatively large amount of chlorine along with the stabilizer. Play around with PoolMath (effects of adding chemicals, down near the bottom of the page) to better understand this. EDITED to add: Note that adding dichlor also drops pH significantly, as does adding straight CYA for that matter - as these are both acidic chemicals. END EDIT
Regarding the idea of a floater with trichlor tablets (standard 'pucks') -- those are very slow to dissolve, so probably won't do much for you short term to add either stabilizer or chlorine, especially if your water is cold.
I'm a little concerned with the color change you described in one of your earlier posts -- the water going from turquoise to light green, in your words. The greenish color might indicate iron precipitating out when you added chlorine initially. Your printed test results do show some iron content in the water. If that was the case, adding a lot more chlorine (as you would do with the dichlor approach) could make this much worse. Was the water clear when you observed the turquoise and then green hues? Or was it ever cloudy?
Thinking out loud, if you are positive you have not added CYA in any form, and if time is of the essence (closing coming up soon), the liquid CYA is probably the best bet, although more costly.
If test kit arrival is imminent, check levels yourself first. What is your water temperature?
Oh, and if you decide to add CYA, don't overdo it -- 20 to 30 ppm is plenty at this time of year. If you've been reading on the forum, you probably already realize that MANY people have trouble because of excessive CYA -- the stuff is not easy to get rid of once it's in the water.
