Increasing CYA ?

[robmaxfli]

Total new guy here that wants to raise his CYA from 20 to 40. I did read over the pool school. Here are my stupid questions:
1) I have Trichlor pucks. Is this what most people use to raise the level? I usually throw a couple in the floater but this does not appear to be nearly enough.
2) Do you add a few of them to a regular sock and put it in the skimmer basket? then give it a week then check?
3) I noticed the CYA to FC relationship. Which one should be raised first ?

thanks much, Rob

 

[PaulR]

Most people get straight CYA (90%+) from the pool store because it's a lot faster than using trichlor. Trichlor doesn't add CYA quickly; for instance in my pool each puck is worth about 2ppm of CYA. If I wanted to bring it up 20ppm then I'd need 10 pucks, which would take about a month if I wanted to keep my FC where it is.

Add the CYA, after maybe 1 day you should bring up the FC according to your CYA target. Don't try testing the CYA level for about a week, just to give it time to dissolve all the way.
--paulr

 

[Butterfly]

Most people get straight CYA (90%+) from the pool store....

You can purchase CYA at Lowes, Home Depot, WallyWorld, KMart, hardware stores, etc. and usually much cheaper than the pool store.

 

[robmaxfli]

Why do people buy the trichlor pucks then?

 

[anonapersona]

Because they have stabilizer in the (CYA) you can buy a bucket of them and they will last for years probably. OTOH, since I don't use those pucks much anymore, my CYA is correct now, I run to the pool store for liquid chlorine (12%) or to the grocery store for bleach (6%) and I have to use either of those up pretty quickly as they will degrade.

In fact, it has been 100 here frequently and those jugs are in a storage unit in the shade, I have no idea how bad they are at this point. Maybe buying 10 jugs of bleach on sale was not a great deal if it takes me 2 or 3 weeks to use it up.

 

[MikeInTN]

Because most people don't know about or understand the CYA/FC relationship. All they know is the pool store told them to use the pucks to add chlorine to their pool. "Throw 'em in the skimmer/floater, when they're used up, throw in some more, test your water with these strips, and if you have any problems, come see us". I used to be one of those people, except my trichlor was packaged in nice little bacpac's for my autochlorinator and cost me an arm and a leg.

 

[robmaxfli]

I guess i have been one of those idiots who bought the pucks and threw them in a floater occasionaly. What would the name of a recommended product be at a Home Depot? I didn't see one on their web site.
thanks

 

[reebok]

product for cya right? look for a little bucket in the pool section that says conditioner or stabilizer or both. if you don't see that, check all the little buckets ingredients for cyanuric acid.

 

[chem geek]

Why do people buy the trichlor pucks then?

For many people, putting a bunch of pucks in a floating feeder or inline chlorinator every 5 days or so is more convenient then having to add chlorinating liquid or bleach every day or two. It's also the most concentrated form of chlorine by weight so is less to carry from the pool store and less trips to the pool store to get more chlorine. The main problem is that people aren't told that for every 10 ppm Free Chlorine (FC) added by Trichlor, it also increases Cyanuric Acid (CYA) by 6 ppm and that at higher CYA levels it requires a higher FC level to prevent algae growth unless a supplemental algaecide is used.

 

[MikeInTN]

I guess i have been one of those idiots who bought the pucks and threw them in a floater occasionaly. What would the name of a recommended product be at a Home Depot? I didn't see one on their web site.
thanks

Nope, you're not an idiot at all. It's pretty much what the industry has advocated, and until you learn of a better way, you go with what you know. Like reebok said, look for a container that says "stabilizer" or "conditioner", and then read the ingredient list. You're wanting something that's somewhere close to 100% cyanuric acid. If you can't find it at HD, try Lowe's. That's where I get mine at.

PS - Yeah, what Richard aka chemgeek said!

 

[robmaxfli]

What I don't understand is why my test strips show very little FC and CYA even though I keep a couple of pucks in the floater at all times. How many pucks does it take to keep these levels high? Or are the pucks meant to be strictly a supplemental source of chlorine in addition to shocking?

 

[reebok]

my inline feeder never kept much in, even at max setting. of course, I probably had a lot of organics. if you want to follow the pool store plan, you can use those tabs, "shock" weekly (which is dumping a bunch of chlorine in, not the right way to shock as seen in pool school) and buy the expensive polyquat 60 algaecide. or if you follow the plan on this site, you won't use the tabs (generally), you won't have to shock, and you won't have to buy the algaecide. you will need to stay on top of testing and read up on pool school. pool-school/
as far as low cya, the chlorine pucks add cya, but slowly. so if your cya is low, the chlorine being added is being burned off by the sun faster than it should be. of course test strips are garbage anyway and they could be giving you completely wrong readings.

 

[JasonLion]

When CYA is low, you will lose almost all of your chlorine to sunlight during the day, so the FC level will never build up to normal levels.

Many people use trichlor as their primary source of chlorine, but add a little extra CYA at the start of the season so the FC level can hold at more reasonable levels. However, we don't recommend using trichlor here. It is constantly adding CYA, and eventually, months later, your CYA level will get too high (unless you have a high rate of water replacement).

See this article for more information about the various available sources of chlorine.

 

[anonapersona]

Why do people buy the trichlor pucks then?

For many people, putting a bunch of pucks in a floating feeder or inline chlorinator every 5 days or so is more convenient then having to add chlorinating liquid or bleach every day or two. It's also the most concentrated form of chlorine by weight so is less to carry from the pool store and less trips to the pool store to get more chlorine. The main problem is that people aren't told that for every 10 ppm Free Chlorine (FC) added by Trichlor, it also increases Cyanuric Acid (CYA) by 6 ppm and that at higher CYA levels it requires a higher FC level to prevent algae growth unless a supplemental algaecide is used.

And, those pucks and the bag/bucket of 'powdered shock' will last a long time, so it seems to make sense to buy in bulk. The TFP way, you are going out to locate bleach or liquid chlorine pretty often as it is not stable and will degrade with time and temperature.