CYA Levels

[jcorn23]

Brand new to pool ownership as well as TFP. So glad I found this site.

Im looking forward to getting a "real" test kit but in the meantime I picked up a 6 way tester from WalMart. Everything looks good except my CYA level. I would say its inconclusive. But I think its reading 0. Should I take it to a pool store and risk being taken to the cleaners. They will do a free test but I want to make sure I'm not buying any unneeded chemicals.

 

[BadOleRoss]

The first thing I would do is order a real test kit. I would go ahead and take a water sample to the PS and get it tested. Are you having a problem with the pool water?

 

[Ohm_Boy]

If you haven't added stabilizer to your water, it doesn't have any. CYA is not found in tap water.

 

[Dalandlord]

Jcorn, how big is your pool and have you ever added "stabilizer" or "conditioner"?

It's like the others said if you never added cya before you can assume it is 0. If that is the case a good option to add cya on a new startup would be to chlorinate with trichlor tabs for a short period of time. This is one of the rare instances that someone around here will tell you to use the tricolor tabs.

If you go to the pool calculator at poolcalculator.com Enter the size of your pool and scroll down to the bottom to where you see effects of adding chemicals. Put in the weight of a tricolor tab, which if memory serves me right is 8oz. It will tell you how much CYA and chlorine it will add to your pool. For a pool the size of mine 8oz will ad 5.1fc and 3.1cya

If your pool was the same as mine you could chlorinate with trichlor in a floter till you used 10 tabs and you would have about 30ppm cya. And using the tabs it will be constantly adding some chlorine while you are getting the cya up. The fc is going to burn off fast with no cya. Just only buy as many as you need.

Just remember you don't want to use the tabs after you get enough cya added to the pool. If you put too much the only way to it get down is partially draining and refilling. Just keep track of how much cya you add whether it is stabilizer, or Trichlor tabs.

Let us know how big your pool is and we can help you out.

 

[Dalandlord]

Signature

Jcorn, One thing I forgot. When you can go to The User Control Panel at the top and create a signature with information about you pool and equipment. It will help others determine what you need to do if you have a problem in the future. Every time you post the info will be there automatically.

 

[frogabog]

Since you already bought the HTH kit, all you really need is the FAS-DPD portion plus some CYA reagent.

TFTestkits has a FAS-DPD stand alone kit. I like it, but for $ sake I would suggest that you order R-0870, R-0871, and R-0003 separately. Plus a scoop. It is really all you need to complete that kit. The cylinder from the HTH kit is a good cylinder, I use it every day. Doing it this way saves about $6 over the stand alone FAS-DPD. I would order the 2oz bottle of R-0871, it's a much better deal than the 1oz.

The HTH kit only has 2 CYA tests. Ordering the 8oz bottle of CYA reagent from TFTestkits gives you more than enough for this season and the next.