Working TA down...when to add CYA

[mwkelly]

I am currently working my TA down from >500. I currently show 270 though the TA doesn't appear to drop everytime I add acid.

I aerate/add acid to move the pH from 7.0 to 7.6/7.8. I've add bleach for chlorine and I have some 3" chlorine tabs left over from last year and it seems to be keeping the chlorine level around 3 however my CYA reading is still 0.

Should I add all the stabilizer at once or just keep filling the sock until I reach my goal? Also, will it hurt to begin adding salt?

Thanks and I hope you all are enjoying your Easter!

 

[JasonLion]

You can add salt any time (unless you have fresh plaster). It doesn't interact with any of the other levels. Remember that your starting salt level won't be zero.

Adding CYA will lower the PH a little, but otherwise doesn't interact with lowering TA. You can go ahead and add some CYA now. The thing to remember about CYA is that it doesn't always all show up on the test for as long as a week after you add it. If you keep adding more until you hit your target, it will continue going up after that and you will end up with the CYA level too high. The best thing to do is to add enough to get to perhaps 3/4 of your target level, wait a week, test CYA again, and adjust from there.

The CYA test can show levels as high as 20 as if they were zero.