I know typically to lower cya you drain your pool, but I was wondering if there is any merit to using a natural cya reducer called Bio-Active? Apparently it is microorganisms that destroy the nitrogen. I hate wasting water and spending money on adding it. Anyone familiar with it?
High Cya and use of a reducer?
- Thread starter aliinfl
- Start date
It has lots of merit. Sadly, the biggest merit is that it increases their bank account size and does not reduce your CYA.
It's been tried here multiple times.
Results from regular members who use good testing is that there was minimal (within the testing error window) or no reduction.
We have had a couple of people who have appeared on the forum, said it worked wonderfully and then never posted again.
An employee of the manufacturer even posted here for several months trying to help folks to get it to work as advertised, but were never able to do so.
Purchase and use at the risk to your bank account. Be ready to drain water.
Unfortunately there's no merit to Bio-Active. The theory is sound, there is definitely a bacteria that consumes CYA and we had hopes. The results, however, were predominately negative. Even the good results were often suspect. Some glowing reviews were posted on the forum by brand new people (red flag!), and many positive reviews weren't testing their CYA very well so weren't very reliable. When good controlled testing was done it was almost exclusively a failure.
Water exchange works 100% of the time. I'm actually surprised this is something you are dealing with in Florida, typically there's enough fresh water from the sky to prevent CYA problems even with a steady trichlor diet. However, if draining is something you don't want to do in the future then removing stabilized chlorine from regular use will accomplish this.
Water exchange works 100% of the time. I'm actually surprised this is something you are dealing with in Florida, typically there's enough fresh water from the sky to prevent CYA problems even with a steady trichlor diet. However, if draining is something you don't want to do in the future then removing stabilized chlorine from regular use will accomplish this.
- Jul 17, 2019
- 3,774
- Pool Size
- 13000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-40
Its on Amazon, with 2.7 out of 5 stars, and more 1 star reviews than any other ranking.
***** Removed link to product ******
I also copied a good review below, that essentially says that the product worked in reducing CYA, but then he had to deal with Amonia. Lots of time and $ spent to get his pool back in shape:
***** Removed link to product ******
Reviewed in the United States on July 20, 2015
Verified Purchase
I've been through a two and a half month nightmare with this product and it has been absolutely nothing but regret. I ended up using FOUR packets of this thing for it to finally work. For it to even begin working, your chlorine level must be at ZERO (not between 2 to 5 like they say). The first two packs I put in there did absolutely nothing (even though my pool was in optimal condition). However, once my chlorine dropped to zero and stayed there for about a week, the third packet started working. The pool was extremely cloudy by that time, and I couldn't even see 2 inches below (I've attached a picture of how it looked before it started working, and a picture of how it should look). At this point, cyanuric acid went down from approximately 190 to 80 (I had to buy a $55 Taylor kit to test it). So, I got extremely excited, and added the 4th packet, which within 3 days took it down from 80 to 35. I was besides myself in joy thinking this product was magical... However, unfortunately the excitement didn't last long. That's when I thought I could start adding some chlorine to clear the cloudiness, so I added about 5 gallons and absolutely nothing. For the next week I added 3 or 4 gallons a day, and again nothing. Then I added 10 more gallons and two packets of tricholor shock and within a couple days the pool became crystal clear, so I thought FINALLY problems were over. Then I check chlorine the next day and it was down to zero AGAIN!!! I'm like WTF!!! I kept on adding chlorine and within minutes it was back to zero. The pool store people were baffled and had no clue what was going on. That's when I started doing a ton of research and did this thing called, bucket test for chlorine demand (you basically take a 5 gallon pool water sample inside and test for chlorine demand on a much smaller scale). After several days, my chlorine demand was at 340 ppm, that's over 80 gallons of chlorine in a 25,000 gallon pool, costing upwards of $400, which is INSANE (I've attached a couple pictures of just SOME of chlorine I bought). So then, I did more research. Turns out that some bacteria will naturally turn your CYA into ammonia, and that's exactly what this product is supposed to do. However, this product is supposed to have a second stage of bacteria attack that turns ammonia to nitrogen, but apparently that doesn't happen every time, and if it doesn't, YOU ARE SCREWED!! It leaves a massive amount of ammonia in your pool which is a disaster to get rid of (I had to buy an ammonia test kit too and I've attached pictures of how that looked and how it's supposed to looked, it was almost 8ppm - that's nuts). On top of that, it can also leave partially degraded cyanuric acid in your pool, which is even harder to get rid of than ammonia. That's why I needed over 80 gallons of chlorine to stabilize my pool.
Once I knew what was going on, I went to war on this thing. Took the day off from work and for the first 5 hours, kept my chlorine level at between 60 to 80 ppm. It was dropping by about 20ppm every 10 minutes and I kept on adding gallon after gallon after gallon of chlorine. The thing is that if you don't maintain that very high level of chlorine, the bacteria will start reproducing again and you'll have to start all over (I was taking no chances). Finally, after 5 hours, chlorine started to hold and I let it drop to 40 ppm overnight and kept it there for the next day. It's been over a week now (I've been keeping it to around 20ppm), and things are almost fully stabilized. It's still dropping a tad more than it should, but I think I'm getting pretty close.
I ended up learning a lot, and how to deal with this, with the help of some of the best and smartest people out there. I took the advice of some serious chemical engineer type people and you can read more about my journey and all the advice everyone gave me, on this forum - [...]-After-using-Cyanuric-Acid-Reducer-my-pool-won-t-hold-chlorine
Here's my advice to you -
- First of all, fire your pool guys. They don't know what they're doing and they're the ones who let your CYA level go through the roof.
- Follow the BBB method of maintaining your pool, Google it, but you basically add liquid bleach to raise chlorine, Borax to raise PH, Baking soda to raise alkalinity, and Muriatic acid to lower those last two. Everything else either adds CYA or calcium to your pool (both of them will require you to replace some of your water).
- If you end up with very high level of CYA, and you're not in a drought stricken area, most definitely replace your water instead of using this very expensive and potentially disastrous product.
- If you are in a drought area (I'm in Los Angeles) and can't replace your water, look into reverse osmosis - they basically come out and remove almost every chemicals from your pool through some complex process. It takes a few days (I believe) to get rid of everything and costs around $400. Dealing with this product can take months (as it did for me; half the summer is gone) and could be more costly, as it was for me.
- If you have any questions or need help with something, go to troublefreepool.com. Those guys are fantastic.
How much did this cost me?
4 packets of Cyanuric Acid Reducer - $100 (they were nice enough to send me two free packets)
90 or so gallons of chlorine - $350
Taylor 2006 kit - $55
Replacement reagents - $40
Ammonia test kit - $10
two shirts and a pair of shoes - $200 (good luck dealing with that much chlorine over two months and not ruining your clothes)
Losing half the summer and wasting all that time - priceless.
So, there's my story with the "magical" Cyanuric Acid Reducer. Go ahead and use it if you want, but don't say you weren't warned!!! This is an untested brand-new product. If it's still on the market in two years, which I highly doubt, then start using it
***** Removed link to product ******
I also copied a good review below, that essentially says that the product worked in reducing CYA, but then he had to deal with Amonia. Lots of time and $ spent to get his pool back in shape:
***** Removed link to product ******
Reviewed in the United States on July 20, 2015
Verified Purchase
I've been through a two and a half month nightmare with this product and it has been absolutely nothing but regret. I ended up using FOUR packets of this thing for it to finally work. For it to even begin working, your chlorine level must be at ZERO (not between 2 to 5 like they say). The first two packs I put in there did absolutely nothing (even though my pool was in optimal condition). However, once my chlorine dropped to zero and stayed there for about a week, the third packet started working. The pool was extremely cloudy by that time, and I couldn't even see 2 inches below (I've attached a picture of how it looked before it started working, and a picture of how it should look). At this point, cyanuric acid went down from approximately 190 to 80 (I had to buy a $55 Taylor kit to test it). So, I got extremely excited, and added the 4th packet, which within 3 days took it down from 80 to 35. I was besides myself in joy thinking this product was magical... However, unfortunately the excitement didn't last long. That's when I thought I could start adding some chlorine to clear the cloudiness, so I added about 5 gallons and absolutely nothing. For the next week I added 3 or 4 gallons a day, and again nothing. Then I added 10 more gallons and two packets of tricholor shock and within a couple days the pool became crystal clear, so I thought FINALLY problems were over. Then I check chlorine the next day and it was down to zero AGAIN!!! I'm like WTF!!! I kept on adding chlorine and within minutes it was back to zero. The pool store people were baffled and had no clue what was going on. That's when I started doing a ton of research and did this thing called, bucket test for chlorine demand (you basically take a 5 gallon pool water sample inside and test for chlorine demand on a much smaller scale). After several days, my chlorine demand was at 340 ppm, that's over 80 gallons of chlorine in a 25,000 gallon pool, costing upwards of $400, which is INSANE (I've attached a couple pictures of just SOME of chlorine I bought). So then, I did more research. Turns out that some bacteria will naturally turn your CYA into ammonia, and that's exactly what this product is supposed to do. However, this product is supposed to have a second stage of bacteria attack that turns ammonia to nitrogen, but apparently that doesn't happen every time, and if it doesn't, YOU ARE SCREWED!! It leaves a massive amount of ammonia in your pool which is a disaster to get rid of (I had to buy an ammonia test kit too and I've attached pictures of how that looked and how it's supposed to looked, it was almost 8ppm - that's nuts). On top of that, it can also leave partially degraded cyanuric acid in your pool, which is even harder to get rid of than ammonia. That's why I needed over 80 gallons of chlorine to stabilize my pool.
Once I knew what was going on, I went to war on this thing. Took the day off from work and for the first 5 hours, kept my chlorine level at between 60 to 80 ppm. It was dropping by about 20ppm every 10 minutes and I kept on adding gallon after gallon after gallon of chlorine. The thing is that if you don't maintain that very high level of chlorine, the bacteria will start reproducing again and you'll have to start all over (I was taking no chances). Finally, after 5 hours, chlorine started to hold and I let it drop to 40 ppm overnight and kept it there for the next day. It's been over a week now (I've been keeping it to around 20ppm), and things are almost fully stabilized. It's still dropping a tad more than it should, but I think I'm getting pretty close.
I ended up learning a lot, and how to deal with this, with the help of some of the best and smartest people out there. I took the advice of some serious chemical engineer type people and you can read more about my journey and all the advice everyone gave me, on this forum - [...]-After-using-Cyanuric-Acid-Reducer-my-pool-won-t-hold-chlorine
Here's my advice to you -
- First of all, fire your pool guys. They don't know what they're doing and they're the ones who let your CYA level go through the roof.
- Follow the BBB method of maintaining your pool, Google it, but you basically add liquid bleach to raise chlorine, Borax to raise PH, Baking soda to raise alkalinity, and Muriatic acid to lower those last two. Everything else either adds CYA or calcium to your pool (both of them will require you to replace some of your water).
- If you end up with very high level of CYA, and you're not in a drought stricken area, most definitely replace your water instead of using this very expensive and potentially disastrous product.
- If you are in a drought area (I'm in Los Angeles) and can't replace your water, look into reverse osmosis - they basically come out and remove almost every chemicals from your pool through some complex process. It takes a few days (I believe) to get rid of everything and costs around $400. Dealing with this product can take months (as it did for me; half the summer is gone) and could be more costly, as it was for me.
- If you have any questions or need help with something, go to troublefreepool.com. Those guys are fantastic.
How much did this cost me?
4 packets of Cyanuric Acid Reducer - $100 (they were nice enough to send me two free packets)
90 or so gallons of chlorine - $350
Taylor 2006 kit - $55
Replacement reagents - $40
Ammonia test kit - $10
two shirts and a pair of shoes - $200 (good luck dealing with that much chlorine over two months and not ruining your clothes)
Losing half the summer and wasting all that time - priceless.
So, there's my story with the "magical" Cyanuric Acid Reducer. Go ahead and use it if you want, but don't say you weren't warned!!! This is an untested brand-new product. If it's still on the market in two years, which I highly doubt, then start using it
Last edited by a moderator:
Aghhhh, Ok, I am not going to get it! lol! Typically yea, we get tons of rain all summer, but that hasnt started yet. It's my own fault. I got lazy and used pucks since the fall only supplementing liquid from time to time. Closest pool store closed and its a pain now to get chorine. I ran out of the cya tester and the pool always looks so good I didnt bother testing for that. Pool was resurfaced 2 summers ago, and CYA was so low then,so I thought it would take awhile to build up. I got some yesterday finally for my taylor kit and its so high,I had to do a 50% dilution and it reads about(70) so 140ppm.
As someone dealing with high CYA (140) and a stubborn “pool guy” Who reassured me that a CYA of 140ppm is fine I think I’ll just stop using Trichlor and go with bleach all summer.
I bought two packets of the Bio-Active and I’m not scared to use them. I was even prepared to drop my Chlorine down from 13ppm to 0 to use a packet!
I bought two packets of the Bio-Active and I’m not scared to use them. I was even prepared to drop my Chlorine down from 13ppm to 0 to use a packet!
Yea, that is what I have done too. I just have to get on a routine to pick up chlorine which is typically so inconvenient for me when I work, but so far I wont be going back until possibly mid July, so I just have to force myself to run to the pool store . I used to use Clorox a lot before since it's easier to grab it at the grocery store, but it costs so much more that the 2.5 jugs and its so wasteful with all those bottles. Just wish someone delivered chlorine like they did with milk back in the day lol.