I can't find a CYA Thread with a Pic of a "Good" brand. (Found it!!)

[Jimrahbe]

I seem to remember a thread in the past year that had pics of a Good brand and a Bad brand of CYA..

I think it was posted by one of our experts, but not sure.. It was about the CYA not lasting very long with what the OP was original using, and that after changing brands the problem when away.

In any case, I can't find it... most likely because of my inability to spell anything..

Anyone remember the thread I am looking for??

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[W.J.Christy]

Following....

 

[Mdragger88]

I remember this thread

Granular stabilizer not dissolving

Hi all, I’m working on getting my cya up and have added stabilizer to a nylon in front of a return. It’s now been 6 hours and I’ve been squishing it every hour or so and it’s not dissolving and when I squish it no white cloud (best way I can describe it) of product is coming from the sock...

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[Mdragger88]

All of these seem to be the same product & there are reviews about them not working/raising cya levels or not dissolving

 

[Newdude]

I think it was posted by one of our experts, but not sure.. It was about the CYA not lasting very long with what the OP was original using, and that after changing brands the problem when away.

@wireform posted findings recently. IIRC, it was about not seeing the expected results from a particular brand.

 

[Brian PacNW]

All of these seem to be the same product & there are reviews about them not working/raising cya levels or not dissolving

I have one of those brands, and it seems to disappear quickly in my Pacific Northwest climate… 20 ppm in a month or so.

 

[Hoster]

For what it is worth, I have been using this (from PoolGeek?? I don't remember exactly) last 2 season and they are "ok" - not sure whether the brand issue but my CYA wouldn't increase for a few days then suddenly spike up. (e.g., 20 for a few days after adding / completely dissolved from the "hairnet" in the skimmer then 80). To be fair, the water (without a heater) was around 90 for 2+ weeks during late July / early August.

 

[Rocket J Squirrel]

There was a very short thread in which I complained that Leslie's CYA wasn't hitting PoolMath's numbers.

Proof that Leslie's 2022 CYA is weak

I put in so much CYA this year trying to raise it from 30 to 40 that it should have hit 90. Here are 365 day results from PoolMath. The reading of 50 happened once during the year, so may be test error.

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[dfwnoob]

I agree that something is wonky with CYA this year, and maybe even from the end of last year.

Last year I picked up a few 4 lbs canisters of "Aquamate" brand CYA from Rural King when I was up in Pennsylvania. The same brand seems to also be sold at Ocean State Job Lot and is produced by Baleco International. I ran out of my Clorox brand CYA earlier in the summer and I've been trying to use the Aquamate stuff. It has been awful. It doesn't dissolve worth a lick, and the amount I add never ends up being what it tests. Whereas the Clorox brand will turn into a mush within 15 minutes, the Aquamate stays in hard granular form even after 24-48 hours of soaking. You have to really knead the sock, and even then, it doesn't appear to do much of anything.

I wondered why I was seeing low chlorine numbers, then realized I was barely at 30 CYA. So not only does it do a terrible job of dissolving, it also seems to "burn up" quickly. Time to go back to the Clorox brand.

 

[Jimrahbe]

I appreciate all the inputs, but so far no joy...

I'm hoping the OP sees this thread and responds.

The only thing I remember is a pic of the old product and a of the new product..

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[Jimrahbe]

Found it...

FYI Stabilizer

Early this season I've been using several boxes of the RxClear brand stabilizer and found too many times under achieving per/lb from my calculations so I figured enough and let's try another brand. I then bought the Dohey Brand stabilizer in the 50lb pail and will say it hasn't let me down even...

www.troublefreepool.com

Thanks everyone..

Jim R.

 

[dfwnoob]

If you look the MSDS for "Robelle's" Stabilizer (one of the many names that garbage CYA is being sold under, all in the same packaging), it states the manufacturer is Suncoast Chemicals out of FL. However - Suncoast does not list CYA as a product they currently produce. I have a feeling that MSDS is old and that all of the bad CYA is now being sourced from Wego Chemicals, who is listed as the manufacturer on the MSDS for the Aquamate brand, among others.

That would explain why certain members reported one can/bag being fine, and then the next one is junk. I bet Suncoast stopped producing it, and everyone switched to Wego.

 

[PoolStored]

@Mdragger88 I have had excellent success with Robelle...both price and performance (dissolving and hitting target)...everyone's MMV.

 

[dfwnoob]

Which is odd because that's the same "brand" as PoolRx. Maybe there are multiple manufacturers and it's just whoever they get to supply them at any given time.

 

[Mdragger88]

Which is odd because that's the same "brand" as PoolRx. Maybe there are multiple manufacturers and it's just whoever they get to supply them at any given time.

I think this is probably it & none of these people are actually the manufacturer. They just package it with their name on it. On occasion in the reviews you’ll notice the bag is the same but instead of the brand being printed on the bag it’s a sticker. Like everything else these days it’s a crapshoot really. Quality control is bleak - we the consumers are the product testers now.
Some reviewers even reported that not only did it not increase their cya as expected but instead increased their fc! That’s the scary part to me.

 

[dfwnoob]

For what it's worth, I bought another 8lb of "Clorox" brand CYA last night. Quickly got mushy just as expected, dissolved very easily. Will test the actual levels later today, but I'm done with the other granules.

 

[Newdude]

bought another 8lb of "Clorox" brand CYA last night. Quickly got mushy just as expected, dissolved very easily.

I've had good experiences with them also. I found that temp makes a huge difference with dissolving. Early and late season it bricks up but mid season its mush in 5 mins, even with my small Watermelon sized doses tied up in a Tshirt.