Thoughts on bio-active cya reducer

[heugeneo]

I'm curious, heugeneo has there been any direct sun on your pool when running the chlorine so low?

I'm a little scared of having an algae bloom when I get the chlorine down to apply the cya reducer in the upcoming week.

But I think they claim that won't be a problem.

Yes, the automatic cover has been open the entire time, and there is no shade. I too am concerned about an aglae bloom, however the manufacturer states that will not happen while their product is in (we'll find out). If chlorine is raised about 5ppm it will kill all their product. I bought some polyquat 60 I was planning on using, but haven't yet as they don't recommend any other product be added while the bioactive is used. It's coming up on a week with almost no chlorine. My thoughts are if I have an algae bloom I'm going to have to dump a ton of chlorine in there anyways, so I might as well give the bioactive all the chance it can get in the mean time. I did add some metal sequestrant the other day as I noticed metal stains starting to return. I don't know if that had an effect on the bioactive or not.

Looking forward to hearing if you have good results!

Readings today, not quite 24 hours after second dose:

FC .2
CC .6

CYA 4:1 dilution 250, 3:1 dilution 220

 

[chem geek]

I'm not sure why they think there won't be an algae bloom when there product is being used unless they explicitly have something in their product to prevent algae growth but that doesn't kill their bacteria. Maybe they think that the bacteria will consume enough phosphates and since they grow faster than bacteria that will slow down algae growth. Speaking of which, I wonder if their product won't work as well in a pool with low phosphates.

 

[Rflasck]

I'm new here. I have just begun a trial run of the CYA reducer.
Info:
Small 10K gallon in-ground pool in Northern California. Have been using a pool store for years to test my water and obtain chemicals to maintain my own pool. They have always recommended the Trichlor 3" hockey pucks which I have been using for years, but I have noticed an ever increasing required FC level to avoid algae. They tested my water recently and reported a CYA level of 150. I was suspicious that their test may have maxed out. I had been running a FC level of 10% of the CYA level in the past, but during the past year, I've had to run 20+ ppm FC to avoid a swamp. I am now doing my own testing using both a Taylor K-2006 kit and test strips. Multiple tests at different dilution levels showed my CYA to be 350 ppm (not 150 as the pool store printout said). So much for the pool store wisdom of using Trichlor hockey pucks (and testing accuracy).

I can't drain and re-fill my pool because of the drought. I decided to try the new CYA reducer.

I have reduced the FC level to 2 ppm - verified with 2 different kits and test strips. My PH is 7.4 - verified with multiple tests. Today I dumped the contents of the CYA reducer pouch into my skimmer. I am running the pump/filter >8 hours per day. I intend to make multiple measurements of the CYA level every other day for the next week or so. Hopefully the CYA will come down to <100 ppm before the pool turns green! I'll post my results here. I'll be using bleach instead of trichlor from now on (after my CYA level comes down). Wish me luck!

Richard

 

[Patrick_B]

I'm new here. I have just begun a trial run of the CYA reducer.
Info:
Small 10K gallon in-ground pool in Northern California. Have been using a pool store for years to test my water and obtain chemicals to maintain my own pool. They have always recommended the Trichlor 3" hockey pucks which I have been using for years, but I have noticed an ever increasing required FC level to avoid algae. They tested my water recently and reported a CYA level of 150. I was suspicious that their test may have maxed out. I had been running a FC level of 10% of the CYA level in the past, but during the past year, I've had to run 20+ ppm FC to avoid a swamp. I am now doing my own testing using both a Taylor K-2006 kit and test strips. Multiple tests at different dilution levels showed my CYA to be 350 ppm (not 150 as the pool store printout said). So much for the pool store wisdom of using Trichlor hockey pucks (and testing accuracy).

I can't drain and re-fill my pool because of the drought. I decided to try the new CYA reducer.

I have reduced the FC level to 2 ppm - verified with 2 different kits and test strips. My PH is 7.4 - verified with multiple tests. Today I dumped the contents of the CYA reducer pouch into my skimmer. I am running the pump/filter >8 hours per day. I intend to make multiple measurements of the CYA level every other day for the next week or so. Hopefully the CYA will come down to <100 ppm before the pool turns green! I'll post my results here. I'll be using bleach instead of trichlor from now on (after my CYA level comes down). Wish me luck!
Richard

Welcome to the forum Richard!

If you would please, start a thread about your own experience, and include all the details you can. No problem telling us about it here, but this is a subject of great interest right now and several of us would like to discuss and ask questions in yours. I can move this post out to a new thread, or you can start a new one if you like. Let me know and I'll help if you want to move it. Thank you for posting, and sharing your experience about it with us.

 

[Jose Torres]

I'm not sure why they think there won't be an algae bloom when there product is being used unless they explicitly have something in their product to prevent algae growth but that doesn't kill their bacteria. Maybe they think that the bacteria will consume enough phosphates and since they grow faster than bacteria that will slow down algae growth. Speaking of which, I wonder if their product won't work as well in a pool with low phosphates.

Hello, I'm Jose with Bio-Active. I'd like to clarify with some details about this.

The Cyanuric Acid Reducer consists of hungry little microbes which consume and degrade CYA as a fuel source, but they may also consume other nutrients that algae feed on like nitrogen (which happens to be an element that CYA is composed of). They do so at a faster rate than algae would consume them, so algae growth may be affected as a result.

However, tests have found this reaction is slight, so we don't advertise BA-CAR as an algae reducer or inhibitor though it does have some properties of that.

 

[Divin Dave]

Hi Jose,
Welcome to TFP!

We are really glad you're here. Lots of interest in your product.

We can work with the algae, but by far, the biggest problem we see on this forum is folks have extraordinarily high CYA.
The Bio Active will certainly be a life saver if we can substantiate the effectiveness of it.

Again, welcome and please feel free to chime in.

Hello, I'm Jose with Bio-Active. I'd like to clarify with some details about this.

The Cyanuric Acid Reducer consists of hungry little microbes which consume and degrade CYA as a fuel source, but they may also consume other nutrients that algae feed on like nitrogen (which happens to be an element that CYA is composed of). They do so at a faster rate than algae would consume them, so algae growth may be affected as a result.

However, tests have found this reaction is slight, so we don't advertise BA-CAR as an algae reducer or inhibitor though it does have some properties of that.

 

[Patrick_B]

Welcome to TFP Jose,

We look forward to talking with you. This is a very hot topic right now. Glad you found us.

 

[heugeneo]

48 hours after second dose....

CYA of 240 with 2:1 dilution.

Second bag doesn't seem to be working as quickly/effectively as the first.

 

[JamesW]

Jose, so as not to hijack this thread, I have started a new thread here.

http://www.troublefreepool.com/threads/90865-Bioactive-technical-process

Could you give some information on the details of how bioactive works?

 

[Patrick_B]

Thank you JamesW!

 

[heugeneo]

Todays results...

FC .2
CC 1
PH 7.4
TA 175
CH 500
CYA 3:1 dilution - 210

 

[heugeneo]

I won't have time to check later so I just took a midday reading and was pleasantly surprised to get a CYA of 180 with 2:1 dilution.

Since second bag was added Wednesday have gone from 250 to 180.

 

[JamesW]

Very interesting. Thanks for sharing your results.

 

[heugeneo]

Finally down to a 1:1 dilution.

CYA 180 today and it is overcast.

Bag #3 is on the way. After doing some more reading I believe I may try to keep FC at 2-3 and see if that has an effect on anything.

 

[JasonLion]

While I would love to know the results of keeping FC at 2-3, I can be fairly confident in saying that it is going to cause problems. I don't know if it will only cause minor problems, or stop it from working completely, but it certainly isn't going to help.

 

[heugeneo]

Thanks for info jason. I'm trying to decide if I should chlorinate pool now while I'm waiting for 3rd bag to get here or just wait until the third one is done. My water temp hasn't been above 60 this whole time and it's supposed to remain cool this week. I just did an ammonia test and have .5 ppm ammonia.

 

[borjis]

My water temp hasn't been above 60 this whole time and it's supposed to remain cool this week.

I thought the reducer needed 65 degrees or warmer to work....

 

[heugeneo]

The packages I had "recommended" a temperature of 65 or more. The literature they have online seems to take a firmer stance on the temperature, but either way, it still worked at the lower temp. I'm sure being warmer would make it better. I didn't want to wait for warmer water because it would probably be another month before my water is 65+ and my plan is to hopefully have the water balance by then....

 

[woodyp]

Thank you to the "volunteer" and Jose!

 

[heugeneo]

CYA still holding at 180 with 1:1 dilution.

The next bag won't get here until Monday. I need an opinion from those with more experience on what I should do next. I would like to start a slam to address the CC and ammonia. I also have iron in the water and stains had just barely started last week until I added more sequestrant. Temperatures this week will have lows in the high to mid 40s with highs in the lower 60s. Should I:

1. Just keep adding sequestrant and polyquat 60 until the next bag of Bioactive arrives.
2. Raise FC to 2-3ppm with bleach until next bag arrives.
3. Start a slam and deal with metal stains later.
4. Do AA treatment and sequestrant while FC is down to nothing.
5. Something else?

Thanks for any advice you have.