One of the most important keys to an enjoyable swimming pool is balanced chemicals. As a pool owner, you must have known that your pool water contains a lot of chemicals that work together to keep it look adorable and feel comfortable for everyone.
Of course, keeping the level of those chemicals in the ideal range should be included in your pool maintenance list. You will have a lot of problems even when just one chemical is too high or too low, starting from ugly cloudy water to annoying algae invasion.
What is cyanuric acid?
From its name, you can quickly guess that is a type of chemical compound, and yes it is. The compound is specifically called triazine which means cyanuric acid or CYA contains three nitrogen atoms and carbon atoms.
Why do we need cyanuric acid?
In the world of pool chemical, cyanuric acid is often called a pool stabilizer which is produced in granule or liquid. Basically, CYA works to help chlorine in killing contaminants in pool water.
Yes, adding chlorine alone is actually not enough to sanitize the entire pool water and sunlight is the one to blame. When your pool is exposed to excessive UV light, the amount of free chlorine (which works to sanitize the water) can be reduced due to evaporation. It makes the chlorine can’t optimally make your pool as hygiene as it can be. That is the time when CYA does its job.
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How to Lower Cyanuric Acid in Pool
Just like the other chemicals of your pool water, you have to add the right amount of cyanuric acid. But, sometimes, things happen and you have a swimming pool with high cyanuric acid.
Though the job of CYA is to help the function of chlorine, when you add too much, it can turn the chlorine into nothing. In other words, the chlorine won’t maximally sanitize the water which means you need to take some actions.
Luckily, you can do the job all by yourself without calling a pro.
Test the Water
Since the sign of high cyanuric acid is less visible, you may find that the level is too high by testing the water. You just need to simply use pool water tester kit and if it shows the high level of CYA, then you need to continue to the next step.
Dilute the Water
This is the fastest way to lower cyanuric acid in pool water that you can try. It works only if the level is not really that high.
You need to use the same excessive percentage of cyanuric acid level with the water. For instance, if the level of CYA is 5% higher than the ideal range, then you need to remove 5% of pool water volume. Fill back the pool with fresh water.
Add Chlorine Without CYA
Some chlorine products come with cyanuric acid, which can cause this kind of problem.
- Check the label of the current chlorine that you use.
- If you find potassium dichloroisocyanurate, sodium dichloroisocyanurate, , and trichloroisocyanurate are listed, it means that your chlorine contains CYA.
- Purchase the chlorine which doesn’t contain CYA, then add to the pool to prevent the high CYA level.
(Check this out: How to Keep Bees Away from Pool with 5 DIY Steps Safely and Effectively)
Drain the Pool
The very last effort that you can do to lower cyanuric acid in the pool is to drain the water.
- You have to drain the pool when the level is extremely high.
- Fill the pool back with fresh water.
- Backwash or replace the pool filter if necessary.
(Read also: 12 Effective Steps on How to Get Algae Out of Pool | DIY Tutorial)
Adding cyanuric acid is always an option or some chlorine products even already contain the chemical. But in short, CYA won’t do you wrong if you add it in the ideal range
In fact, cyanuric acid actually offers a lot of benefits for you. You can save a lot of money that you have to spend to buy more chlorine. Imagine this, you will need eight times more chlorine if the free chlorine of your pool water is gone through evaporation. With just the right amount of CYA, you can use the pool comfortably without costing you a lot.
So, always regularly test the level of the chemicals of your pool water to find out whether it’s ideal to use or not.
