Why you should keep your CYA levels in balance

Do you feel like you are constantly adding chlorine and it's just not quite getting the job done? Check out CYA, a formula that is chlorines best friend and is commonly referred to as cyanuric acid.

Why is CYA important?

Well, imagine both the sun and your pool are in a 1960’s comic book, the ones with the cool cartoons. As expected, there is both a hero and a villain in your story.

Chlorine is your pool’s hero because when the levels are properly balanced it keeps the pool safe from harmful bacteria like giardia, e-coli and Staphylococcus (staff). This means that when little Jimmy decides to “take a leak” in the pool, you are still covered because your chlorine (sodium hypochlorite) gets right to work killing any dangerous pathogens little Jimmy might leave behind.

But there is a problem, the villain of the story is alive and well and it’s called the sun. The sun shoots these little UV rays at your swimming pool all day long trying to weaken the effectiveness of your chlorine. When the sun makes contact with the chlorine in your swimming pool, it dissipates causing you to lose your pool's ability to kill harmful bacteria. Some studies even show that UV rays can cause you to lose 75-90% of the chlorine in your swimming pool in a matter of 2-3 hours.

That’s where CYA comes in. Cyanuric acid is like sunscreen to your Chlorine. If the levels of CYA are in balance, then it blocks the UV rays from coming in and destroying your Chlorine. To make sure your CYA is doing it’s job, you need the CYA levels to be at 30 PPM or more. You can find a test kit that will test for CYA here. CYA is commonly referred to as "Chlorine Stabilizer" in the stores.

But there’s a caveat. If your CYA get’s to high then it reduces the effectiveness of your Chlorine, causing you to spend more money on Chlorine to get the job done. So try to keep the levels between 30 and 50 PPM. Anything over 100 PPM and your Chlorine will have a hard time doing it’s job. You should also know that the only way to get CYA levels down is to drain some of your water. So make sure you keep it in the right range!

Luckily, many chlorines come with some CYA already in the formula to keep you protected. So check for that! In short, CYA is like the shield to the super hero we call Chlorine. If the shield is working, the superhero can protect the family. So make sure you’re CYA levels are in balance so your Chlorine can keep working all day long.

Pro Tip

Consider shocking your pool at night. This allows you to run your filter at a time where less people are on the grid so you get cheaper pricing. It also allows you to keep your Chlorine far away from those UV rays :).

Happy Swimming!

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