In this post we are going to go over what Free Chlorine and Cyanuric Acid are and common problems that can be avoided with a little bit of care. If you are looking for someone to manage your pool please reach out! We would be happy to help.
What is Free Chlorine(FC)?
FC is the active and reserve sanitizer that keeps your pool water safe and free of contaminants. Maintaining the correct level of FC in your pool is vital to keeping it healthy and safe. Chlorine can be liquid, pucks, powdered, granules, or provided by a Salt Water Generator.
What is Cynauric Acid(CYA)?
CYA is a chemical compound that protects and buffers the harshness of chlorine. The more CYA you have the less effective your chlorine is. The less CYA you have the faster your chlorine will burn away by the sunlight. It is vital that we keep this number balanced. It is important to understand that some types of chlorine add CYA to your pool.
Common Problems
Problem #1: Allowing your Free Chlorine to drop to 0
Not having Free Chlorine in your pool is a first class invite for algae.
Solution #1: Shock your pool
Where a lot of people go wrong here is they start dumping chlorine without knowing their current Free Chlorine and their target Free Chlorine. Your target Free Chlorine is based off of your Cynauric Acid level. You have to hold your Free Chlorine at this level until the contamination has resolved.
Problem #2: Too much Cynauric Acid
You are DIY maintaining your pool, everything is going great, 2 months in your pool turns green. What happened? Little did you know those pucks you have been using are raising your Cynauric Acid level to the point where your original Free Chlorine level is not enough. That 3ppm of FC you have been making sure is perfect is doing nothing for your pool.
Solution #2: Raise your Free Chlorine and backwash often
First we need to shock based on your elevated Cynauric Acid level. More importantly we need to deal with the Cynauric Acid level.
The only way to lower your Cynauric Acid level is by replacing the water in your pool. When people hear that they immediately think an entire dump and refill. This isn’t always an option especially if you use a well or pay big money for pool water to be delivered to your house.
You should already be backwashing once a week – start backwashing twice a week. This will slowly replace the water lowering our CYA to where we want it. In the meantime you need to keep your FC at the level your CYA requires it to be at. Overtime your CYA level with drop and your pool will require less FC.
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