How To Balance CYANURIC ACID In Your Pool | Swim University

Cyanuric Acid helps the chlorine work more effectively in your pool. But if your Cyanuric Acid levels get too low or too high, you could end up weakening your chlorine and causing everything from algae to cloudy water. Don’t worry: there are a few simple steps you can take to keep the Cyanuric Acid levels balanced in your pool.
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⏰ Timestamps:
00:00 - Introduction to Balancing Cyanuric Acid (CYA)
00:27 - What Is Cyanuric Acid?
01:07 - How Does Cyanuric Acid Help Stabilize Chlorine?
01:48 - What Are The Right Cyanuric Acid Levels?
02:50 - When Should You Test Your Cyanuric Acid Levels?
03:29 - Pool Maintenance Video Course
04:16 - How To Lower Cyanuric Acid Levels
05:22 - How To Raise Cyanuric Acid Levels
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Hope this video helps you balance your pool cyanuric acid levels! And if you want to learn more about pool cleaning and pool maintenance, subscribe and leave a comment to suggest a future pool care video. And visit www.SwimUniversity.com/pool to get the Pool Care Handbook and Video Course (Use The Promo Code VIDEO for 10% Off!)

[@usernamenotvisibIe]

Thank you Professor, another great video! Let me ask, my CYA is at 173...I'd it time to drain and replace or can this water be salvaged? I might not be able to fill it due to drought regulations in my town.

[@claytonolson882]

@@usernamenotvisibIe p

[@holcombgl]

I have a little summerwaves 14ft pool like 3000 gallons. I was using the clorox strip to test and it was telling me 0 conditioner in the pool so it had me put in 3lbs. Still registering at 0. So I figured it was the strip so I switched to HTH. Those are telling me I am over 100 on cyanuric. So I removed 30% of the water. Still over 100. Removed 40%. Still too high. Now I have been draining all night and am probably at 60% to 70% water removal. Hopefully 3rd time the charm and this clears it

[@Bik3rboy666]

I'm a new pool owner and I am extremely confused about the PPM calculation, my pool is a Round 24-ft with a 48" Wall which holds 11,895 gallons of water. When adding any chemicals and they talk about ppm.... How do I know how much to add base on the ppm results from the test

[@semarugaijin9451]

Could you please make a video going into more detail about the difference between test strips and liquid kits? I really cant find ANY good videos about it.

[@Maverick-316]

That formula and some of the comments about it will help me moving forward thank you.

[@ClevelandRips]

Pool newbie here. This video was a lot of help, thanks! New SUBSCRIBER here!

[@brandonsander803]

I'm just opening my pool. I have a huge algae problem but shocked it based on your algae/shock video instructions and it's clearing up. I still have no CyA. I have not yet added the clarifier as instructed in the video. When should I add the CyA?

[@jaydee123ish]

Do you mix the warm water & stabilizer to dissolve the granular stabilizer with stir stick u didn’t

[@cloud9438]

I use test strip for distilled drinking water with added minerals/electrolytes powder. No chlorine, I get a high ph 9-10 that I like, high alkaline, and high Cyanuric Acid, would you know if Cyanuric Acid is good or bad ?

[@erickrhernandez1451]

What’s better “trichlor tabs” or conditioner?

[@Gersberms]

It's interesting that CYA does not degrade over time, so once you have it dialed in and you don't have to drain much water from the pool, you basically don't have to adjust it. I'll keep that in mind.

[@truckacabrarex9831]

What do I do if I had three chlorine tabs melt in one night instead of the weak it was supposed to take to dissolve in. My cya is I think 87 and my chlorine level is 15 the guy at the pool store sold me some stuff to add and a steps to muriatic acid is one of the steps will this remove cya ?

[@corysmith6868]

Sometimes I wonder if the quality of the CYA matters regardless of the levels?

[@Tayvaughn]

Are calcium chloride ice melt flakes the same that you use in your pool to increase the calcium hardness?

[@BodyFixExercises]

Thank God for Swim University! Awesome video!!!

[@LetsDIYIt]

Can I just add more stabilized chlorine tablets if my CYA and free chlorine are both low? Or would it be better to still get Stablilizer?

[@bryancrooks2204]

I added 4 lbs of cya to my 13500 gallon above ground pool after a test strip reading of 0. Also adding 4 gallons of liquid shock, not all in one day. No chlorine reading whatsoever. Is this common to have such a low cya reading after adding 4lbs of cya? It's been 48 hours and still no cya reading.

[@duttasujeet]

Can’t find how to use the promo code

[@danotic]

do you need to worry about cyanuric acid levels if you use Bromine in your hot tub?

[@johngnaedinger7982]

Had a HUGE algae problem earlier this year, root cause was high CYA levels (about 100ppm). Had to super-ultra shock the pool with TEN GALLONS of pure concentrated (10%) liquid chlorine and it took DAYS to clear up. Learned my lesson--I'm never using the stabilized chlorine pucks for sanitation again, unless I happen to be away from the pool for a length of time. I now use liquid chlorine exclusively. Slowly, due to multiple backwashings and lots of rain and such, CYA has naturally dropped down to 70, but that's still higher than I want, but I don't feel like draining half my pool just to lower the levels. One thing you don't stress enough is that the FC levels should be MUCH higher than the typical "1-3ppm" levels everyone says you should maintain if your CYA is high, especially if you use those stabilized chlorine pucks for sanitation. Even your "7.5% of CYA" is too low for me. I currently keep my pool at about 9-11ppm due to my CYA levels. No more algae, and totally safe to swim in.

[@johngnaedinger7982]

@@stormtrooper9404 I am 100% certain that the root cause of my algae was because my CYA levels were so high that it was bound to a lot of the free chlorine and my actual free chlorine levels were too low as a result. Now that I test my own CYA levels and know the ideal FC to CYA ratio, I can keep my FC within that range and never again worry about algae. I test using a kit that tests above 5ppm for FC, so I know my true chlorine levels every day. For example, it's currently about 9ppm today. The pool store I used to go to gave me with terrible advice about the ideal free chlorine level for my pool, even after they tested to be a CYA level of 100. The higher your CYA level, the MORE free chlorine you will need to have to keep algae and other bugs at bay. And those trichlor tabs you mention HAVE CYA in them, and they were the direct cause for my CYA levels to get so high to begin with. So that's the reason I don't use them. I self-dose my chlorine every day or so, and it's as simple as pouring about a quart of concentrated bleach into the pool in the evening. That doesn't seem too difficult, right?

[@Surfin808allday]

John Gnaedinger my level of cya was at 156. Leslie pool told me to half drain pool. First I did I 1/4 drain and it went down to 146. So I drained 3/4 of the pool. Down to 128. Employee then tells me cya can stick to your plaster. Now I’m going to just drain 3/4 until I get to 50. Probably take forever. Any ideas?

[@kencarp57]

I had this same problem this year for the first time ever! I have a salt pool with a chlorine generator. The 4-year old cell wasn’t generating enough chlorine to begin with (it was dying), and my CYA got well above 100 because I added too much. That combo produced a NASTY brown algae bloom on the plaster. I replaced the cell, did 2 50% drains/refills to lower the CYA, and used the same 10 gallons of liquid chlorine as you did to kill the algae. I also used 10 lbs of citric acid right on the brown stains to zap them. I got everything back in order over a couple of weeks... my CYA is back down to 70 PPM (salt pools should have 60-80 PPM CYA), and I keep the salt cell at about 35%. Water has been crystal clear and perfectly balanced since June. No more algae! BTW, converting my pool to a salt pool was the best thing I ever did for it. I rarely if ever need to add any chlorine nor shock it. Salt is CHEAP compared to all other pool chemicals! The water feels great too, because the salt is a natural water softener. There is no icky “just got out of the pool” feel on skin with a salt pool, and once I get the water balanced in the spring it STAYS balanced the whole season.

[@johngnaedinger7982]

@@kencarp57 I have only had my pool for two years, so I can totally relate. The first two years, all I did was put trichlor pucks in the skimmer. Water was perfect. Loved it!! BUT, holy cow, this summer, we had a hot spell and the combination of my high CYA level (over 100ppm) and my low free chlorine (at the recommended ~5ppm level) was enough to cause a HUGE algae bloom. It was terrible. Once I figured out that CYA was directly tied to the FC levels, it became abundantly clear that my FC levels were far too low for maintaining an algae-free pool. So, I researched and found out that with the CYA levels I had, I needed to keep my MINIMUM chlorine levels at about double the normal recommended level just to avoid algae growth. If I wanted to have a crystal-clear pool AND have stable chlorine levels, I needed to have my free chlorine levels at a MUCH higher level. I didn't want to drain my pool to lower my CYA, because that's just wasteful and expensive, but I was OK with adding chlorine to bring my FC levels up to the right level. Rainwater and backwashing have brought my CYA levels down naturally, without waste. Eventually, perhaps by next spring, my CYA levels will be back to normal (because I'm no longer using the trichlor "pucks" that have CYA in them) and I can then have FC levels back in the 1-3ppm range with zero algae. Until then, my FC levels will be higher to compensate for the super-high CYA levels I currently have.

[@DFWJon]

@@johngnaedinger7982 So, you don’t want to be wasteful and drain some of the water from your pool in order to lower your cyanuric acid??? However, WITH ALL DUE RESPECT, you are currently being even more wasteful by using the amount of chlorine to keep elevated free chlorine levels around 10 ppm than you would if you were to drain your oool. You are undoubtedly spending MORE money in chlorine than you would spend replacing the water in your pool to lower the amount of cyanuric acid to a recommended level. I can guarantee you that the amount of water needed to completely drain and refill your pool is way cheaper than a the amount of chlorine that you’re using monthly to keep your free chlorine levels around 10 ppm!!! Especially over the course of a couple years while you bring the cya levels down, as you say,“naturally”!!!

[@trentdraven4301]

I had a new client call and asked if I can fix their pools. Unfortunately it was a swamp.🤢 I did a water test and the level of CYA was at 0. So I added the correct amount and left the pump on for 48 hours. But still no reading. What is up? Need help

[@Tigeryoudothejob]

Yes

[@BarukHabaBShemYahuah]

Bio Active cya reducer actually works bro

[@ellie1595]

I have high cya, well over 100. I live in Arizona and we have very hard water. My pool guy drained our pool last April (2022) and I now have CYA well over 100. I am going to have to drain my pool again after only one year. I can't do that every year.

[@user-dg5nx2dw9f]

We need help we had trouble with algae and high Cyanuric Acid we finally just emptied the pool cleaned everything and added fresh water tested the water and Cyanuric Acid is High Chlorine is 10/20 what do we do

[@jeffnicol6127]

My pool is at 250 and im going to drain and refill, can i drain it out on my trees in the yard?

[@carolineweeks8728]

We use a spin disk set up and our CYA level range is 30-90...but I tell my customers 30-60.

[@ryank6824]

I live in Florida, during summer i have to periodically fill the pool due to evaporation loss. Does the CYA get left behind?

[@ystebadvonschlegel3295]

Yes

[@alexgunawan98]

How to help Chlorine more effective to have shorter Breakingpoint dealing with organic matter in the seawater ponds ?

[@chief5981]

I have a sea water pond in the middle of Kentucky 😆

[@nawmmbr489]

QUESTION: We are going on vacation and have rented a home with an in ground pool. We want to make sure that the pool water is safe before using the pool. What test kit would you recommend, as we do not own a pool but we've watched a number of your videos. Can you please advise us? Please and thank you you!!!

[@aguyandhiscomputer]

Just get a pool test strip kit. We use one that checks 7 items.

[@trevorsheehan1757]

If Alph Hydroxy Acid got in your eye would you end up with low vision or blurry vision?

[@AM2PMReviews]

Why is it so hard to find unstablized tablets? Should it be cheaper and easy to find but it’s not…so every other year I need to do a half drain it’s annoying

[@chriskennedy7720]

Could you please address why I might have a skimmer that draws more suction, while the other skimmer is weak. Thank you

[@MonarchPoolPlaster]

Could be an obstruction.

[@OttoNommik]

Is the one near your pump the strong skimmer? Duh

[@TheSodFather09]

After adding how long should you wait until you can swim

[@mannyamenta5566]

You can swim immediately

[@iiiheartt333]

Wow thank you so much!!! I can’t believe how many people will try to convince you of the opposite… 🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼

[@deadli-us]

So this is why I’ve been fighting algae my entire first season as a new pool owner…

[@NP-gb5su]

I keep adding stabilizer to my pool (perfect alkalinity, ph and chlorine) but CYA reading always says 0. I even poured a pound of stabilizer in a bucket and tested that water after mixing for 10 minutes. Test strips showed no CYA in the bucket.. I am confused, can some stabilizers not influence CYA testing? My test strips and stabilizer are both new..

[@dougwilliams5992]

Test strips usually only measure 10 to 50 ppm of cya, any concentration above 50 ppm usually doesn't show on the strip. This low indication leads the pool owner to think they have little cya when actually they have a lot. You should get a Talor test kit that has Cya testing.

[@PoleiceCidcorn]

My cyarunic acid levels are currently low but I have an underwater treadmill and water not exposed to the sun. Only levels low are cyanuric acid. Where should I buy the best stabilizet

[@mneraasen224]

I’m pretty sure in a recent video he said if you have an indoor pool not exposed to the sun, no CYA is needed.

[@angelamholderread4558]

How often should it get high, we just had to empty our pool to fix cya 2 yrs ago and it’s at 54 now ? What can I do ?

[@aris4045]

If you use stabilized chlorine you should backwash often, every week is ideal, every two weeks minimum. It will drain some CYA and add fresh water. Or you can switch to unstabalized chlorine sticks and granules once you have your desired CYA level. I would recommend keeping it between 10-30 PPM. Levels above 70 are bad for your health and can cause eye and ear infections. Also levels above 70 PPM will reduce the sanitising ability of your free chlorine drastically. We build pools, maintain them and also produce pool chemicals and distribute them. Our company has been doing this for almost 30 years.

[@ewalaa]

Can you add CYA mixed with water directly into the skimmer of above ground saltwater pool?

[@mannyamenta5566]

Yes. Add it directly to your skimmer and let it dissolve in the filter

[@mrhedrox9528]

Your levels are quite a bit different than Leslie’s ideal range. They have it from 50-100 ppm. 🤔 My actual level is 41 so I won’t be messing with it, thanks for all the great info!

[@kencarp57]

If you had 100 PPM CYA in your pool water, you would need to maintain 7 to 8 PPM of free chlorine, and it would be very difficult to even add enough unstabilized chlorine to have that level of free chlorine available. A CYA level of 100 is TOO HIGH for any pool, period. I don’t like Leslie’s, can you tell? I have a salt-water chlorine generator, which generates pure (unstabilized) chlorine. Salt pools should be kept between 50-80 PPM CYA, no higher. I aim for 70 PPM CYA. Fresh water pools really shouldn’t have more than 30-50 PPM CYA - and frankly 50 is too high. 30-40 is ideal - so your 41 PPM is absolutely spot on for a fresh water pool. Congrats! Tri-Chlor chlorine tablets are actually 52% CYA, and Di-Chlor chlorine granules are 54% CYA... so if you use those for sanitizing your pool, you are actually adding a dose of CYA with every addition of chlorine. The CYA level will rise over time when using tri-chlor or di-chlor. If your CYA level is at or near the upper limit, you can use liquid chlorine (12.5% sodium hypochlorite solution... basically a strong bleach), or cal-hypo. Neither of these forms of chlorine are stabilized - but the existing CYA in the pool will protect them from burning out of the pool in sunlight.

[@nationalstreak]

North Georgia Hawg cya serves no additional benefit after 50ppm. It says that in the Taylor test kit book. So why would you want to aim for 70ppm in a salt water pool? A good chunk of the pools I take care of are salt water and I let none of them go past 50ppm. All my pools I try to keep 30-50ppm.

[@nationalstreak]

And yes, leslies has no idea what they are talking about. I worked there and I was taught nothing while I worked there. It’s kind of a joke there.

[@la4508]

@@nationalstreak I am in Alabama and my water analysis from my pool installer said it is at 5ppm and should be between 75-100. This is a lot different than what everyone is saying. I was told to add 20lbs of stabilizer

[@nationalstreak]

@@la4508 wow. That is a lot of stabilizer. To me that sounds like way too much, but it does depend on how big your pool is. I’m pretty sure stabilizer starts working even at low levels of 15-20ppm. Maybe add stabilizer to get it to that level initially. Then the use of chlorine tabs will bring it up on its own (since chlorine tabs contain stabilizer). Then once the levels reach 30-50ppm, stop using chlorine tabs, or any other chlorine that has stabilizer in it. At that point you would either switch to liquid chlorine or calcium hypochlorite (also known as cal hypo). Hope this helps.

[@petercoyne3861]

My cya is at 193 and free chlorine is 8.17 and is at that level consistently for several weeks without adding chlorine. How can my chlorine level be that high when I haven't added any in weeks? I suspect it is related to cya. Pool water is clear and water temp is 80 degrees Help!

[@lrakwons9799]

Drain the pool partially and refill until the level comes down to a reasonable place

[@ameensnipez]

How do I increase my free chlorine?

[@johngnaedinger7982]

Add chlorine. You can add just regular household bleach (slowly, while the pump is running, directly over the jets because it sinks) or you can use concentrated chlorine (sold as "shock" at pool stores or places like Walmart) or just use chlorine pucks or powdered shock (calcium hypochlorite). Most test kits only test up to 5ppm, so if you put a lot of chlorine in and want to know your FC levels afterwards, you may need a different type of kit that measures higher FC levels.

[@rvingmylifeaway8295]

If my C acid is at 167, what do I do to lower it?

[@BodyFixExercises]

you might need to drain your pool to 25% then fill it again

[@naomitaylor929]

so confusing because my pool defeats all the chemistry you're speaking of there is no chlorine available left in my pool my test strip say for best results the pH must be between 7.0 and 8.4 which it is smack in the middle of both those! So the test strips literally say for best results the pH is the main factor to get cya reading (ever since getting these test strips to try them out for a more accurate reading the cya has said zero even when the pool had brand new water/w proper chlorine levels 😵😵So does stabilizer really matter when everything is testing perfect?? CyA only thing that always says zero meaning to me, the pool is unstable😩 but every reading is right ON where it needs to be🤔 which sounds so contradicting to me when I say it out loud because how can the pool be stable if the stabilizers reading nothing zero for everything else is perfect but our chlorine is a little high c y a is the overall stability of the pool is it not 🤔🤔

[@toddlevick6016]

Ok several weeks ago I added stabilizer to my inground salt water pool after my free chlorine was at stabilized levels. Now for whatever reason even after a couple of inches of rain water my free chlorine is way high at 10ppm and after doing the cya test it’s not even reading the min on my Taylor test. I am assuming wait until I get my free chlorine back down and then add the stabilizer back in? Still trying to figure out how my chlorine levels rocketed even after the rains and low stabilizer and baking heat here in GA.

[@darcihollinshead8388]

I’m at the point where I’m just smh !!! I just can’t win with this algae’s quick growth! Cloudy too! Maybe I need a pool person!

[@williammccormick254]

My chlorine is high and my acid is low, my ph is good my alkaline is good, my hardness is high, my water is super clear! Anyone have any ideas what to do to get it back to normal

[@jeffdowney6678]

Thats what ths video was about. You need to add stabilizer/conditioner. Adjust the dose according to how many gallons of water is in the pool and what your current reading of acid is in the pool. Remember you want your levels between 30 -60.

[@jeffdowney6678]

Also depends if your a salt pool or regular pool for the chlorine levels. Hope this helped

[@AloneInTheVoid]

If your pool contains 60 ppm of CYA, you’ll need to drain 50% of the water out of your pool, and refill it to get it down to 30 ppm. In other words..... If you have a 20,000 gallon pool, you’ll need to drain 10,000 gallons, and refill it with 10,000 gallons of fresh clean water. $$$

[@TheHungarianmama]

High cyanuric acid causes damage to pool heaters. U dont add pucks every week. Lower water weekly if you are adding pucks all the time.

[@Bik3rboy666]

I'm a new pool owner and I am extremely confused about the PPM calculation, my pool is a Round 24-ft with a 48" Wall which holds 11,895 gallons of water. When adding any chemicals and they talk about ppm.... How do I know how much to add base on the ppm results from the test

[@bridgetk9282]

Take your water to have the water tested. They will tell you what the PPM is. Then read the package of CYA (conditioner / stabilizer) it will tell you how much to add to make the difference you’re looking for. I would however do half of what they recommend then test again a day later then do the other half if it’s ok your first time.

[@stanmondzelewski9253]

Dont use test strips. Spend the money on a complete taylor test kit. Iv been a cpo in GA since the late 90s. Strips are junk

[@scottiencali]

Judging by our bill..we have expensive chlorine.

[@Angiehere-1]

My cya is 240.

[@rsk8310]

Wow and your chlorine bill is ? $$$$$$$, your chlorine is not working at that level. Drain your pool.

[@Angiehere-1]

@@rsk8310 The chlorine is fine. The stick I was using to test the CYA was wrong. Took a water sample to a pool supply and my water checked out fine. They didn’t even try to sell me anything. I have since purchased new chemical check sticks.

[@joeyoung7120]

@Angie my cya says 240 also using strips chlorine, FC, Alk, PH, hardness are all ok according to that same strip but over the course of a week cya jumped to 240 I’m hoping it’s the strips

[@Angiehere-1]

@@joeyoung7120 Yea, double check with the pool store.

[@wilmarkjohnatty4924]

You ignore one of the most important issues with Cyanuric Acid in almost all of your videos. It takes a long time to dissolve - up to a week. This could easily lead to putting too much cyanuric acid and also you should not backwash when you are waiting for this to dissolve. I found out this the hard way trusting your videos.

[@theazrael4423]

Sounds like CYA is more trouble than it's worth

[@rsk8310]

Keep your CYA level at 30-40 PPM, It stays in until you add fresh water. Stay away from the 3 inch pucks, especially in the summer. Just use liquid chlorine 10% or more. If your CYA goes below 30 just add a little stabilizer and wait a week to see the results.

[@shirellediana]

As anyone notice they never reply back🤷🏽‍♀️

[@Jodyrides]

Great video but the music and the sound effects are annoying

[@mikexerov976]

you don't really need a 6 minute video for such an elementary stuff. Such a waist of time!

[@naomitaylor929]

So here's the strange thing we only have a little two and a half foot pool it's one of those Intex pools we're constantly putting in new filters to make sure but we have this stuff at the bottom that goes through our barracuda filter and right back into the pool it's that fine I think that it's stuff off the roof in the surrounding trees more like dust even emptied the pool once this year and redid it and two weeks later it's back everything's testing normal except for the CyA. pH perfect registering zero for cya and the chlorine is through the roof cuz we shocked it last night it's now noon the next day so it was to be expected but now it doesn't matter what we've done even when the pool is perfectly clear I added stabilizer to keep cya at least reading on the test strips and of course hours after adding it it was in the 250/purple zone and completely eliminated the existing chlorine which was perfect I had to take the chance because for whatever reason since buying these test strips I feel like cya is important but it's not it's a kiddie pool and the cya has nothing to do with the little bit of dirt that won't filter out of the bottom of the pool. I really just don't like these test strips I prefer the old school drops with just chlorine and pH never had a problem previous years but now that I can see these other potential issues it definitely has me overthinking at all 🤣🤣🤣