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Hi,
tested cya for first time, the black dot never disappeared which I guess means less than 30. I put 2 pounds in a heavy athletic sock in the pool skimmer for 10 hours and the sock doesn't seem any smaller. I tried the stocking in front of a return last year and it took about two weeks.
there must be a better way...If i put the cya in a pail and stir for 10 or 20 minutes will it dissolve? how about if I heat the water?
tia!
You CAN buy the liquid CYA which I tried this year because I had to get my CYA level up quickly. I found it at Leslies but it's pricey--nearly $40/gallon. It actually worked very well, though it looked like a disaster at first--white glop on the bottom. But I brushed it with a long handled squeegee and it ended up working nicely. Within 24 hours my CYA went from 0 to 30+ppm with 2 gallons. You must remember to shake the bottle first and don't turn off your filter for 72 hours.
As for the sock method, a stocking from panty hose works better. Still, it can take 2 days to a week to get CYA up. You CAN try to mix it into a 5 gal bucket, but don't heat the water. I've tried using a length of 2x2 to crush the granules further and while it does help, it's still a slow process. Crush, mix, pour off the milky liquid. Add more water to the remaining granules, crush, mix, pour. Repeat. Pretty labor intensive and I haven't done it in a dozen years, but it DOES speed up delivery.
I've added CYA into a T-shirt in the skimmer and kept the pump running and it dissolves within a day and measures nearly fully the next day. This is for fairly small additions of 10-20 ppm. For larger additions I would expect having to refill the skimmer T-shirt about twice a day for a couple of days. Note that if you use this technique, you must have alternate suction flow so that you don't block the skimmer and break it. I not only have two floor drains in addition to the skimmer, but the skimmer also has a port below it that sucks in water if the skimmer gets clogged.