Is there an ideal cyanuric acid level?

[peatree]

Looked through all six pages and could find no thread. I'm a newbie and would like to know if there is an optimum concentration for CYA. If a thread was missed massive apology for the redundancy. Thank you for providing such a valuable library of information.

[Watermom]

Hi and welcome to the Pool Forum! For most pools, CYA in the 40 to 50 range is what we suggest. Some folks in really hot areas, deliberately run theirs a little higher to help them keep chlorine in the pool. Hope this helps. Let us know if you have more questions.

[peatree]

Thank you, kindly.

[Watermom]

You are most welcome.

[bobcat]

So maybe 60-70 for Central Texas?

[aylad]

I would start at 50-ish, let it stay for a week or so, and see how much chlorine you lose in a given day. Then bump it up to 60-70, and see if your daily chlorine loss lowers. If so, then you can stay there or maybe bump it up just a little more. If not, then it's not hard to backwash out 10-20 ppm CYA to get it back down to the 50 range.

I'm close to Shreveport LA, and I keep mine in the 80-90 ppm range, but my pool is in full sun all day. I find that with a CYA of 40-50, I lose approx. 4-5 ppm chlorine in a day. At 80-90, that daily loss drops to around 2 ppm.

Just remember that as you raise your CYA, you must also raise your minimum chlorine levels (see the link to the best guess chlorine chart in my sig). I know it seems like you're still using more chlorine, but once you get to your required baseline, it still uses less to replace 2 ppm daily than it does to replace 4 ppm.

[JimK]

Hi and welcome to the Pool Forum! For most pools, CYA in the 40 to 50 range is what we suggest. Some folks in really hot areas, deliberately run theirs a little higher to help them keep chlorine in the pool. Hope this helps. Let us know if you have more questions.

The owners manual for my Aqua Rite salt water chlorine generator says to maintain CYA at 60-80 (80 being ideal). Is there a particular reason this higher level is required? Would maintaining the lower level you suggested (40-50) have any negative affect on my SWCG (shortened cell life, etc??)?

Thanks.

[BigDave]

CYA of 40-50 is the general recommendation for manually dosed pools. For SWCG pools, the recommendations you'll find here are to run CYA at the top of the SWCG manufacturer's suggested range to reduce the load on the cell and extend it's life. You do need to keep your FC at the appropriate level for the CYA level you have.

[PoolDoc]

Is there a particular reason this higher level is required?

Yes, it has to do with the chemistry at the electrodes, as well as the issue BigDave mentioned. I think it's been covered in the China Shop by Chem_Geek, but I don't have time to go poking around for it right now.

But, your cells will last longer that the higher level, since cell life is proportional to ON-time, and they'll be on less at the higher CYA, even with the higher required chlorine levels. Read through the Best Guess page, linked in my sig, for more info.

[JimK]

CYA of 40-50 is the general recommendation for manually dosed pools. For SWCG pools, the recommendations you'll find here are to run CYA at the top of the SWCG manufacturer's suggested range to reduce the load on the cell and extend it's life. You do need to keep your FC at the appropriate level for the CYA level you have.

Yes, it has to do with the chemistry at the electrodes, as well as the issue BigDave mentioned. I think it's been covered in the China Shop by Chem_Geek, but I don't have time to go poking around for it right now.

But, your cells will last longer that the higher level, since cell life is proportional to ON-time, and they'll be on less at the higher CYA, even with the higher required chlorine levels. Read through the Best Guess page, linked in my sig, for more info.

Thanks.