Quote Originally Posted by CarlD View Post
Justin, what is your CYA level now? It's actually Cyanuric or Isocyanuric acid. Yes it's stabilizer and it prevents chlorine from breaking down too fast, especially in direct sun where UV can break chlorine down in as little as 15 minutes. But it's a two edged sword as you need higher levels of chlorine to maintain sanitary water...see our "Best Guess Table" for the levels of free chlorine needed for various levels of CYA.



I have no idea what he was thinking. Copper kills algae, but it doesn't sanitize your pool. If the copper kills the algae, you don't need chlorine to do it, "saving" your chlorine for sanitation. So the theory goes. But copper doesn't create Free Chlorine.




Makes no sense to us, either. Your instincts are right on. Calcium is to prevent mortar, plaster and concrete from having their calcium leeched out. Period.




What does it say is in it? Hard to tell if it's good or bad just from a name.



Chlorine tablets are almost always Tri-Chor tablets, and, yes, they do add CYA to your water: For every 10ppm of Free Chlorine they add 6ppm of CYA. That's good when your CYA is low, bad when it's high. They also are very acid and can and will lower your pH. Be very careful though: If they say "Double Acting" or anything by 99% tri-chlor, they are probably adding MORE copper to your water. We recommend against that.

More chlorine generally IS better, but at very high levels it can bleach liners and bathing suits...HOWEVER, if your CYA level is high, the appropriate maintenance level of Free Chlorine probably won't do that.
CARL, awesome information. Thank you thank you. And in fairness to the previous owner of the house the conversation on copper and shocking was last November when we were doing the home inspection. Goodness knows, considering my ignorance then, what he actually said. He is a bio chemist working for Glaxo Smith-Cline pharmaceuticals just a mile from here and I'm sure he knows his stuff.

As to the tablets I am going to monitor their use and start following the directions for the size of my pool. I think it calls for three in one floater and I've just been loading the floating duck up. I don't think I've hurt anything yet but with that I'm on a bad road.

All this is very good to know. THANKS��