Cyanuric acid and stabilized chlorine (dichlor or trichlor) should only be used in outdoor swimming pools. It should not be used in indoor swimming pools, spas or hot tubs.
Areas exposed to high levels of sunlight should maintain 60 – 80 ppm (parts per million). Pools using an ORP Controller (Oxidation Reduction Potential) such as the AutoPilot Total Control, should maintain 30-50 ppm. Indoor pools do not need cyanuric acid, unless it gets periodic exposure to sunlight.
If you have an outdoor pool or hot tub or an indoor pool or hot tub in a room with windows, it's essential to use a stabilizer. The only time you would not need a stabilizer in your pool or hot tub is if it's indoors in a room with no windows like some hotels have.
But not every pool owner needs to worry about CYA levels. Because cyanuric acid protects chlorine from the sun, it's really only required for outdoor pools (or indoor pools with some ultraviolet light exposure). CYA stays in a swimming pool for a long time, even after the water evaporates.
If your levels are too low and you need to bring your levels up above 30 ppm, it's time to add some cyanuric acid to your pool. This process usually involves dissolving some granules in a bucket and pouring it around the edges of your pool.
Cyanuric acid (CYA) is one of the most important pool chemicals. You've probably heard it called “pool stabilizer” or “pool conditioner”. It comes in either liquid or granular form, but often is mixed in with chlorine tablets or sticks (also called trichlor) and in chlorine shock (called dichlor).
Clorox has absolutely NO Cyanuric Acid (CYA) in it nor does it increase CYA at all when you use it. You should show them. It's mostly water, then sodium hypochlorite (i.e. chlorine), and sodium chloride salt, and then a small amount of sodium hydroxide and a very small amount of sodium polyacrylate.
There are three very common types of acid that can be used in water, which include muriatic acid, hydrochloric acid, and sulfuric acid. Both muriatic acid and hydrochloric acid are highly similar in composition.
Regular bleach, or sodium hypochlorite – contains no cyanuric acid. Household bleach is normally a 5% or 6% strength, while commercial strength bleach for pools is generally 12.5% strength, and delivered by truck and hose.
Because of the importance of stabilizer, there are unfortunately no alternatives. If you stopped using it, you would continually struggle with chlorine levels, bacteria, and algae. We understand that all the chemicals needed to keep a pool looking healthy can add up and become costly.
Baking soda, also known as sodium bicarbonate is naturally alkaline, with a pH of 8. When you add baking soda to your pool water, you will raise both the pH and the alkalinity, improving stability and clarity. Many commercial pool products for raising alkalinity utilize baking soda as their main active ingredient.
Cyanuric Acid Facts
It serves as a protection shield for chlorine against sunlight. The Sun's ultraviolet rays degrade chlorine very quickly, creating a problem for outdoor pools. Studies show that sunlight can be wipe out chlorine by 75-90% in a matter of two hours.
Hydrochloric acid [H+(aq) Cl−(aq) or H3O+ Cl−], also known as muriatic acid, is an aqueous solution of hydrogen chloride (chemical formula: HCl).
Muriatic acid and hydrochloric acid are essentially the same. Muriatic acid is a watered down version of hydrochloric acid. It's not as expensive as hydrochloric acid since it's not as pure. Although in the pool industry, the names muriatic acid and hydrochloric acid are often used interchangeably.
In the pool industry, Cyanuric Acid is known as chlorine stabilizer or pool conditioner. Cyanuric Acid (CYA) is a pool balancing product used to help chlorine last longer. Chlorine, in its natural form, is unstabilized—which means it degrades when exposed to sunlight.
Cyanuric acid can be produced by hydrolysis of crude or waste melamine followed by crystallization. Acid waste streams from plants producing these materials contain cyanuric acid and on occasion, dissolved amino-substituted triazines, namely, ammeline, ammelide, and melamine.
You should keep your outdoor pool or spa's Cyanuric Acid level at 0-30 parts per million (PPM).
Answer: Cyanuric acid shouldn't be at Zero for an outdoor swimming pool because chlorine will deplete faster in hot and humid weather, leading to cloudy water. If your FC is at normal level of 3ppm, raise Cyanuric acid level to 40 ppm and you will reduce chloramine levels that make your water appear cloudy.
As mentioned earlier, it will take at least 48 hours and up to a week to fully dissolve. Powdered cyanuric acid is not so common and it may not be available to buy in your area. It's reported to not dissolve any faster than granular stabilizer.
Pool stabilizer is also sometimes called pool conditioner, chlorine stabilizer, or cyanuric acid (CYA). Its purpose is to stabilize the chlorine in your pool water, so the sanitizer lasts longer.
Why You Have Low Cyanuric Acid
The most likely reason is that you've only ever used unstabilized chlorine in your pool. Heads up: Unstabilized chlorine, such as sodium hypochlorite (liquid chlorine), lithium hypochlorite, and calcium hypochlorite, is pure chlorine.
All alkaline materials are buffers. Cyanuric acid happens to be the most common buffer found in pool water. In effect, cyanuric acid helps stabilize both chlorine and pH. It binds with chlorine to prevent photolysis and it keeps pH elevated.
Although there are no known adverse health effects associated with high CYA concentrations, most health officials usually limit CYA levels to 100 ppm. Some states recommend a lower level for spas, and some jurisdictions ban the use of CYA altogether.