Stabilizer, or cyanuric acid, is a _very_ weak acid, it can takes a few days to completely dissolve in pool water, it will not however ruin or damage your liner. Sprinkle the stuff on the water surface, let it drop to the floor and in a few days it'll be all gone.
How to add stabilizer to your pool. Most manufacturers say to add your CYA to a bucket of warm water first and others say you can pour it directly into the pool.
These granules will sink to the bottom of the pool, where they may take several days to dissolve. The presence of these granules does not indicate that you have added too much stabilizer -- the product is slow to dissolve, particularly when static.
If the stabilizer level is too high in a pool, it will lock the chlorine molecules, rendering them ineffective as a sanitizer. This usually happens as a result of using chlorine tablets that contain cyanuric acid.
High concentrations of chlorine (above 1.5 ppm) will attack the liner and bleach it, thus damaging it. Any level below this range will weaken its ability to kill off bacteria. The addition of chlorine to your pool water has to be done in a careful manner.
The Balancing Act of Pool Maintenance
The typical lifespan of a vinyl liner is anywhere from 15-20 years and where your liner falls in that range depends, most crucially, upon your proper maintenance of the pool's chemistry.
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.
You should only add stabilizer if your levels are below 30ppm. Usually, all you have to do is check the level of stabilizer (cyanuric acid) in your pool every week to judge whether it's doing the job or not.
Other chemical imbalances: High levels of accumulated phosphate and bromine and imbalanced stabilizers, such as cyanuric acid (CYA) might also cause cloudiness. If you are using cyanuric acid often, make sure that the CYA and free chlorine levels are balanced, because excess CYA will significantly reduce free chlorine.
And stabilized chlorine (like dichlor or trichlor) already comes with CYA, so you'll likely be adding it to your pool water throughout the season. Because CYA is an acid, you'll need to handle it carefully. It can damage your filter and your pool, especially if you have a vinyl liner.
When all the other chemicals, such as chlorine. pH and alkalinity, are balanced, add the chlorine stabilizer. Add the stabilizer only after the filter has been backwashed to ensure it is cycled through a clean filter. Add the stabilizer slowly through the skimmer as per the product's instructions.
It's also included in chlorine tablets or sticks (called trichlor) or shock (called dichlor). When they're mixed together in shock or tablets, the resulting product is called stabilized chlorine. Typically, pool owners won't need to add any extra stabilizer separately if you're using one of the combination products.
With pump running, remove skimmer lid and slowly pour the required amount of stabilizer granules into the pump system. ADD IN SMALL AMOUNTS! Do not put more than 1 pound of stabilizer* into the skimmer over the course of an hour as the particles could jam your pump basket.
The addition of a cyanuric acid stabilizer to pool waters treated with chlorine is necessary to protect the active life of chlorine and its derivatives in the waters from the damaging effects of the sun's ultraviolet (UV) rays. When exposed to UV rays, chlorine evaporates rapidly.
There are two methods you can use to dissolve stabilizer into your pool water. You can either add the stabilizer to a pool skimmer box sock and hang the sock in front of the return jet or place it in the skimmer box. Or you can simply mix it in a bucket of water first and dump it into the skimmer box.
For pools with plastic piping, Stabilizer 100 can be added VERY SLOWLY through the skimmer with the pump running. Circulate continuously for at least 24 hours.
Using liquid chlorine raises the pH of the water.
When added to water, liquid chlorine (which has a pH of 13) makes HOCl (hypochlorous acid – the killing form of chlorine) and NaOH (sodium hydroxide), which raises pH.
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. This will ultimately help keep your water clean for a longer period of time.
In theory, if you have a cloudy swimming pool, you can add chlorine to “shock it” and clear things up. Chlorine will get the job done. But, the amounts may vary and you may have to really pound the pool with chlorine to get the water totally clear.
If the calcium levels are too high, you see the white spots, which is the calcium hardening on the liner. Chemicals that are added can raise or lower the calcium levels. When levels reach above the 400-PPM level, you will see cloudiness in the water, making the pool appear dirty and the scaling will begin.
Below the pH neutral level of 7.0, pool water becomes acidic and corrosive to vinyl. Over time, this can suck out the plasticizers and resins that keeps vinyl pliable. Over more time, a liner in a low pH “acid bath” will become brittle, fade in color and eventually begin to literally fall apart.
Saltwater is extremely corrosive to certain types of metal pipes and pool equipment. Occasionally, saltwater pools are equally corrosive to pool liners. If saltwater wears away the lining of a pool long enough, it will create holes or tears in the liner. Once the liner tears, you'll have no choice but to replace it.
Bubbles in the liner are frequently caused by rising groundwater that seeps underneath the pool and pushes up on the liner. This usually occurs following rainy or wet periods that cause the groundwater to rapidly rise. In extreme cases, the welled-up water may cause wrinkling, causing the liner to float.
Deep blue is the most popular color for pool liners.