Maintaining your pool’s cleanliness is important. Apart from the cleanliness, the acidity level of your pools should be kept stabilized. Most personal or industrial pools use certain chemicals to maintain both aspects. Commonly, chlorine is a chemical added in swimming pools. Adding chlorine is essential to help kill bacteria; however, it might harm swimmers.
Businesses that have swimming pools and Jacuzzis always keep an eye out on the chlorine levels present. Too little of the chemical won’t help kill bacteria while too much may cause health issues. Some of the very common health issues would be the itchiness of the pool water. But just like any other chemical, its power degrades after a certain period or under certain circumstances. So, how do household or industries maintain the chlorine’s effectiveness?
Cyanuric Acid
Contents
Cyanuric acid or commonly known as CYA is a household name for pool maintenance. It was invented in the early 19th century. It has been dubbed as essential and important for keeping chlorinated pools clean and sanitary. Nowadays, most pool owners and business have cyanuric acid to help maintain swimming pools.
Cyanuric acid is commonly referred to as a chlorine stabilizer. It is commonly sold as either a standalone product or as a chlorine additive in a tablet form. Once added in the chlorinated pool, the cyanuric acid then proceeds into an important chemical reaction.
This chemical reaction forms a weak and temporary bond with the free floating chlorine present in the pool water. Moreover, it results to an increased longevity of the chlorine in the pool. It protects the chlorine to easily deplete from the sun’s UV rays. Hence, with the help of cyanuric acid, the effectiveness of the chlorine would last longer until it is consumed for oxidation.
To measure the current level of CYA in your pools, make sure to run a cyanuric acid test by purchasing ready-to-use test kits. You may also call your local pool maintenance businesses to do this for you.
How to raise cyanuric acid in pool?
Before adding your CYA directly, make sure that your CYA levels are tested. Also, make sure that you know how your pool size and how many gallons of water your pool holds. All these factors are important to avoid pouring too much of the solution. If you have drained your pool, it is most likely that the CYA levels are zero. But to be sure, always check the CYA levels first.
How to lower cyanuric acid in pool?
If ever you have high CYA levels, the most efficient way to lower it would be to drain the water. The amount of water you should drain depends on the severity of the excess CYA. There are no known chemicals that you add directly to your pool water to lower CYA levels.
Muriatic Acid
Another common acid used for pool maintenance is muriatic acid. Muriatic acid is used for the balancing of pH levels in the pool. Balancing pH levels is important for the comfort of the swimmers and the longevity of the materials that make up the swimming pool. Things that affect pH levels are disinfectants, evaporation, water treatment chemicals, airborne debris, swimmers’ waste, and aeration.
A low pH in the pool may cause damage or etching of the pool surface, metal corrosion, staining, chlorine loss, damage on the vinyl liners, and eyes and skin irritation. High levels of pH in a pool may cause scaling that can lead to clogging and reduced circulation, cloudy water, ineffective chlorine, and eye and skin irritation.
This is why keeping muriatic acid at hand is important. It is essential to keep your pool’s pH level balanced at all times.
Cyanuric Acid VS Muriatic Acid
Some people often confuse cyanuric acid and muriatic acid. To help you out, both acids are separately discussed above. Although cyanuric acid is named “acid”, it barely affects the pH levels of your pool. Also, if you add this to your pool, it has little to no effect on both alkalinity and hardness of water.
On the other hand, muriatic acid is mainly used to balance the pH levels. Although it was aforementioned that it may affect chlorine effectivity, it is not its main purpose. It is cyanuric acid’s job to protect the chlorine from depletion because of UV rays while muriatic acid’s job is to balance the pH levels for a safe swimming water.
Final Thoughts
Maintaining your pool’s condition is important because it helps extend your pool’s life and your overall health. If you prefer a DIY method for your pool, make sure to have ample knowledge about these chemicals before adding it in. If you aren’t sure, there are alternative methods today that are not using chemicals. You may also call local pool maintenance services to help you out.
Leave a Reply