CYA not showing yet.

[AndieP]

I converted from Pristine Blue a few weeks back and intially I added 4 lbs of CYA. I added it through the skimmer and waited a week to backwash. At the end of the week and even 10 days out I was still showing no CYA. I bought more and added it to a sock and placed it in front of the jet 2 days ago and I'm already getting a little bit of a reading but still under 30. I added some more tonight in the sock to bring it up a bit more.

[les_smith]

I'm using a 200 lb sand filter. From reading the Forum I knew not to backwash the filter after adding the CYA to the skimmer. So, I haven't done that yet. Here is a website showing what I bought from Wal-mart (item I bought is towards the bottom). It's entitled: 4 LB, HTH, Stabilizer & Conditioner, Cyanuric Acid, Reduces Chlorine Loss Due To Intense Sunlight. - Weight 4.0 Lbs. Item#: 61305
http://www.unclejoes.com/Pool%20Chem...For%20Less.htm
I think I might backwash and put some in a sock. I've read about that on the Forum, but I thought thru the skimmer would be less of a hassle. Is there a chance that the CYA from Wal-mart is old and not any good?

[medvampire]

If you have any CYA that you put in you could take pool sample and desolve a small amount of CYA in it and test to see if it is any good.
Steve

[les_smith]

That sounds like a good idea. I'll tell you, I sure don't like burning off 1.42 gallons of bleach everyday.

[aquarium]

I put 3 pounds of the Walmart (HTH brand) CYA in our pool which was supposed to add 25ppm per the BleachCalc. I'd already used two 3" pucks, which added about 5ppm CYA. So the -calculated- amount of CYA added was 30ppm. Walmart (HTH brand) 6-way test kit two weeks later said zero CYA. Pool store test said 40ppm CYA. I think the HTH test for CYA is not accurate. Either that, or their CYA is not the real deal.

[les_smith]

I'm using the Taylor K-2006C kit I bought about a month ago. I feel like the test is accurate because I can see all the chlorine burning off comparing the two tests I do each day. I was hoping to start seeing less and less chlorine burning off, that would be an indication that my CYA levels are rising. No luck yet.

[les_smith]

Well I got home today and my FC was 2.5 All the other days it's been 1-1.5
CYA is still 0. Do you think the CYA is taking effect or is the FC difference just coincidence?

[chemistrydropout]

No expert here but your test kit from Wal-mart (I have one too) has a quirk and the Taylor might be similar. Make sure when you are testing for cya that you allow the solution to sit for a while (I let it sit 10 minutes) before putting it in the black dot tube. I lost a lot of stabilizer reagent before I realized the recommended 2 minutes was not adequate. This may not be your problem but I had a similar experience as you before being a little more patient with the test. Hope this helps.

[les_smith]

I'll give waiting longer for the solution to develop a try tonight. Taylor's instructions say to wait 30 seconds. I noticed my afternoon CL reading was higher yesterday, so something inside me says the CYA is there. We'll see. I'll post tonight what happens after I wait a longer amount of time. Thanks.