Thinking about trying a CYA reducer instead of draining, opinions

Started by Ray Castillo · · 1 reply
Back to the forum
Reply
#1
CYA's sitting around 90 in my 15k gallon and I'm sick of hauling water out every season just to watch it climb back up in this sun. Seen a couple products on shelves claiming they knock CYA down without a drain, some kind of bacterial or chemical breakdown. Sounds too easy for something the pool store guy never mentions unless you ask direct. Anybody actually run one of these and verify the drop with a real test kit after, not just trusting the bottle. I test with a Taylor K-2006 so I'd know if it's real or just marketing, but not spending money to find out blind. Curious if it's snake oil or if it's legit slower than a drain but works.

Appreciate any real numbers before and after if you've tried it.

1 Reply

#2
Whoever said these reducers just convert cyanuric acid into ammonia byproducts is right, that's the mechanism, but what gets left out is the timeline. Seen it a hundred times where a customer expects results in a week and it's more like a month or two of dosing before you see real movement on a K-2006 test, and even then you're talking maybe 90 down to 60 over that stretch, not a quick fix. Had a customer last week try one and the CYA did drop, verified it myself, but their FC control got squirrely the whole time it was working, chlorine demand was all over the place. If you've got the patience and don't mind babysitting chlorine levels for a couple months it's not snake oil, it's just slower and messier than most people want to deal with. I still drain a third out every spring on my own pool, faster and I know exactly where I land.