So What Is "cya"

[walleye]

Sorry guys. but all these abbreviations are not common to us newbies. I have no idea what it is or what it does.

[chem geek]

CYA stands for "Cyanuric Acid" and is also known as "stabilizer" or "conditioner". It is a chemical that does two things: 1) it protects chlorine breakdown from the ultraviolet (UV) rays in sunlight and 2) it combines with chlorine to significantly lower the active chlorine (hypochlorous acid) concentration. The former is important in outdoor pools (and spas exposed to sunlight) while the latter is important to prevent chlorine from being too harsh on swimsuits, skin, hair, equipment, pool and spa covers, from evaporating too quickly, and to reduce the rate of creation of certain disinfection by-products (such as nitrogen trichloride).

Though can use pure CYA, stabilized chlorine products, such as Trichlor pucks/tabs and Dichlor granules, also increase the CYA level. Since CYA doesn't get used up the way that chlorine does, continued use of these stabilized chlorine products will build up CYA over time making the chlorine less and less effective which can cause problems (most notably algae growth in pools and cloudy water, bad smell, or possibly hot tub itch in spas).

[walleye]

CYA stands for "Cyanuric Acid" and is also known as "stabilizer" or "conditioner". It is a chemical that does two things: 1) it protects chlorine breakdown from the ultraviolet (UV) rays in sunlight and 2) it combines with chlorine to significantly lower the active chlorine (hypochlorous acid) concentration. The former is important in outdoor pools (and spas exposed to sunlight) while the latter is important to prevent chlorine from being too harsh on swimsuits, skin, hair, equipment, pool and spa covers, from evaporating too quickly, and to reduce the rate of creation of certain disinfection by-products (such as nitrogen trichloride).

Stabilized chlorine products, such as Trichlor pucks/tabs and Dichlor granules, increase the CYA level and since CYA doesn't get used up the way that chlorine does, continued use of these chlorine products will build up CYA over time making the chlorine less and less effective which can cause problems (most notably algae growth in pools and cloudy water or possibly hot tub itch in spas).

So is this something we add or monitor? If I drain my tub every three months? What if I have (I do) a Bromine system? I don't have a lot of direct sunlight as it is on my deck mostly under a extended roof. Is this something I need to be concerned about? Thanks.

[waterbear]

Cyanuric acid is only used in Chlorine pools and spas and needs to be tested and monitored when you use chlorine. If you use an unstabilized chlorine it needs to be added. If you use a stabilized chlorine it needs to be monitored so you don't end up overstabilized (which is not a good thing). It has no effect on a bromine spa (which cannot be stabilized against loss from UV light) even if you are using chlorine as an oxidizer since the chlorine won't stay chlorine for very long in a bromine system.

[walleye]

Thanks Waterbear.