What Is A Swimming Pool Conditioner & Stabilizer?
by Laura
I have an in-ground pool and the pool has brown algae. I just wonder if the pool company sold me way too many products. I spent over $100.00. What do I really need to clean up the algae and get that blue color in my pool again? Thanks for the question Laura Conditioner and stabilizer are basically the same thing. In pool terms, it's called cyanuric acid, or CYA. It stabilizes the chlorine in the pool and makes it less susceptible to the suns UV rays. This means the chlorine works better and a little longer. The sun and heat will eat up chlorine if you don't have the proper amount of CYA in the pool. A good CYA range for home pools with a chlorine level between 1.5 - 3.5ppm is 30 - 50ppm. To get rid of your brown algae you can go to this page for all you need: Brown Algae..How Do I Kill Brown Algae In My Swimming Pool? And this is a question that I already answered: Do I Have Brown Dirt Or Is It Brown Algae? Get a Taylor FAS-DPD K-2006 pool test kit. It's the best one and will give you the most accurate reading. Water Testing Kit..Pool Water Test Kit.. The question doesn't say what the pool store sold you, but what you need is chlorine for a sanitizer, baking soda to raise the pH and alkalinity, and muriatic acid to lower them. Calcium to raise the hardness. Keep this between 150 - 250ppm. Algaecides are only good for preventative maintenance, not to get rid of algae. If you have all of your chemical readings in line, but still have a problem with brown algae, you can use an algaecide. Be sure to get a PolyQuat 60 algaecide specifically designed for brown algae. No metals or copper should be in it. Take a sample of pool water into the store and have them test for chlorine, CYA, pH, alkalinity, and calcium hardness. You can get all the correct ranges here: Pool Tips If your CYA is low you can shock your pool with Dichlor. This is a fast acting chlorine that has CYA in it. Be careful as the CYA can get out of hand quickly. Use Trichlor chlorine tabs to keep a constant flow of chlorine in the pool. Use a tab floater. Never put chlorine tablets in the skimmer. Keep the filtration running 24/7 as you get rid of the algae and remember to backwash everyday with a sand or DE filter. For a cartridge filter, change them out or clean them once per day. Take this information to your pool store. You can email me back with their comments. Hope this helps and have a fun and safe swimming season. Robert |
