Stabilizer
What is it?: Pool stabilizer is also sometimes called pool conditioner or cyanuric acid. Its purpose is to stabilize the chlorine in your pool water, so the sanitizer lasts longer. When UV rays from the sun hit the water, chlorine starts to evaporate, leaving little free chlorine in your pool. So, you can think of it as sunscreen for your chlorine. If there is no stabilizer in your pool, your pool's chlorine will be almost completely gone in a couple of hours.
What level is okay?: When getting your water tested, your stabilizer reading will show us as CYA (cyanuric acid). You typically want this to be between 20-80 ppm. If you have too much stabilizer in your water, it will lock the chlorine molecules, making them ineffective as a sanitizer. Too much stabilizer can also damage the surface of your pool and lead to cloudy water that is heard to get clear again.
How do I fix my stabilizer?: Dilution is the solution. There is no chemical that will decrease your CYA reading. In order to lower your stabilizer, you will need to drain water out and refill with fresh water. The amount you need to drain will depend on how high your reading is. There are preventative steps your can take to ensure that your stabilizer reading doesn't get above 80 ppm. Chlorine tablets have stabilizer in them. These can slowly increase the amount of stabilizer in your pool over time. To prevent this increase, we recommend keeping 1 chlorine tablet in a floater or chlorinator per every 10,000 gallons of water in your pool. We also recommend keeping your chlorinator at a lower setting when it is clear to prevent releasing too much stabilizer in your pool.
TDS
What is it?: TDS stands for total dissolved solids. This is the measure of all the substances dissolved in your pool water. This can include the chemicals you add, sunscreen, sweat, deodorant, perfume, and other things that can come off of swimmers in the water.
What level is okay?: Ideally, your TDS level should be under 2000 ppm. When it gets higher than this, it can decrease the effectiveness of all pool chemicals you add to your water. it can also cause metal corrosion of your pool equipment. If your water becomes cloudy with a high TDS, it can be very difficult to get your water clear again. Essentially, a high TDS means your pool is over-saturated causing problems with water quality.
How do I fix my TDS?: Unfortunately, there is no product that will remove dissolved solids from your pool water. The easiest way to lower your pool's TDS level is to drain water out and refill it with fresh water. How much you need to drain will depend on how high your TDS level is. Your TDS level is bound to increase over the course of pool season. Because of this, we always recommend draining at either the beginning or end of every pool season. This will ensure that you will not need to drain your pool in the middle of the summer when you use your pool the most.