Bio-Active BA-CAR-08 Non Polluting 100-Percent Cyanuric Acid Reducer Powder for Commercial and Residential Swimming Pools, 8 Ounces (2 Pack)

Worked as expected - will need another bag though, have just a bit more to go before I reach the right number. When I purchased, my CYA was around 300 or more (lets put it this way, I was way passed the 100 mark on the tube) - I have a 10k and the bag says it will treat up to 25k ... well, I am now at 100. So, it works, but you may need more than one bag depending on size of pool and amount of CYA in pool. Also you should note that it can take up to 10 days to lower your levels - so I will have to wait another 6 days before adding a second bag to be sure. Leslie's charges $49.95, so this is a good price. Now, this wasn't the only thing wrong with my levels, so how it worked for me, may not be what you need (and I suppose I won't really know if it works until I add the second bag and see if it drops to where it needs to be) How I did it : I took out my chlorine duck and let the pool do it's thing (running 8 hours a day) for about 10 days with no chems. Then I washed my filters thoroughly and added the Phos Killer (from walmart $9 - kills 1000 ppm) and ran the pool for 48 hours non stop Then I turned the system off for 24 hours and let the pool sit After 24 hours I washed my filters again and then added my duck back into the pool and let the pool run a normal cycle for another day before FINALLY adding the whole bag of CYA into the skimmer and let the pool run normal cycles for 72 hours before adding the Alkaline Up - then ran it for 12 hours and when I took my water to be tested everything was back to normal except I'm now at a 100 on my CYA rather than 300, so if after 6 more days the levels aren't where they need to be, I think one more bag should do it This is the information I was given about using the Bio-Active product::: Bio-Active uses natural cultures to reduce your CYA, be sure your pool will be habitable for the the organisms to do their job. You should also not that your chlorine will attack these organisms, so it's best to be in normal or low ranges. In addition to providing livable ranges for the active ingredient to thrive in, make sure you take note of the information below to get the most out of each dosage: » Do not add shock or algaecides 7 days prior to application. » Works best in an outdoor pool, uncovered for at least 7 days. » Bio-Active does not work in mineral system pools. » Make sure your pool is free of algae or other contaminants. » Be sure to shut off UV, ozone, and chlorine feeders 15 minutes prior to, and 3 hours after, applying Bio-Active Safely lowers CYA levels within 10 days without needing to drain the pool. Eliminates chlorine lock due to high CYA. Use 1 bag for up to 25,000 gallons. Works best with water over 65 degrees Fahrenheit. I hope this helps anyone having troubles - I know it's a bear of a situation and VERY time consuming .... Don't you remember going to the lake and swimming or fishing, never once thinking of what microscopic things lay in wait? Having never once thought of PH levels or the like? We lived, didn't get sick and kept going back (this is in no way meant to diminish anyone's adverse reactions to such events - merely a personal reflection). Do you think lake or ocean water is cleaner than your pool? Yet here we all are, busting our hump, spending hours and hundreds of dollars even when our pools are sparkling clean and we can't see anything wrong (as is my case - before all this process I mentioned, my water was clear, had no odor and looked great ... but it had been a while since I'd had it professionally tested and wasn't sure if MY test stuff was still optimal, so I took it in and BAM! There was evil lurking in that falsely serene setting of a sparkling pool ready for swimming. Sounds fishy to me, but - here I am, tired, annoyed, poorer and ready to just fill it in and plant grass!

UPDATE - It's been about 7 years (time flies) since I bought this, went through a nightmare experience, and wrote the below review. I still haven't had to replace my water, and I tell you, it was a bad and frightening experience, but I'd most likely do it again (hopefully with the knowledge I have now), instead of replacing the water. Maybe I'm saying that now because I don't fully remember how bad the experience was, lol. But, at least I didn't have to replace the water :) Original Review - I've been through a two and a half month nightmare with this product and it has been absolutely nothing but regret. I ended up using FOUR packets of this thing for it to finally work. For it to even begin working, your chlorine level must be at ZERO (not between 2 to 5 like they say). The first two packs I put in there did absolutely nothing (even though my pool was in optimal condition). However, once my chlorine dropped to zero and stayed there for about a week, the third packet started working. The pool was extremely cloudy by that time, and I couldn't even see 2 inches below (I've attached a picture of how it looked before it started working, and a picture of how it should look). At this point, cyanuric acid went down from approximately 190 to 80 (I had to buy a $55 Taylor kit to test it). So, I got extremely excited, and added the 4th packet, which within 3 days took it down from 80 to 35. I was besides myself in joy thinking this product was magical... However, unfortunately the excitement didn't last long. That's when I thought I could start adding some chlorine to clear the cloudiness, so I added about 5 gallons and absolutely nothing. For the next week I added 3 or 4 gallons a day, and again nothing. Then I added 10 more gallons and two packets of tricholor shock and within a couple days the pool became crystal clear, so I thought FINALLY problems were over. Then I check chlorine the next day and it was down to zero AGAIN!!! I'm like WTF!!! I kept on adding chlorine and within minutes it was back to zero. The pool store people were baffled and had no clue what was going on. That's when I started doing a ton of research and did this thing called, bucket test for chlorine demand (you basically take a 5 gallon pool water sample inside and test for chlorine demand on a much smaller scale). After several days, my chlorine demand was at 340 ppm, that's over 80 gallons of chlorine in a 25,000 gallon pool, costing upwards of $400, which is INSANE (I've attached a couple pictures of just SOME of chlorine I bought). So then, I did more research. Turns out that some bacteria will naturally turn your CYA into ammonia, and that's exactly what this product is supposed to do. However, this product is supposed to have a second stage of bacteria attack that turns ammonia to nitrogen, but apparently that doesn't happen every time, and if it doesn't, YOU ARE SCREWED!! It leaves a massive amount of ammonia in your pool which is a disaster to get rid of (I had to buy an ammonia test kit too and I've attached pictures of how that looked and how it's supposed to looked, it was almost 8ppm - that's nuts). On top of that, it can also leave partially degraded cyanuric acid in your pool, which is even harder to get rid of than ammonia. That's why I needed over 80 gallons of chlorine to stabilize my pool. Once I knew what was going on, I went to war on this thing. Took the day off from work and for the first 5 hours, kept my chlorine level at between 60 to 80 ppm. It was dropping by about 20ppm every 10 minutes and I kept on adding gallon after gallon after gallon of chlorine. The thing is that if you don't maintain that very high level of chlorine, the bacteria will start reproducing again and you'll have to start all over (I was taking no chances). Finally, after 5 hours, chlorine started to hold and I let it drop to 40 ppm overnight and kept it there for the next day. It's been over a week now (I've been keeping it to around 20ppm), and things are almost fully stabilized. It's still dropping a tad more than it should, but I think I'm getting pretty close. I ended up learning a lot, and how to deal with this, with the help of some of the best and smartest people out there. I took the advice of some serious chemical engineer type people and you can read more about my journey and all the advice everyone gave me, on this forum - [...]-After-using-Cyanuric-Acid-Reducer-my-pool-won-t-hold-chlorine Here's my advice to you - - First of all, fire your pool guys. They don't know what they're doing and they're the ones who let your CYA level go through the roof. - Follow the BBB method of maintaining your pool, Google it, but you basically add liquid bleach to raise chlorine, Borax to raise PH, Baking soda to raise alkalinity, and Muriatic acid to lower those last two. Everything else either adds CYA or calcium to your pool (both of them will require you to replace some of your water). - If you end up with very high level of CYA, and you're not in a drought stricken area, most definitely replace your water instead of using this very expensive and potentially disastrous product. - If you are in a drought area (I'm in Los Angeles) and can't replace your water, look into reverse osmosis - they basically come out and remove almost every chemicals from your pool through some complex process. It takes a few days (I believe) to get rid of everything and costs around $400. Dealing with this product can take months (as it did for me; half the summer is gone) and could be more costly, as it was for me. - If you have any questions or need help with something, go to troublefreepool.com. Those guys are fantastic. How much did this cost me? 4 packets of Cyanuric Acid Reducer - $100 (they were nice enough to send me two free packets) 90 or so gallons of chlorine - $350 Taylor 2006 kit - $55 Replacement reagents - $40 Ammonia test kit - $10 two shirts and a pair of shoes - $200 (good luck dealing with that much chlorine over two months and not ruining your clothes) Losing half the summer and wasting all that time - priceless. So, there's my story with the "magical" Cyanuric Acid Reducer. Go ahead and use it if you want, but don't say you weren't warned!!! This is an untested brand-new product. If it's still on the market in two years, which I highly doubt, then start using it :)

Followed ALL directions. Pool of 20,000 gallons had CYA of at least 170, possibly as high as 220, based on Aquacheck 7 test strip accuracy. First application in August, 2018. One week later, test strip shows no change. Two weeks later, test strip shows some improvement. During this time, I kept chlorine in the 2-5% range, nothing special, 7.5 pH, water temp near 80 deg. Purchased Taylor test kit with CYA and Free Chlorine capability. Next test, about 3 weeks after first application, Taylor test shows CYA above the 150 range. Had to shock the pool for algae, so I figured the CYA reducer would be destroyed by the high chlorine. Nope. By October, just as I was about to use second pouch treatment, Taylor test shows CYA clearly in the 110 - 120 range. The water would soon be too cold to use of second packet, so I figured to apply it in late Spring. Through the winter, every month the CYA was lower, currently reading at the 30-50 range on the test strip and at under 40 on the Taylor test. The product clearly worked. No question. Unless you want to argue the CYA went down on its own, the product clearly reduced the 170 - 220 range CYA to about 110 after 4 months and to under 60 by the end of Winter. It would appear that, whatever the microbial cultures may be, they can remain active through multiple chlorine shock treatments. We live in CA and I just cannot waste water to drain the pool. If you are in a hurry to reduce CYA, drain the pool. But my experience is that a single application of this product reduced my CYA level by some 75% in 7-8 months, which included multiple chlorine shocks to treat for algae (I run a high pH for cold water during the winter). I will not likely use the second packet at all, but give it away to a neighbor. Highly recommended. I suspect that those using this product are in a hurry, use too much, do not maintain their chlorine, pH or calcium, etc. If my CYA drops any further, I will go back to using the di/tri-chlor tablets this Summer to raise the CYA a bit.

This product has mixed reviews and I can see why; in a state of panic (not really) you either drain your pool or try this new product that suddenly claims to do what nothing has ever done before. So you buy the product and you add it thinking it's going to work and it doesn't. Did you follow the package directions exactly as outlined? Probably not and it's likely your chlorine levels. I followed the directions and it worked. Beautifully. There are some unknown or undocumented consequences that you need to work through to really claim success at the end but I started with a CYA reading of 140 and as of today, I am holding steady at 50. PERFECTION! First, I allowed my pool chlorine to drop to 0 (none) so we had a swampy, stinky mess for the treatment period. Which, when there is no chlorine in the pool it took Bioactive roughly four days to lower my CYA levels. I would recommended keeping the minimum level of chlorine in your pool though and wait it out a little longer. Second, because there was no chlorine in the pool for so long we developed all kinds of algae including black algae. Third, when the process is complete and your CYA is at the desired level, only shock with cal hypo granules and stay away from trichlor...FOREVER. We used Home Depot's 10% chlorine to shock the pool initially and I mean shock it at SLAM levels (see troublefreepool.com for this technique) but the pool would not hold chlorine. But consider this; bio active is bacteria and enzymes that break down CYA and it's super concentrated. Of course you'll need a ton of chlorine to get it out of your pool. Cal hypo worked wonders to clear the water, kill the organisms and all the algae. We do have some remnants of black algae (more staining than organism) but we'll work on those throughout the winter for next summer.

Wonderful product if directions followed carefully. My pool CA level was at 166 and the pool store only recommended draining and refilling, a very expensive option. I found this product on Amazon, read carefully reviews and followed instructions. In one week CA level had dropped to 66. A 60% decrease. Five days later I took anothe sample and it was down to 46. Thats a 50% decrease from the last test. By now my pool was getting green from algae growth so I began shock treatments to clear that up. For less than $40 for an 8 oz package, it worked great. Make sure to have ph in nuetral range, have chlorine levels very low or not even reading on tests, disperse disolved powder around the pool edge, and then set pool to circulate four times a day (every 6 hrs at least). Oh, the temp of the pool should be above 65 degrees. So, in order for an enzyme like this to work, you have to create the proper environment for it to do its job. If you don't, then it won't work and you have only yourself, not the product, to blame. I could not be more pleased with this.

Here is my log from using and testing this product: BioActive Pool Chemical. Application of this product had no observed affect on my Cyanuric Acid levels. Interesting that there are no instructions in the product listing about how much to use, temp limits, free chlorine levels required, etc. This is strange, IMHO. Bought on Amazon. Added one 8 oz bag to pool 18 Nov 23. Planned end treatment, 10 days, 4 Dec 23. Cyn="Cyanuric Acid", FCl="Free Chlorine" (according to my test strips) 11/18: Cyn ~200. FCl: 1 11/20: Cyn ~250. FCl: zero 11/22: Cyn ~200. FCl: zero 11/24: Cyn ~200. FCl: zero. Pool slightly cloudy. 11/27: Cyn ~150. FCl: zero. Pool more cloudy. 12/16: Cyn ~250. FCl: zero. Pool very green. Pool recovery post treatment: 12/16: Scrubbed and vacuumed. Added 2 gal liq Cl and 4 scoops of granular Cl. Pool temp 60F. I used the test strips to test tap water and it shows no Cyn (expected). 12/17: Cyn ~250. FCl: 10. Pool slightly cloudy. The variance in the test strip Cyn level is due to color matching variance with the test strips (my eyes, judgement, light color, etc.). All of the Cyn readings were at the high end of the color scale, a dark purple, that peaks at 250. You can see that I extended the treatment period, over the objections of my wife, to give it more time. Due to the zero free chlorine level, the pool was very green with algae. But the extra time didn't help and just made more work for me to scrub it all off. In the spring I'll have to drain the pool and start over.

The main thing to be aware of about his product is that it has a very strange requirement of Chlorine levels. The seller has should have put a picture of the back of the packet which has instructions but they have not do I am attaching it here. Please read the highlighted part before purchasing because if cya is high there’s very good chance that chlorine is high too and in that case this product won’t work.

This is my 3rd time using the product and like many of the reviews my success was mixed. It lowered it some but because it's a biological product there are a lot of variables to contend with. I finally got a recipe that I think is repeatable and will be part of my annual maintenance. Do this at the END of your season when no one is swimming but well before closing. I live in New England so we are typically done with the pool after Labor Day. I tested my water chemistry and got it to where it needed to be as stated in the instructions. Then I let my chlorinator run out and did a big shock of the pool with an extra pound more than I normally do. The goal is to kill anything in that water. Next I waited for my chlorine level to drop to 1ppm and applied the BioActive as per the manufacturers instructions. Then I ran the filter 24 x 7 with no sanitizer in the pool at all. After day 3 the water was getting cloudy but I could see the bottom. On day 7 I noticed a slight odor from the pool. I then started shocking the heck out of the pool. I did 3 pounds at a time and checked the water every few hours as it would spike and drop quickly to zero. That is your chlorine getting used up by killing algae, bacteria, and ammonia. Rinse and repeat and the chlorine levels continued to drop by stayed high longer and longer. After 4 cycles (12 pound total) the pool was maintaining it's free chlorine levels and I added tabs to my chlorinator and started it again. I had the Cyanuric Acid levels tested and it dropped from 176ppm to 73ppm which is right in the recommended range of 30-100ppm. Total chemical cost was $100 between the bioactive and granulated shock. I am going to shock it one more time tonight to be sure any nasties are truly gone but that should do it. The only changes I would do next year is to check the cyanuric acid level more often during the treatment process to make sure I didn't go too low. I would hate to have to buy stabilizer after going through all that.