LT
Lindsey Thieret
Sep 13, 2026
In late July, I went into Leslie's with my usual water sample, and had a very high Cyanuric Acid (CYA) reading on my pool water, which was causing me all sorts of other problems. The staff working at Leslie's told me not to add anything to my pool that had CYA in it, including chlorine tabs, and shocks that had it mixed in, until my CYA level went back down to normal. They also told me I could partially drain and refill my pool, which is something that nobody wants to have to deal with doing. So, after weeks of draining little bits of water at a time, and adding more in, while also not putting anything in my pool with Cyanuric Acid (CYA) in it, that I was aware of, the CYA FINALLY got back down to within normal range. It was a very frustrating month with the pool, and we had spent a lot of money on chemicals and water test kits from Leslie's during that time, dealing with all the other problems the high CYA had caused. The staff at Leslie's has been fully aware of my pool problems and situation with the CYA, since it's usually always the same one or two people working when I go in there, plus when I give them my phone number they are able to bring it all up on their computer. All of that said, and with them knowing everything and that my CYA had finally returned back to normal, they didn't bother to mention to me that their Leslie's Chlor brite shock contained a lot of CYA, so when I purchased a large container of it there, and started using it to chlorinate my pool with, while also using it to shock my pool water with when my water started getting really cloudy, nobody at Leslie's mentioned to me that adding it could bring my CYA up high and out of range again. So, after fighting with my pool water being cloudy for around a week or so, I go back to Leslie's with a water sample, just for them to tell me that my CYA is high, AGAIN, and that their Chlor brite has a lot of CYA in it—AFTER the damage was done and knowing that I needed to avoid anything with CYA in it. Obviously, had I known I would have never spent nearly $100 on a giant container of their Leslie's Chlor brite, which I'm now stuck with, but can't use. The only reason why I had even initially found out about the CYA being in the Chlor brite was because my AI on Chat GPT happened to tell me when I was talking to it about my pool water, otherwise, who knows how long things could have gone on before I found out.... On top of it all, I had to buy over 13 GALLONS of liquid chlorine over the course of just the past week, because that's almost how much it took to put in my pool in order to get the algae levels down, since the CYA is high. When the CYA is high it takes much more chlorine to treat your pool water with, which Leslie's is also aware of. I had to put 9 gallons total in my pool in one week, and have 4 gallons left over for future treatments, since I now know it's the only kind I can use which does not contain CYA, since my CYA is still high. Basically, long story short, Leslie's could have saved me so, so much money and trouble, if one person would have just told me that their Chlor brite has CYA in it and not to put it in my pool, especially since I had JUST gotten my level back down when I started adding it. I had mentioned all of this to the nice boy who's often at the counter when I go in there, and mentioned that I should get some sort of discount or store credit or something for the inconvenience and hardship of it all, but he basically said that he couldn't do that, then told me I had $4 in Leslie's rewards I could use, like $300 later, still a cloudy pool, still a high CYA, and my family and I STILL can't swim in one of the hottest months of the year....I feel like just giving up. I have never had this problem in the whole 4 seasons we've had the same pool... I feel screwed.