Perfect chemistry, clean filter, yet cloudy water?

[jshowalter]

TA 80, CH 280, FC 3, pH 7.5, CYA 50, borate 30.

Two-adult bather load, nighly, every day. Full showers before entering spa, and we get out if we need to urinate.

Water had been completely clear, absolutely pristine.

A few days ago, it acquired a slight translucent look, kind of milky (but colorless).

Shocking it with CL didn't fix anything.

The filter is clean.

The only recent change is that we haven't used it for the past five days because I was traveling and she was busy.

Any suggestions?

 

[duraleigh]

I would up the FC to about 10ppm or so with bleach and hold it there while running the filter 24/7 and give that a day or so. It's not exactly shocking the pool but will probably clear up whatever is ailing it.

If that yields no results, post back.

 

[BBBliever]

When was your last water change? What is your daily FC loss? If you are losing more 50% FC daily with no bather load then you either have high organics due to lack of water change or you have a bug growing in your tub.

If shocking to the CYA/Chlorine chart doesn't clear it I would consider a decontamination with superchlorination procedure. I do this with every water change at a 3 month interval. Maybe overkill but I had a bad experience with biofilm when I first got my tub.

Are you using the Dichlor/bleach method. A CYA of 50 is high for a hot tub. 20 to 30 ppm would be better.

Post back if you have more questions.

 

[duraleigh]

Oops! Please disregard my advice. I mistakenly thought it was an IG pool.

 

[jshowalter]

When was your last water change?...Are you using the Dichlor/bleach method.

Yes, we're using BBB.

We've only had the spa for a couple of months, and the first month of that was spent battling Baqua. I drained, flushed, refilled, drained, flushed, refilled to get rid of hated awful Baqua, and then started BBB.

So short answer is, the water was changed just a month ago.

What is your daily FC loss? If you are losing more 50% FC daily with no bather load then you either have high organics due to lack of water change or you have a bug growing in your tub.

When I left, there was only about 1% FC. She put a teeny amount of Dichlor in each day (1/2 teaspoon in a 280-gallon spa), for the five days I was gone, and ran the jets after each addition. On the fourth day I was gone, she said the water had gotten cloudy. When I measured it today (six days since I left), the FC was 5 (I reported 3 in my original post, but that's a typo). So it seems like the FC loss is reasonable?

If shocking to the CYA/Chlorine chart doesn't clear it I would consider a decontamination with superchlorination procedure.

When she reported the cloudiness, I suggested 1+1/2 teaspoons, but that may not have been enough of a shock. I'll go add some more and see what happens.

A CYA of 50 is high for a hot tub. 20 to 30 ppm would be better.

Thanks for noting that. The CYA is the highest it's ever been, and I'll start using bleach now instead of Dichlor.[/quote]

 

[BBBliever]

I assume you properly converted from baqua$pa to chlorine and changed the filter out, Am I correct??? It takes more than several drain/refill's. You should have used ALOT of bleach for that conversion process after a drain a refill. I would have used a spa system flush to clean the plumbing out as well.

If I were you I would drain 30% of your water, easy for a tub. Then you could use a lower FC level with the reduced CYA level.

How are you testing your water???

Once you get rid of the Baqua/Biofilm dichlor/bleach should be very easy. As I said when I first got my tub I ran into problems with biofilm, got spa stored, then found informative forums like this. I have never had water chemistry issues since.

 

[jshowalter]

I assume you properly converted from baqua$pa to chlorine and changed the filter out, Am I correct??? It takes more than several drain/refill's. You should have used ALOT of bleach for that conversion process after a drain a refill. I would have used a spa system flush to clean the plumbing out as well.

I did the conversion by fully draining, filling, bleaching, flushing, replacing the filter, draining, filling, flushing, and replacing the filter again.

Here's what it looked like when I was done:

photos-of-a-successful-spa-conversion-from-baqua-t38539.html

Note how pretty the water looks. That's why the onset of cloudiness is so upsetting.

How are you testing your water???

A proper test kit, per the BBB descriptions. Little drops, tubes, etc. No test strips.

 

[BBBliever]

It sounds like you just let your CYA/Chlorine relationship get out of whack. With a CYA of 50 ppm your minimum FC should be 5 ppm. You stated it was down to 1 or lower a few times. Shock level for 50 ppm CYA is 20 ppm FC. A shock will probably clear your water right up.

Low CYA levels like 30 can be difficult to read. What I would reccomend you do upon water change is add about 1.5 teaspoons of dichlor. Test to see how much that raised your FC. Lets say it was 5 ppm then multiply the dose times 6 or to get a total of 30 ppm FC. Take that total amount of Dichlor and place it in a ziplock bag. Then add only that to your tub over the next week or so.
Hope ghat helps you. Enjoy the tub.

 

[jshowalter]

It sounds like you just let your CYA/Chlorine relationship get out of whack. With a CYA of 50 ppm your minimum FC should be 5 ppm. You stated it was down to 1 or lower a few times. Shock level for 50 ppm CYA is 20 ppm FC. A shock will probably clear your water right up.

Low CYA levels like 30 can be difficult to read. What I would reccomend you do upon water change is add about 1.5 teaspoons of dichlor. Test to see how much that raised your FC. Lets say it was 5 ppm then multiply the dose times 6 or to get a total of 30 ppm FC. Take that total amount of Dichlor and place it in a ziplock bag. Then add only that to your tub over the next week or so.
Hope ghat helps you. Enjoy the tub.

Thanks!

The weird thing is that CYA was only 30 a few days ago (I can measure it accurately with the special tube with the black dot at the bottom that came with the test kit). I'd been adding Dichlor to bring it up, thinking it should be at 50. Now it's at 50 and that's bad.

Unfortunately it looks like the only way to bring down CYA is to drain some water and add more, which will put me back in water-chemistry heck because our starting water is difficult to work with.

 

[BBBliever]

6 months from now water chemistry will be second nature to you. You will be able to manage your tub with little effort and a routine will be established. Trial and error will get you there. We are here to help.

 

[jshowalter]

I zapped it with bleach and, oddly, it cleared up and the CYA dropped, which shouldn't happen? Anyway, it seems to be back to normal.

 

[257WbyMag]

Your CYA readings are accurate to +/- 10 ppm on that test. Also, a CYA of 50 isn't bad, per se, but I wouldn't allow it to get higher than that. Put the dichlor away if you haven't already done so. Good to know that your water cleared up.

 

[BBBliever]

Keep the FC up and you water will be clear. The CYA test is subjective and easy to misread at lower levels. There is no need for a CYA level higher than 30 ppm in a hot tub. Forget the CYA test and just keep track of FC via dichlor until you add a total of 34 ppm FC/dichlor after a water change. Then just add 5ppm FC/dichlor a month.