Brown Sludge???

[SaltySailorDog]

I have a 360 gallon “My Life” hot tub, just installed new, last October. Chemical treatment system used is the Frog. Sadly, I keep getting a nasty, dark brown sludge in my tub; almost the consistency of chocolate pudding. pH and all other parameters are in spec. The local hot tub store had us change the Frog, didn't really help. The only other chemicals ever used are the Caribbean Spa line of products (pH decreaser or increaser, Foam Free, Enzyme Plus, and Clarifier). I’ve changed the filter twice in 9 months. I’ve gone through more Frogs than I can count. Yesterday, I opened the tub and it had what looked like some sort of jelly fish goo was in the water. The last chemistry checks were: pH 7.19 (by meter), total alkalinity ~120, total hardness ~250. No actual chlorine measurements – the color strip indicates that it is spot on. It seems that this nasty brown pudding appears about 12 hours after adding pH decreaser, but, this could just be my imagination trying to find a cause. The water supply is the same as my inground pool and I have no problems with the pool chemistry. Any thoughts or ideas?

 

[reggiehammond]

Calling @Ahhsomeguy....

 

[Ahhsomeguy]

Hello SaltySailorDog: It appears to me that there was a good amount of gunk and possibly biofilms in the plumbing lines when the tub was delivered to you. One key question is this. Did you effectively perform a plumbing purge after the first fill? Hopefully yes, but probably not. Your issue right now is quite easy to remedy.
Purge the plumbing! Once you purge and get the colonization of films and other gunk released from the plumbing lines you can start over on the water chemistry and maintenance. I do recommend using our Ahh-Some product to do the purge but in all honesty, there are other brands that do an okay job. I also recommend that you take a look at other maintenance items besides the Frog. The Di-chlor/bleach method works great. This forum has a plethora of valuable and reliable methods for you to consider going forward.

 

[VinnyinNJ]

Definitely do a Ahhsome purge! Maybe be prepared to do a few. Get a skimmer net and as you're purging scoop the stuff out of the tub. Also get some bleach or liquid chlorine and add it to the water as you're purging just to help kill the nasties. I refilled, rinsed and purged the one time I did it twice just to get the purge to work on new gunk that may not have been cleaned out the first time.. You'll also need to get the stuff off the shell as it sticks like crazy.

 

[SaltySailorDog]

Thanks VinnyinNJ and Ahhsomeguy! I'm picking up the Ahh-Some products this afternoon. Yes, it is very sticky indeed. For complete disclosure, no, I did not perform a plumbing purge after the first fill. Until this post, I had never even heard of a "purge", much less, to perform one after initial fill to remove manufacturing gunkiness.