White flakes for a month! Any advice is welcome!

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RobinDz

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Sep 6, 2017
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I’m hoping that some of you on here can either give me advice, or put my mind at ease.

At the start of August, I inherited a ten year old Hydropool hot tub. It was in reasonably good condition. It had been serviced by a local pool company throughout its life. That being said, they rarely had water tests done. They ran with a non chlorine based shock, bromine tablets and stain and scale control. All BioGuard products. When I picked up the tub, it had been sitting with water for about a week and not circulating. Then it was drained and empty for a week.

When I got it set up, I shocked with brominating Concentrate (quadruple shock) and ran Swirl Away. Upon refilling I noticed white flakes throughout the tub. I purchased AhhSome and a new filter. Ran the AhhSome and shocked and got a lot of brown stuff and a ton of foam. Drained. Rinsed and filled. Still had white flakes. Ran another dose of AhhSome. Got a lot less, but still some brown. Drained. Rinsed. Filled.

I ran a chemical called SpaPurge from SpaSolution that required me to have the pumps on for eight hours for five days. Didn’t really do much in terms of adding anything to the water. Shocked and drained.

I super chlorinated to 50+ ppm and let circulate for an hour, or slightly more. Drained.

Refilled and shocked and ran AhhSome again. Very little brown this time. Drained. Rinsed. Refilled.

Shocked to 50+ ppm (four full caps of Brominating Concentrate) on advice of pool store. Let pumps run on and off for 24 hours. Drained. It bleached the heck out of the filter. Rinsed and refilled.

Shocked to 22ppm with 6% Clorox. Covered and let sit for 24 hours. FC dropped to 18.5 in 24 hours. Pump had still been running for the four hour circulating during this time but nothing else was adjusted or changed. These FC levels were tested by my pool store with a Taylor kit.

Added half cap brominating Concentrate once the FC level dropped. Let run for a week with about five hours total use by two people. Had a floater set to 3. Bromine level has remained over 6 ppm all week.

I ran AhhSome again today and got an almost negligible amount of brown in one spot. Wiped with a paper towel and barely noticed it on the paper towel. Got white foam though.

I put my hose on the jets where I think more of the flakes come from. I was able to release a few quarter inch pieces. Put some in a mason jar with Clorox. Nothing happened. Put some others in a mason jar and brought them to the pool store. They poured Muriatic Acid over them. Nothing happened (noise, fizzing, etc). They maybe became slightly more transparent but definitely didn’t disintegrate.

The flakes mostly seem to come when I run the second pump (there are two plus a blower).

Im stuck. I have no idea what to do now. The tub is usable, but is this safe? Can I let my kids in, or should I keep them out?

I was under the impression it was biofilm and WWM but I’m assuming because of the AhhSome purges, being able to maintain a sanitizer level, and the flakes not disappearing in the mason jar, that this would not be organic. So I figured calcium. My tub seems to be too old for Calcium stearate that some talk about. I thought maybe calcium flakes, but then figured it’s probably not that based on the Muriatic Acid.

Sorry for for the length of the post, but I’m hoping that someone has some suggestions for me! It’s a beautiful tub and I would love to have the piece of mind of letting my children in!

I have attached a link to a video that I took this evening showing the water after the pumps had been running: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9MaUPlyqWs
 
Interesting update ...

I had a co-worker who purchased a home with a Sundance tub. He used AhhSome twice, with the super chlorinating. First time he had a lot of brown. Second time, almost nothing and very little foam.

After running AhhSome for the two purges, he now notices white flakes, almost identical to mine.

Could the white flakes be dead 'bacteria' or WWM or biofilm peeling off the inside of the pipes, as a result of using the AhhSome and super chlorinating?

The advice from the pool store is to continue to run the tub and rinse the filter daily. Eventually the flakes will go away. This advice seems contrary to a lot of the suggestions on here, especially from those dealing with AhhSome, when they have white flakes.
 
RobinDz said:
Interesting update ...

I had a co-worker who purchased a home with a Sundance tub. He used AhhSome twice, with the super chlorinating. First time he had a lot of brown. Second time, almost nothing and very little foam.

After running AhhSome for the two purges, he now notices white flakes, almost identical to mine.

Could the white flakes be dead 'bacteria' or WWM or biofilm peeling off the inside of the pipes, as a result of using the AhhSome and super chlorinating?

The advice from the pool store is to continue to run the tub and rinse the filter daily. Eventually the flakes will go away. This advice seems contrary to a lot of the suggestions on here, especially from those dealing with AhhSome, when they have white flakes.
Click to expand...

Hello: What you are describing may or may not be White Water Mold (WWM). One way to check is to capture a small amount of it and apply a pinch of bleach to this sample. If it totally disintegrates, it is usually WWM. It could also be Calcium deposits. These will not disintegrate when bleach is directly applied to them. WWM is usually the culprit in older hot tubs or jetted bathtubs, especially ones that may have sat unfilled for a time. Inside the tubing of all recreational water vessels are organic particulates that congregate and attach themselves to the inside wall of piping. Ahh-Some is a product that seeks out the gunk and grime that is harboring inside the plumbing you can't see. Ahh-Some penetrates through it, disperses it and with the help of the hot tub pump, it is pushed into the tub proper. Now, sometimes we need to perform extra flushes to get all the gunk out. Use the Ahh-Some in hot water for best and quicker results. Do not overdose with the product. It is super concentrated and less is actually better. It is a cleaner on steroids. Ahh-Some does not cause white floaters. We do create a dark brown froth to the water after it is initially used. This is what we want. We want to get in the plumbing and effectively remove all deposits. To our knowledge and during our product testing we have never seen a more effective way to disengage and remove the plumbing bio-buildup. Keep at it! You will finally get it clean.
 
Ahhsomeguy, thanks for responding!

I had mentioned that I put flakes in the bleach (6% clorox, and they did not disappear). I added Muriatic Acid to another 'batch' of flakes, and nothing happened there either, as you would expect with calcium. As well, I have run through 5 purges of AhhSome. No more brown stuff is being released.

Running through the tests of bleach/acid (as well as being able to maintain a bromine level and clear water, aside from this flaking issue), says to me that the white flakes are not organic (WWM), nor are they calcium. I understand the concept of AhhSome, but I would have assumed that, as no more brown is being released, that I have a clean tub and nothing should remain in the pipes. Yet this white flaking stuff still persists. I am hesitant to purchase more AhhSome as it is quite expensive, and has seemed to run it's course (ie. no more brown being released during purges).

I'm stuck as to where to go from here!
 
RobinDz said:
Ahhsomeguy, thanks for responding!

I had mentioned that I put flakes in the bleach (6% clorox, and they did not disappear). I added Muriatic Acid to another 'batch' of flakes, and nothing happened there either, as you would expect with calcium. As well, I have run through 5 purges of AhhSome. No more brown stuff is being released.

Running through the tests of bleach/acid (as well as being able to maintain a bromine level and clear water, aside from this flaking issue), says to me that the white flakes are not organic (WWM), nor are they calcium. I understand the concept of AhhSome, but I would have assumed that, as no more brown is being released, that I have a clean tub and nothing should remain in the pipes. Yet this white flaking stuff still persists. I am hesitant to purchase more AhhSome as it is quite expensive, and has seemed to run it's course (ie. no more brown being released during purges).

I'm stuck as to where to go from here!
Click to expand...


Please call me at 860-896-0836
 
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