Good afternoon all. First time posting to any forum of any kind, but this gunk has got me ready to say a bad word, probably many!
Great to know you guys are out there and willing to help, so thanks for that!
I don't know if the following is too much or too little info, but here goes.
Background info:
5 year old, 300 Gallon Master Spa, on the west coast of Florida, filled with well water that has gone through a whole house reverse osmosis system.
After super-cleaning, draining and refilling, (which I'm getting REALLY good at), I only need a tiny bit of PH up, a bunch of calcium hardness increaser,
(because of the softness of the RO treated water),then add 10 cups of pool salt, and then I just drop in my saltwater chlorine generator, (SmarterSpa
model made by Controlomatic), and a few hours later I'm in business with pretty perfect spa chemistry.
Yes, life is good........until about a week goes by. Then, without anyone even using the spa, very slowly, a light green tint begins at the waterline,
followed a day or two later by a thin deposit of green slime that you can actually scrape up a fingernail full by running it along the waterline a foot or
so. This stuff is sticky and nasty, almost like play-doh or clay, if you gather up enough of it. It's not much, but it's there and it's unacceptable.
So there you have it. I have pretty much given up trying to figure out where its coming from and how to get rid of it.
I can provide much more detailed info, (photos, videos, brand names of products used, types of water testing equipment used, test strips, digital
testing meters, liquid test kits used, etc, etc), but for now I'll start with some basics:
Please know that the chlorine generator, and me switching over to salt water, cannot be blamed because I have had this problem since before salt was
introduced to my spa. Actually, I only bought it because my wife, (having a very sensitive nose) has always commented that she could detect a chlorine
odor when using the spa, which is now in the past since she says she can't smell a thing now that I'm using the generator.(something good, anyway!)
As far as I know, this issue can only have 3 causes. But what do I know? There may be twenty! Those are: One: The spa water is eating away at the guts
of my spa, corroding the metals (copper?) that exist in the heating system, and the residue from that corrosion is manifesting itself as green scum.
Two: There is this junk called Bio-film, which is has been living in my spa for who knows how long, and is not being entirely removed when I drain and
clean the spa out each time. And Three: Each time I refill the spa, there is some new growth that occurs, even though I have enough chlorine and other
chemicals in order for that to NOT happen.(?)(This one I kind of doubt). However, the fact that no matter what I've done to treat, clean the filters,
scrub, flush,powerwash, let Ahh-Some sit in the spa overnight, super chlorinate and wave a magic wand before draining, the green stuff always takes
days, (sometimes a week) to come back after refilling. If the bio-film was never getting killed/totally removed from the spa during draining, wouldn't
it be noticeable after refilling and first turning on the jets? I always have perfect, crystal clear water for days after refilling.As a matter of fact, even after
the green scum at the waterline comes back, the water in the spa remains perfectly clear, (unlike a pool algae type problem where the water is tinted).
With regards to the metal corrosion(possibility #1), I called Master Spa, and they put the kibosh on that theory, saying that it "never" happens, and that
my water chemistry would have to be so screwed up that the spa would be basically unusable. I also bought some 14-way test strips, which included
a copper test pad that showed a little high, but I don't really trust those super-multi strips. I have contacted a professional local water lab which says
they will test my water sample for just copper, but that's another 55 bucks thrown at this problem. It would also mean that Master Spas lied for fun.
So, (possibility #2), it could be a matter of this "Bio-film" that I have read about. The Crud that grows in a spa and is hard to get rid of. So, I ordered
some Ahh-Some,ran several 20 minute jets and air cycles and I did get lots of foam and a lot of stuff at the waterline after each 20 minute blast. After
about the 5th cycle I drained the spa, after super chlorinating it one last time to kill any living thing (or so one would think) that could still be in there.
Refilled, same as above, but within a week I saw the dreaded green waterline begin to rear its ugly head. Drained and super-cleaned again, but this time
let Ahh-some sit in spa piping overnight, ran many cycles next morning, till NOTHING could be seen in foam when jets shut off. Drained/refilled. Guess
what........that's right, perfectly clear water, no scum for days. Figured I was in the clear, but noooooooo, the play-doh factory is open again!!
Possibility #3, the "something starts growing again" after refilling theory: This just doesn't seem right, possible, or fair. How can my pretty darn good
care of the spa chemistry allow something green to start growing after just a few days or a week? In general, when looking for spa help online, I have
been finding that the color green doesn't even come up often as a complaint. I seem to be the lucky one. (Mostly a swimming pool/algae problem).
Of course, this leads me to the usual, crybaby, why me(?) question that I'm now facing.
I will stop now and go try to figure out where I left my bottle of heroin-strength Tylenol.
Thanks for listening!
Great to know you guys are out there and willing to help, so thanks for that!
I don't know if the following is too much or too little info, but here goes.
Background info:
5 year old, 300 Gallon Master Spa, on the west coast of Florida, filled with well water that has gone through a whole house reverse osmosis system.
After super-cleaning, draining and refilling, (which I'm getting REALLY good at), I only need a tiny bit of PH up, a bunch of calcium hardness increaser,
(because of the softness of the RO treated water),then add 10 cups of pool salt, and then I just drop in my saltwater chlorine generator, (SmarterSpa
model made by Controlomatic), and a few hours later I'm in business with pretty perfect spa chemistry.
Yes, life is good........until about a week goes by. Then, without anyone even using the spa, very slowly, a light green tint begins at the waterline,
followed a day or two later by a thin deposit of green slime that you can actually scrape up a fingernail full by running it along the waterline a foot or
so. This stuff is sticky and nasty, almost like play-doh or clay, if you gather up enough of it. It's not much, but it's there and it's unacceptable.
So there you have it. I have pretty much given up trying to figure out where its coming from and how to get rid of it.
I can provide much more detailed info, (photos, videos, brand names of products used, types of water testing equipment used, test strips, digital
testing meters, liquid test kits used, etc, etc), but for now I'll start with some basics:
Please know that the chlorine generator, and me switching over to salt water, cannot be blamed because I have had this problem since before salt was
introduced to my spa. Actually, I only bought it because my wife, (having a very sensitive nose) has always commented that she could detect a chlorine
odor when using the spa, which is now in the past since she says she can't smell a thing now that I'm using the generator.(something good, anyway!)
As far as I know, this issue can only have 3 causes. But what do I know? There may be twenty! Those are: One: The spa water is eating away at the guts
of my spa, corroding the metals (copper?) that exist in the heating system, and the residue from that corrosion is manifesting itself as green scum.
Two: There is this junk called Bio-film, which is has been living in my spa for who knows how long, and is not being entirely removed when I drain and
clean the spa out each time. And Three: Each time I refill the spa, there is some new growth that occurs, even though I have enough chlorine and other
chemicals in order for that to NOT happen.(?)(This one I kind of doubt). However, the fact that no matter what I've done to treat, clean the filters,
scrub, flush,powerwash, let Ahh-Some sit in the spa overnight, super chlorinate and wave a magic wand before draining, the green stuff always takes
days, (sometimes a week) to come back after refilling. If the bio-film was never getting killed/totally removed from the spa during draining, wouldn't
it be noticeable after refilling and first turning on the jets? I always have perfect, crystal clear water for days after refilling.As a matter of fact, even after
the green scum at the waterline comes back, the water in the spa remains perfectly clear, (unlike a pool algae type problem where the water is tinted).
With regards to the metal corrosion(possibility #1), I called Master Spa, and they put the kibosh on that theory, saying that it "never" happens, and that
my water chemistry would have to be so screwed up that the spa would be basically unusable. I also bought some 14-way test strips, which included
a copper test pad that showed a little high, but I don't really trust those super-multi strips. I have contacted a professional local water lab which says
they will test my water sample for just copper, but that's another 55 bucks thrown at this problem. It would also mean that Master Spas lied for fun.
So, (possibility #2), it could be a matter of this "Bio-film" that I have read about. The Crud that grows in a spa and is hard to get rid of. So, I ordered
some Ahh-Some,ran several 20 minute jets and air cycles and I did get lots of foam and a lot of stuff at the waterline after each 20 minute blast. After
about the 5th cycle I drained the spa, after super chlorinating it one last time to kill any living thing (or so one would think) that could still be in there.
Refilled, same as above, but within a week I saw the dreaded green waterline begin to rear its ugly head. Drained and super-cleaned again, but this time
let Ahh-some sit in spa piping overnight, ran many cycles next morning, till NOTHING could be seen in foam when jets shut off. Drained/refilled. Guess
what........that's right, perfectly clear water, no scum for days. Figured I was in the clear, but noooooooo, the play-doh factory is open again!!
Possibility #3, the "something starts growing again" after refilling theory: This just doesn't seem right, possible, or fair. How can my pretty darn good
care of the spa chemistry allow something green to start growing after just a few days or a week? In general, when looking for spa help online, I have
been finding that the color green doesn't even come up often as a complaint. I seem to be the lucky one. (Mostly a swimming pool/algae problem).
Of course, this leads me to the usual, crybaby, why me(?) question that I'm now facing.
I will stop now and go try to figure out where I left my bottle of heroin-strength Tylenol.
Thanks for listening!
