Brown flakes in hot tub

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aguywithaspa

Member
May 21, 2022
19
CA
Hello,
I have a Dimension One Dream model hot tub with a UV lamp and Vision silver ion cartridge for sanitizing. We use leisure time chlorine shock as required as well. A couple years ago the UV lamp failed, which took a while to notice because we don’t always use it regularly. At some point brown flakes started floating around.

No matter what I do I can’t seem to get rid of them. We got a new a UV lamp (the original one was 6+yrs old). Drained the water, new filter and silver cartridge. More flakes. Ran some Natural Chemistry Spa Purge. Didn’t seem to help much or at all.

I’m guessing it’s some kind of slime buildup inside the pipes, but I’m not sure what I can use to get rid of it. No matter how much skimming I do it never really goes away.

Are there different types of purge chemicals that more specifically or aggressively target this type of stuff?

I have attached a couple pics of a chunk in my skimmer, and a pile of them at the bottom when I just recently drained it again. Any suggestions on what might get rid of this stuff for good would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
 

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Welcome to TFP! :wave: Folks here have great things to say about the Ahh-Some product. It performs a purge exceptionally well and is recommended even for showroom-new tubs that still have factory lubricants in the lines. Not so confident about the silver ion cartridge though. :scratch:

I would try an Ahh-Some purge and review the link below for some really good hot tub chlorination tips.

How do I use Chlorine in my Spa (or pool)?

If you have a question about any information within this Sticky, please start a new thread for yourself where you will receive very quick responses to your specific questions. Thank you! Introduction There are two main things to consider when maintaining your hot tub water, Water Balance and...
www.troublefreepool.com www.troublefreepool.com
 
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Hello Aguywithaspa: Texas Splash has the correct answer for you. Natural Chemistry Spa Purge is probably the #1 selling purge product in America. However, our testing and testing performed at the Center for Biofilm Engineering at Montana State University, has determined that the Ahh-Some product is over 5,000 times more effective in removing biofilms and pseudomonas from hot tub plumbing. This information is on the web for all to see. Use the Ahh-Some hot tub plumbing cleaner and you will definitely see a dramatic difference in purge products.
 
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Texas Splash said:
Welcome to TFP! :wave: Folks here have great things to say about the Ahh-Some product. It performs a purge exceptionally well and is recommended even for showroom-new tubs that still have factory lubricants in the lines. Not so confident about the silver ion cartridge though. :scratch:

I would try an Ahh-Some purge and review the link below for some really good hot tub chlorination tips.

How do I use Chlorine in my Spa (or pool)?

If you have a question about any information within this Sticky, please start a new thread for yourself where you will receive very quick responses to your specific questions. Thank you! Introduction There are two main things to consider when maintaining your hot tub water, Water Balance and...
www.troublefreepool.com www.troublefreepool.com
Click to expand...
Thanks. I'll try it out. The Dimension One spas (at least mine) don't use chlorine, though, except for the shock dose after use and once a week or so. Just UV + ion.
Ahhsomeguy said:
Hello Aguywithaspa: Texas Splash has the correct answer for you. Natural Chemistry Spa Purge is probably the #1 selling purge product in America. However, our testing and testing performed at the Center for Biofilm Engineering at Montana State University, has determined that the Ahh-Some product is over 5,000 times more effective in removing biofilms and pseudomonas from hot tub plumbing. This information is on the web for all to see. Use the Ahh-Some hot tub plumbing cleaner and you will definitely see a dramatic difference in purge products.
Click to expand...
Sounds good to me. :) Just ordered a jar. Of course, killing stuff vs getting it removed from being stuck to the tubing might be different things...?
 
Hello again,

So an update. I ran the Ahh-some through my spa about three times, drained, wiped down, refilled, new filter and vision cartridge. It did seem reasonably improved, but there were still some flakes coming out now and then. Not quite as many as before, but it still never stopped.
At some point over the past few months, I completely unscrewed one of the large jets, and there was a decent amount of chunks of things behind it. This weekend I finally opened all of them up (it took so long, because it's a hassle getting them off, they're too tight to do by hand and I was lazy in getting a vice grip). There had been a lot of Crud hiding behind the jets. I scooped a lot of it out, then turned on the jets with the jet covers off. An UNBELIEVABLE amount of garbage shot out. Like probably more than all that I've seen before combined.

Does anyone know what this stuff is? It almost looks like someone cut up strips of brown paper bag that are now slimy. I'm guessing it's just the shape of the tubing of whatever inside. Anyway, the Ahh-some apparently doesn't dissolve it well at all, whatever it is. I ran some more Ahh-some with the jet covers off, drained, and will be refilling tomorrow. Hoping that finally gets rid of most of it...


1674941527283.png
 
In your previous post you mentioned only “shocking” after use & once a week.
Shock is a verb, not a product. What product are you using to accomplish this & how are you testing the water?
Can you post your most recent test results?
Fc
Cc
Ph
Ta
Ch
Cya

Without adequate sanitation around the clock biofilms will accumulate very quickly in a spa along with a host of other undesirable nasties that can make you & your guests quite ill.
 
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Ir would seem that the gunk is a combination of many possible things. Since it looks chunky it appears to be bio-fouling contaminants. I would also bet that the Ahh-Some purge loosened up a considerable amount off the fittings. After you run the next flush I suspect that you are done with the stuff For now. Keep adequate sanitizers in the tub and watch the chemical balance pf pH, TA and Cyanuric Acid. You should be good to go if you maintain at proper levels. Report back with your results after tomorrow.
 
Last edited:
Mdragger88 said:
In your previous post you mentioned only “shocking” after use & once a week.
Shock is a verb, not a product. What product are you using to accomplish this & how are you testing the water?
Can you post your most recent test results?
Fc
Cc
Ph
Ta
Ch
Cya

Without adequate sanitation around the clock biofilms will accumulate very quickly in a spa along with a host of other undesirable nasties that can make you & your guests quite ill.
Click to expand...
I have been using Leisure Time Replenish, which I believe is what I was told to use by the dealer when I bought it.

These are the strips I've been using.
I'll be refilling it in the morning, and I didn't test before draining.
 

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aguywithaspa said:
I have been using Leisure Time Replenish, which I believe is what I was told to use by the dealer when I bought it.

These are the strips I've been using.
I'll be refilling it in the morning, and I didn't test before draining.
Click to expand...

If you've been using it for years and this is your first problem, no itch, no foaming, no regular dumping, you must be doing something right.

Thing is, we really can't tell you what without quantifying the results @Mdragger88 asked you for. These would need to be taken accurately from a test kit. Strips are notoriously inaccurate and pool store results MIGHT be if you trust them to do everything right (my pool store gets some of it right and nobody here want to take my word for it...).

After years of following dealer advice you have to decide if you want to change your way of maintaining your spa. I can tell you, what you can learn here will help do it cheaper, more hassle free, and safer for you and your tub.

I'm recommending you read the sticky pinned to the top of this forum, browse the pool school articles, and, I really think you will want a test kit.

[/troublemaker mode on]
BTW, I'm going against the grain here in saying IF (IF IF IF) you really haven't had issues over two years using UV and a silver ion system with regular additions of dichlor - your system of maintenance may be more expensive than the methods we prefer, but yours may be more of a success story. One RESPECTED member, @RDspaguy, firmly believes mineral systems can be a huge plus.
[/troublemaker mode off]
 
aguywithaspa said:
I have been using Leisure Time Replenish, which I believe is what I was told to use by the dealer when I bought it.

These are the strips I've been using.
I'll be refilling it in the morning, and I didn't test before draining.
Click to expand...
That’s dichlor- but it’s a weird one, only 15% dichlor instead of 99% as we recommend using which makes it very overpriced & the “other” ingredients are possibly adding things you don’t want to your water in unknown quantities which have consequences on several other parameters making things hard to understand. The main one being MPS which can show as cc’s when testing unless an interference reagent is used. This makes it very difficult to gauge the health of the water since elevated cc’s are a cause for concern in a spa.
126AB4C4-BF4A-443E-8A58-BECB8C885ACD.png
Dichlor increases cya as well as fc - the fc gets consumed but the cya remains & builds up which can make it very hard to follow the FC/CYA Levels & maintain a sanitary tub once cya gets higher than 30 or 40ppm. This can happen very quickly. For every 1ppm increase in fc dichlor also raises the cya by approximately 1ppm.
The solution is to stop using dichlor & switch to liquid chlorine when your cya gets into the 30ppm range as is recommended in the guide I posted previously.
Test Strips simply cannot provide the accuracy you need to maintain a spa because they just have “ranges” not to mention they are often wrong more than they are right so you think things are fine & they are not.
A proper test kit is necessary. Taylor k2006 or tf100.
www.troublefreepool.com

Swimming Pool Test Kits Compared

What pool test kit should I buy? Why not use test strips? Our recommended test kits will pay for themselves in no time!
www.troublefreepool.com www.troublefreepool.com

Regardless of if you use alternative “helpers” (ion, uv, ozone, minerals) you must keep fc above minimum for your cya at all times or nasties will proliferate rapidly.

Alternative sanitizers and "chemical free" pools--The Truth!

Pool owners frequently seek out "Chemical Free" alternatives to pool water sanitization. Many claims in favor of these systems and methods have been made (usually by the manufacturers of such systems) often without adequate scientific proof of their efficacy. Let's take a look at them and see...
www.troublefreepool.com www.troublefreepool.com
 
Methuselah said:
If you've been using it for years and this is your first problem, no itch, no foaming, no regular dumping, you must be doing something right.

Thing is, we really can't tell you what without quantifying the results @Mdragger88 asked you for. These would need to be taken accurately from a test kit. Strips are notoriously inaccurate and pool store results MIGHT be if you trust them to do everything right (my pool store gets some of it right and nobody here want to take my word for it...).

After years of following dealer advice you have to decide if you want to change your way of maintaining your spa. I can tell you, what you can learn here will help do it cheaper, more hassle free, and safer for you and your tub.

I'm recommending you read the sticky pinned to the top of this forum, browse the pool school articles, and, I really think you will want a test kit.

[/troublemaker mode on]
BTW, I'm going against the grain here in saying IF (IF IF IF) you really haven't had issues over two years using UV and a silver ion system with regular additions of dichlor - your system of maintenance may be more expensive than the methods we prefer, but yours may be more of a success story. One RESPECTED member, @RDspaguy, firmly believes mineral systems can be a huge plus.
[/troublemaker mode off]
Click to expand...
I had this thing for like six years literally doing nothing except changing the Vision cartridge and adding Replenish as I was told. It wasn't until the UV lamp failed that the problems started. I'm not sure how long it was out because we went for a while without getting in, so I didn't notice right away there was an issue as I hadn't been testing the water regularly either since it had always been fine. It's really stupid that there's no way to know the lamp has failed otherwise. Maybe they have better indicators (or should I say ANY indicators) these days.

I thought the whole point of these systems was that you didn't need additional chemicals to maintain the water, at least once it's initially balanced. I have some PH up and down stuff that I've used also when needed, but the water is usually OK.

Mdragger88 said:
That’s dichlor- but it’s a weird one, only 15% dichlor instead of 99% as we recommend using which makes it very overpriced & the “other” ingredients are possibly adding things you don’t want to your water in unknown quantities which have consequences on several other parameters making things hard to understand. The main one being MPS which can show as cc’s when testing unless an interference reagent is used. This makes it very difficult to gauge the health of the water since elevated cc’s are a cause for concern in a spa.
View attachment 471073
Dichlor increases cya as well as fc - the fc gets consumed but the cya remains & builds up which can make it very hard to follow the FC/CYA Levels & maintain a sanitary tub once cya gets higher than 30 or 40ppm. This can happen very quickly. For every 1ppm increase in fc dichlor also raises the cya by approximately 1ppm.
The solution is to stop using dichlor & switch to liquid chlorine when your cya gets into the 30ppm range as is recommended in the guide I posted previously.
Test Strips simply cannot provide the accuracy you need to maintain a spa because they just have “ranges” not to mention they are often wrong more than they are right so you think things are fine & they are not.
A proper test kit is necessary. Taylor k2006 or tf100.
www.troublefreepool.com

Swimming Pool Test Kits Compared

What pool test kit should I buy? Why not use test strips? Our recommended test kits will pay for themselves in no time!
www.troublefreepool.com www.troublefreepool.com

Regardless of if you use alternative “helpers” (ion, uv, ozone, minerals) you must keep fc above minimum for your cya at all times or nasties will proliferate rapidly.

Alternative sanitizers and "chemical free" pools--The Truth!

Pool owners frequently seek out "Chemical Free" alternatives to pool water sanitization. Many claims in favor of these systems and methods have been made (usually by the manufacturers of such systems) often without adequate scientific proof of their efficacy. Let's take a look at them and see...
www.troublefreepool.com www.troublefreepool.com
Click to expand...
OK, I don't understand all of the acronyms you're telling me here since, as stated above, I've never had to deal with it before. But I'll start reading through and learning what I apparently will need to learn. Bonus if it's even cheaper than before I suppose. So I would continue with the UV/Silver and just use better chemicals instead of Replenish, which, with a testing kit, would end up working better and costing less?

Thank you all.
 
aguywithaspa said:
OK, I don't understand all of the acronyms you're telling me here since, as stated above, I've never had to deal with it before. But I'll start reading through and learning what I apparently will need to learn. Bonus if it's even cheaper than before I suppose. So I would continue with the UV/Silver and just use better chemicals instead of Replenish, which, with a testing kit, would end up working better and costing less?
Click to expand...

Six (!)

There are unanswered questions that I'm thinking play in. How often did you dump and refil? Does the tub also run an ozone generator? Is there a recirculation pump?

By the way, most ozone generators fail somewhere between 6 months and 2 years, and really need the check valve replaced annually.

It also matters how often you use it for how long compared to dosing (bather load or "bather-hours").

I believe the reading you plan on doing will serve you well and save you money, but I also tend to believe your system seemed quite workable and supports what @RDspaguy was trying to point out in this thread [I'm making more trouble...].
 
I probably drained and refilled about once a year, and we never used it heavily. Probably once or twice a month, and there would be times when we went a couple months without using it at all.
The UV lamp is part of the ozone system, and is supposed to last in the 4-7 year range I believe, and that is what we replaced. If there's something else that needs replacing at times, I don't remember being told about it. I don't even know what the check valve is, if it has one.

It cycles water twice a day for about 30 min each iirc.
 
aguywithaspa said:
The Dimension One spas (at least mine) don't use chlorine, though, except for the shock dose after use and once a week or so. Just UV + ion.
Click to expand...
The "shock dose" is likely at least partly sodium dichlor, which is nearly half cya (stabilizer) and will interfere with your chlorine at residuals over 30ppm or so. Use liquid once 30ppm cya is reached.
I do not recommend mixed products such as this, as the various ingredients can cause unpredictable testing errors.

Mdragger88 said:
Regardless of if you use alternative “helpers” (ion, uv, ozone, minerals) you must keep fc above minimum for your cya at all times or nasties will proliferate rapidly.
Click to expand...
This. The "shock" after use must be sufficient to sanitize the water. The silver ion is more useful for keeping a clean tub clean than for sanitizing heavy contaminant levels, such as you get every time you use it. UV/ozone is useful for removing sanitation byproducts (cc) overnight for fresh smelling and 0 cc water the next day. It also depletes fc to about 0.5ppm, which is good if you used too much shock (which is much better than not enough) but does mean you have low fc (so little if any person-to-person contamination protection) when you go to use it.

Methuselah said:
but I also tend to believe your system seemed quite workable
Click to expand...
Dimension one is one of my top brands, along with Hot Springs/Caldera and Sundance. All have 24/7 ozone systems.

aguywithaspa said:
someone cut up strips of brown paper bag that are now slimy.
Click to expand...
Flex pvc is a spiral of a semi-rigid material encased in rubbery plastic. Over time, the rubbery stuff shrinks and stiffens, creating a raised spiral inside the pipes. The "low" spots are protected from direct flow and this is where gunk builds up. This shape is common for many contaminants growing in spas, as well as scale.
 
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aguywithaspa said:
I had this thing for like six years literally doing nothing except changing the Vision cartridge and adding Replenish as I was told. It wasn't until the UV lamp failed that the problems started. I'm not sure how long it was out because we went for a while without getting in, so I didn't notice right away there was an issue as I hadn't been testing the water regularly either since it had always been fine. It's really stupid that there's no way to know the lamp has failed otherwise. Maybe they have better indicators (or should I say ANY indicators) these days.

I thought the whole point of these systems was that you didn't need additional chemicals to maintain the water, at least once it's initially balanced. I have some PH up and down stuff that I've used also when needed, but the water is usually OK.


OK, I don't understand all of the acronyms you're telling me here since, as stated above, I've never had to deal with it before. But I'll start reading through and learning what I apparently will need to learn. Bonus if it's even cheaper than before I suppose. So I would continue with the UV/Silver and just use better chemicals instead of Replenish, which, with a testing kit, would end up working better and costing less?

Thank you all.
Click to expand...
Pool Care Basics for a better understanding of the names of chems etc.
 
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Well after refilling the tub, it now isn't heating properly. It ran all night and only heated up about 3 degrees. The dealer said since the circuit isn't tripping, the heater shouldn't be broken, and I made sure the filter was out and the air plug screw thing by the filter was open. No error codes or anything. Not sure if all that debris has clogged up circulation somewhere inside or what... might have to call a repair place. Fun fun.
 
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