I know, it's pretty gross? I have to say though it was not as bad as I thought since it's five years old. I am primarily the only one and it probably 90% of the time.
Hot Tub Cleaning help
- Thread starter Lykly
- Start date
- May 23, 2015
- 24,411
- Pool Size
- 16000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-60
Yes. Now just try to imagine what would come out of a public hot tub in a hotel that never gets cleaned .... ????
OK question for you. I added the Ahh Some exactly as prescribed. I let it run for probably an hour changing my air vents around and having both pumps plus my air pump running. It acted just like I think it was supposed to, creating a nice layer of foam and leaving a film of YUCK. ? I drained it and wiped down the surface line of Gunk and continued to wash the hot tub and rinse it all the way till it was drained. After it was drained I sucked it dry with my shop vac. I then took my water hose and blew through all the Jets and rinsed them out and the water drained to the bottom of my hot tub. I then sucked that water out. I then reversed my shop vac and blew out all the Jets, and then sucked that water out. So I felt like I had it rinsed out pretty well. I have filled it, and after I turned on all the Jets I noticed some foam still appeared, nothing like it was but still a fair amount. After quite some time I noticed an area probably 2 inches long of some light biofilm which I wiped off with a single paper towel, other than that there is a small amount of foam but it's clean. No sign of biofilm. The foam only appears if I have all the pumps on and it quickly dissipates and disappears when I shut them off. I am not concerned about the foam, my question is the small amount of awesome that is left I'm guessing it's harmless? As long as I don't see any more debris, and my filter is clean, do you think I need to drain the tub again?
- May 23, 2015
- 24,411
- Pool Size
- 16000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-60
What you're seeing is typical of an Ahh-Some treatment - a small residual of Ahh-Some making the water foamy again. Some people choose to do another water flush, some choose to super-chlorinate to breakdown the residual, it's up to you. It won't do you any harm.
Here's the deep, dark secret about Ahh-Some - it's nothing more than a concentrated surfactant and ABDAC type linear quat algaecide. The ABDAC algaecide, at high concentrations, acts as a clarifier. So, when you add Ahh-Some to your tub, you are adding a super-powerful surfactant that causes the biofilms to lift off the surface of pipes and plumbing and then the ABDAC will cause those particles to agglomerate into much larger, gooey masses (the yucky brown snot-like material....EWE!!). All it takes to reduce the foaminess from the residual Ahh-Some is some chlorine exposure. You'll notice when you start to chlorinate the tub that the FC loss rate will be higher than you expect; that's due to the breakdown of the Ahh-some residual and any left-over biofilm particles.
Just keep chlorinating and filtering until it levels off....and soak happily in you newly refreshed and cleaned tub :splash:
Thanks for the explanation , perfect. I added the salt and got my saltron mini fired up and gave it a little bump of Clorox. Right now it's sitting at about 5 ppm. No sign of biofilm and maybe it's my imagination but I think the foam is already about half of what it was. Depends on how quick it heats up I may enjoy it tonight. Last check it was at 78° [emoji4]
- May 23, 2015
- 24,411
- Pool Size
- 16000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-60
I have never used CYA in the hot tub? [emoji851]
Currently
C= 6
TA = 290 (well water)
CH = 200 (filled half with water source from softener)
PH = 7.5
Salt = 2000 ppm
- May 23, 2015
- 24,411
- Pool Size
- 16000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-60
So do you drop the FC before going in or do you soak in high chlorine water?
1.5ppm FC with zero CYA has a hypochlorous acid concentrations 14 times higher than 3.5ppm FC and 30ppm CYA. That's pretty harsh water to be in. I hate going in my attached spa unless the FC drops to a low value or else I can smell the chloramine form on my skin....yuck.
Either way, enjoy the squeaky clean plumbing. Hopefully there are no snakes in your hot tub ...
1.5ppm FC with zero CYA has a hypochlorous acid concentrations 14 times higher than 3.5ppm FC and 30ppm CYA. That's pretty harsh water to be in. I hate going in my attached spa unless the FC drops to a low value or else I can smell the chloramine form on my skin....yuck.
Either way, enjoy the squeaky clean plumbing. Hopefully there are no snakes in your hot tub ...
In the past I kept FC 1-2 ppm. However trying to keep it there, it many times would reach 3-4 ppm. I will definitely add the CYA, now that I know what you have explained. If I put 30 ppm is a good target 3-4 ppm? What would the minimum target be? This hot tub is not attached to my pool as you prob know.
PS: so far no snakes in hot tub , although I did find another one in my pool skimmer last nigh!
PS: so far no snakes in hot tub , although I did find another one in my pool skimmer last nigh!
Thanks....I was just not sure since my hot tub has a SWG, if I followed the freshwater calculation. I'm currently adding 30 ppm, that's a good place to start.
Matt, I am definitely getting old as proof is in my poor memory. I did add the CYA to my hot tub prior using the sock method. I remembered doing it before when I tied the sock in my filter compartment, So I did have CYA in my hot tub, I just forgot that I added it.
Another example is couple of weeks ago I left my outside gas grill on overnight as I usually burn it off after I use it. Luckily I had the burners on low so it just ended up with a good cleaning no damage. [emoji30] sucks getting old. GEESH
- May 23, 2015
- 24,411
- Pool Size
- 16000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-60
I did that....once. Luckily I remembered at mid night. Grille was super-clean after brushing off the white ash.
I've since installed a mechanical dial timer gas switch.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0002Z1H8C/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_RYRtzb0V97VBE
Curious to know if this maintenance dose causes any build up of suds/bubbles.
I just did the purge, wipe, clean, and then did an extra fill of clean water which I ran and drained. I have just filled my tub and balanced the water. The water is perfectly clear, and when I run the jets, there is no evidence of suds or bubbles like before. I am very happy.
If I were to add the maintenance dose of Ahh Some, say once a week, would that cause a build up of "product" in the water, and cause foaming and such?
I have been doing this since last September with a fresh flush and fill last November and this past May. I did not see a build up bubbles - even at the end of the long winter until I could flush and fill. In all honesty, the water stayed much more stable and clear. Ahh some has a sister product called Hot tub Serum. The maintenance does solution is the hot tub Serum. Gerry explained it causes micro purges and the dichlor / bleach kills of the small particles of the biofilm that is released. If you see bubbles for more than 15-20 seconds after everything is suddenly shut off - reduce the amount used or skip the next weeks dose.
Perfect, great feedback! This is an easy button for extending water life and quality/enjoyment!!!
I wonder how often this really needs to be done? Once a week seems excessive for normal maintenance, but I guess it would all depend on how often and how large of bather load you have. I would think for a hot tub that has multiple people daily once a week would be required but in my case it is usually myself maybe one other person once or twice a week this time of year. I just do not like adding anything more than I have to. Happy Soaking!