Aqua Finesse confussion and folliculitis with used hot tub

[ctroxtell]

Hello, me and my wife picked up a new-to-us hot tub. It is in my garage, so it gets pretty much no sunlight and the water temperature has been kept around 100 degrees. I fixed it up, flushed it out with Ahh-some (I just noticed Ahh-some states adequate sanitizer must be present during treatment, so I'm not sure if that has anything to factor into it as it was just water) and refilled it twice more...found a leaking jet on the second fill. I purchased Aqua Finesse Dichlor (Powder) in hopes of keeping the water in excellent condition for my wife. I adjusted the water to CH-180, P.H.-7.5, TA-80, FC-2, TC-4 then added 8oz of the Aqua Finesse liquid and a tsp of the dichlor granules. Then my wife, me and our two children got in the hot tub to test it out.


The instructions say that after each use all you need to do is add half a tsp of the dichlor granules with the jets running till the following week at which point you add more liquid Aqua Finesse. Now both me and my wife have folliculitis, I noticed either on the 5th or 6th day when my wife went to get in the water did not smell of any chlorine, it smelled more "funky" but was puzzled since I'd been following the instructions adding a half tsp after we had finished our soak. On day three I woke up and noticed my left breast was swollen and sore and now my right breast has done the same. So I'm just trying to get some clarification on this whole setup because reading through Nitro's post on PoolSpaForum he talks about the hot tub needing so many ppm of FC in order to sanitize and keep everything in order depending on the number of people and length of time they spend in the tub. None of which is talked about on the Aqua Finesse instructions and just makes my head spin. So if anyone is able to point me in the right direction as I try to get my head wrapped about the new world of hot tub chemical balancing I would greatly appreciate it.

 

[Texas Splash]

I'm going to give you two very important links to read:
How do I use Chlorine in my Spa (or pool)?)
Ahh-some treatment

As a new hot tub owner, it's imperative you read those two pages and try them. They will help you to ensure the tub is cleaned and sanitized for use. Let us know how things turn out.

 

[ctroxtell]

Okay, just ran a nice second round of Aww-some through the tub. I'm on the fence as to if some of that nasty stuff was coming out of the 5 head/neck rest that I tossed in there as well. I ran it over an hour with all the jets open and both pumps at full speed, used my Shop-Vac to suck the nasty foam out every so often. I put some more dichlor granules in before the Aww-some in hopes that it would help eliminate anything living in the water and pipes. Draining it back out now.

 

[Busch]

I cannot stress enough how important sanitized water is.

Please read the basics of water sanitation and invest in a good test kit.

 

[Oly]

Yes you must be able to test your spa water yourself to properly manage your water chemistry.

Regarding your skin rash, have you been diagnosed by a doctor? Follicultis is a skin condition in which hair follicles become inflamed. It's usually caused by a bacterial or fungal infection. Your skin rash may also be caused by an allergic reaction or by high chloramine (combined chlorine) exposure.

You are doing the correct thing by properly purging and sanitizing your spa. Next you should invest is a quality test kit and study up on how to safely sanitize your spa.

I would also recommend that you purchase two new filters and rotate in a cleaned filter each month.

 

[ctroxtell]

I cannot stress enough how important sanitized water is.

Please read the basics of water sanitation and invest in a good test kit.

Got me a test kit from Leslie's Pool Supply, made by Taylor and think it's a replica of the K2006. It test FC,TC,TA,pH,CYA. Don't have it in front of me but I've been on top of it this time, testing my water daily and making a lot of it so I can see what happens with each addition.
EDIT: CH as well.

 

[YippeeSkippy]

If it doesn't have the fas-dpd powder test for FC up to 50ppm and CC, it is NOT the kit we endorse. Does it also not have a tester for CH? You can buy those two tests individually from tftestkits.net but all added up you would have saved money by buying the TF-100 in the first place.

Maddie

 

[ctroxtell]

Yes you must be able to test your spa water yourself to properly manage your water chemistry.

Regarding your skin rash, have you been diagnosed by a doctor? Follicultis is a skin condition in which hair follicles become inflamed. It's usually caused by a bacterial or fungal infection. Your skin rash may also be caused by an allergic reaction or by high chloramine (combined chlorine) exposure.

You are doing the correct thing by properly purging and sanitizing your spa. Next you should invest is a quality test kit and study up on how to safely sanitize your spa.

I would also recommend that you purchase two new filters and rotate in a cleaned filter each month.

Yes, that was the doctors diagnosis. What is a good filter cleaner?

If it doesn't have the fas-dpd powder test for FC up to 50ppm and CC, it is NOT the kit we endorse. Does it also not have a tester for CH? You can buy those two tests individually from tftestkits.net but all added up you would have saved money by buying the TF-100 in the first place.

Maddie

It does test for CH, but doesn't have the fas-dpd powder test. I need to get that since the test kit only shows 5ppm maximum. I was honestly just trying to get the water right for the first time and realized my 5 way kit wasn't going to do all of the test so I just ran out and got a 7 or 8 Taylor test kit.

 

[Oly]

If I was refurbishing a used spa I would discard the old filter and purchase two new replacements. Rotate the filters each month and clean with a pressure nozzle then a 24 hour soak in bucket of a high ppm Cl solution. Let it dry, keep it clean and rotate again in a month.

 

[ctroxtell]

Okay, I need some help understanding and making sure I'm on the right path here. I've got a Leisure Bay Celebrity Tonga 7 person 7x7 tub, from my best estimation for water treatment calculations I've been going with 350 gallons. My TA is 50, CH is 100, pH is 7.8 (keep trying to adjust it with muriatic acid to a 7.5, seems like it rises back as yesterday I had it at 7.5), FC is 1, TC is 1, temperature is at 100. I had the FC at about 4 as of yesterday and the tub hasn't been used since, the tub stays covered and is inside of my garage. Is it normal for it to burn that much dichlor up? If so I'm really concerned as to what the chlorine level would of been had I of had anyone in the tub, I just really trying to understand how I ensure the FC never reaches 0. Thanks for the advice.

 

[Ahhsomeguy]

Hello Ctroxtell: I have been reading your recent postings. Here is what I recommend you do. “Purge” the hot tub one or two more times. Based on the fact that you have purchased a used tub and that you have contracted Hot Tub Folliculitis, that tells me that after you flushed the plumbing the very first time was not enough. Biofilm can be very tenacious. It is very difficult to eradicate with one plumbing flush if it is well entrenched. Frustrating, I know. Do a few continuous purges this weekend and you should see a demonstrable amount of detritus materials released. High sanitizer dissipation rates is a good way to gauge what is may be occurring deep inside the plumbing infrastructure. This will pay you tremendous dividends going forward. The last thing you need right now is to be worried about future hot tub soaks causing you issues. Once you get the bio-packed contaminants out, follow the recommendations you see in this forum on chemical maintenance, be sure to purge every 4-6 months and you’ll be a happy and healthy hot tub owner and proponent.

 

[ctroxtell]

Hello Ctroxtell: I have been reading your recent postings. Here is what I recommend you do. “Purge” the hot tub one or two more times. Based on the fact that you have purchased a used tub and that you have contracted Hot Tub Folliculitis, that tells me that after you flushed the plumbing the very first time was not enough. Biofilm can be very tenacious. It is very difficult to eradicate with one plumbing flush if it is well entrenched. Frustrating, I know. Do a few continuous purges this weekend and you should see a demonstrable amount of detritus materials released. High sanitizer dissipation rates is a good way to gauge what is may be occurring deep inside the plumbing infrastructure. This will pay you tremendous dividends going forward. The last thing you need right now is to be worried about future hot tub soaks causing you issues. Once you get the bio-packed contaminants out, follow the recommendations you see in this forum on chemical maintenance, be sure to purge every 4-6 months and you’ll be a happy and healthy hot tub owner and proponent.

The first two pictures are from round 2 and the last two are from round 1 of Ahh-some. When I tossed the 5 neck rest in the tub this time to clean them with the rest of the tub there was nastiness coming out of. I didn't think anything about throwing the neck rest in the first time, but when I picked up the tub the neck rest were holding water and didn't smell nice. I let them dry and scrubbed them with soap but I can only imagine what was lurking inside those rest now that I think about it. They smell much nicer now that they were threw into the 2nd cleaning and I let them float around in the chlorinated water.

Is there a "standard" when it comes down to how much chlorine is used over a set time for a hot tub in good shape?

 

[ctroxtell]

Well it's been just a little bit over a month and I can happily say that so far I've been able to keep the water conditions stable. I drove over and met Rebecca from TFTestkits.com and got the TF-100, she was very honest and told me that kit was overkill for just a hot tub. The only issue I have with the kit is the daily test for the chlorine test is the Taylor K-1000 which only test total chlorine so I have to use the fas-dpd powder test daily to test the free chlorine. Maybe with a pool you don't have to test free chlorine daily like the hot tub.

Just wanted to say thanks to everyone that helped me to get my hot tub on the right track!

 

[mknauss]

Most of us use the FAS-DPD test for FC. The OTO test (K1000) is only for seeing that, yup, there is chlorine in the pool. I rarely use it.