Beach Spa- Green water from treatment plant

[Mermaid Mama]

Hi Guys,
I have a SwimSpa at my house and have no problems balancing my water but I am adding a new spa to a vacation rental at the beach and the water is green! My Guests will freak out if they see this. It’s actually much greener in person then in the pic.
This is not a well, it’s from a treatment plant. The water wasn’t like this last year so I don’t know what’s going on with the plant.

Hose Numbers:
Ph 6.8
Chlorine 0
TA 30
Hardness 150
420 Gals PDC Summit

I added Borax using pool math to raise ph, borax is great with mold and mildew so thought that best. I added chlorine but water is still green.

 

[Bperry]

Hi Guys,
I have a SwimSpa at my house and have no problems balancing my water but I am adding a new spa to a vacation rental at the beach and the water is green! My Guests will freak out if they see this. It’s actually much greener in person then in the pic.
This is not a well, it’s from a treatment plant. The water wasn’t like this last year so I don’t know what’s going on with the plant.

Hose Numbers:
Ph 6.8
Chlorine 0
TA 30
Hardness 150

I added Borax using pool math to raise ph, borax is great with mold and mildew so thought that best. I added chlorine but water is still green.

View attachment 486831

If you you have no chlorine that’s more likely why there’s algae. What are the current spa water test results? Borax will tank your pH so you don’t want to just be throwing things in the water.

 

[Mermaid Mama]

If you you have no chlorine that’s more likely why there’s algae. What are the current spa water test results? Borax will tank your pH so you don’t want to just be throwing things in the water.

I have always been told Borax is good for raising Ph and the calculator for doing that is in Pool Math?

 

[Mdragger88]

Borax increases ph

Ph isn’t terrible, add enough baking soda to get ta to 50 & ph will take care of itself.
Use
PoolMath

The green is probably iron. You can try polyfill in the skimmer (to actually remove the iron) with the fc in range
FC/CYA Levels
or add a sequestrant (this only hides the iron- this can get expensive since it will need to be done on each refill) I assume that at a rental you will be refilling often.

Iron Fill Water Filter - Further Reading

www.google.com

Did you purge this new tub with Ahhsome? That’s very important even in new spas as they are wet tested at the factory & funky stuff grows while in transit to you.
Follow the guide

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.google.com

How do you plan to chlorinate this tub?

 

[ajw22]

Add chlorine to the spa before you judge the water color.

Get 20-30 PPM of CYA in the spa, 3-5 ppm or chlorine, and ph in the 7's.

 

[ajw22]

The green is probably iron.

Green water out of the tap without chlorine is not iron.

 

[Mdragger88]

@Mermaid Mama Did it get greener after adding chlorine?
What are your tub test results now including cc’s?
My tub doesn’t look great upon first fill either but once everything is in line it looks more clear/blue.

 

[Mermaid Mama]

Green water out of the tap without chlorine is not iron.

When I fill a bath tub with water inside the house, it’s also green. If that helps.

If you you have no chlorine that’s more likely why there’s algae. What are the current spa water test results? Borax will tank your pH so you don’t want to just be throwing things in the water.

If you you have no chlorine that’s more likely why there’s algae. What are the current spa water test results? Borax will tank your pH so you don’t want to just be throwing things in the water.

It didn’t tank it, I confirm it did raise it. Way more then it should have according to PoolMath. I only added 0.6 ounces of 20 mule to get me to 7.5.

But it’s bright pink off the charts and I only added 0.50 ounces.

 

[Mdragger88]

When I fill a bath tub with water inside the house, it’s also green. If that helps.


It didn’t tank it, I confirm it did raise it. Way more then it should have according to PoolMath. I only added 0.6 ounces of 20 mule to get me to 7.5.

But it’s bright pink off the charts and I only added 0.50 ounces.

Good info-
Borax is easy to over shoot that’s why it’s preferable to raise ta with baking soda & then aerate to increase ph.
What are your current test results?

 

[Bperry]

Sorry,

When I fill a bath tub with water inside the house, it’s also green. If that helps.


It didn’t tank it, I confirm it did raise it. Way more then it should have according to PoolMath. I only added 0.6 ounces of 20 mule to get me to 7.5.

But it’s bright pink off the charts and I only added 0.50 ounces.

yep, sorry my bad. It’s the opposite effect. And the pool math pH changes are only accurate for small adjustments.

 

[Mdragger88]

Found this

Green-tinted water from Bountiful treatment plant OK to drink, officials say

Officials said the recently talked about green-tinted water in Bountiful is safe to drink. The city of Bountiful issued a public notice on social media that some people might see a green tint in the drinking water. “When I think green water I think pond scum or something you really don’t want to...

kutv.com

Weird! Not sure if this is what’s going on or not but interesting
I would definitely call the water department & inquire about exactly what it is so at the very least you can explain the green drinking & bath water to your renters.
Meanwhile continue to filter & balance the spa as described in post #5.

 

[Mermaid Mama]

It’s mold!! After a couple of hours with ozone running, the boron and using slam... it’s pretty with just yellow building up on the side!

 

[Mdragger88]

Clean the filters (all that went somewhere) & get some Ahhsome on order so you can give it a proper purge. Yellow build up sounds like biofilms.

what is ahh-some?

What is Ahh-some?

www.google.com

 

[TheCatLady]

Mine was green as well when freshly filled. Also municipal water. Turns out it was just dirty, no metals. Added enough chlorine and let it filter for a few days and it was gone.

Now I've also cleaned my whole-house filter as well and got out quite a few buckets of muddy water and refilled the spa (different reason for refilling, not because of the water). It's nice and clear looking.