My therapy pool is suffering from a lot of bioload (think scum, oily residue). I have used some scum sponges, but they are just not cutting it. I want to use an enzyme additive, but unsure of the effectiveness for the cost. Anyone have any experience with these products? I am looking at Orb-3. I have highly sensitive skin and am being greatly affected by the scum- not to mention my pool always looks dirty. Water balance is good, btw, and we have an ozonator installed.
Effectiveness of enzymes for scum- high bather load
- Thread starter Lazerguppie
- Start date
- May 23, 2015
- 25,709
- Pool Size
- 16000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-60
Generally speaking, if you have an oxidizer in the tub like bromine or ozone, the enzymes will be destroyed before they could possibly do any good.
Are you exchanging water frequently? Hot therapy pools are breeding grounds for bacteria and bacterial biofilms as well as white water mold and pink slime. You should be exchanging water frequently, every 3-4 months, and then purge your plumbing systems once per year using Ahh-some hot tub and spa cleaner.
Are you exchanging water frequently? Hot therapy pools are breeding grounds for bacteria and bacterial biofilms as well as white water mold and pink slime. You should be exchanging water frequently, every 3-4 months, and then purge your plumbing systems once per year using Ahh-some hot tub and spa cleaner.
Joyful Noise is absolutely correct. You need to drain and refill more often. I would also perform the plumbing colonoscopy, ( Bio-Purge), at least twice per year for best results.
We drain once a month, do partials every 2 weeks. Package says to apply with sanitizer below 5ppm. It does not say how long the sanitizer needs to be at that level. Health department wants 3-5ppm, so that is in range and should not affect sanitation. We have no issues with slime, just oils from 16 pts per day at an hour at a time.
I looked up white mold and it doesn't look like it's what it is. Our temp is maintained at 92 deg and Br- is maintained 6-10 ppm. Sides scrubbed every day, filter changed and chemically cleaned once per week. Pump runs 24/7 per Tx health code.
- May 23, 2015
- 25,709
- Pool Size
- 16000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-60
I'm sorry, your original post wasn't clear that this was a commercial/public pool. You absolutely have to follow local regulations. The ozone system you have is almost 100% guaranteed to be undersized and underpowered for your therapy spa. Normally in a bromine system, ozone is used for reactivation of the spent bromide back into sanitizing bromine. Is this the purpose of the ozone system? They are often quite poor as sources of supplemental oxidation because they typically put out very little ozone gas unless they are constructed properly (and most are not).
That being said, you have a huge bather load in your therapy pool (16 patients per day for an hour each). That is going to cause a very large sanitizer demand and, if they are entering the pool "oiled up" (I'm assuming this is some kind of therapy/massage/spa business or, perhaps, a physical therapy business), that alone is going to cause problems. You may need to "offline" your therapy pool an extra day or so during the week or perhaps exclude bathers for a few hours each day to give you time to counteract some of the oil build up. What your experiencing is really just caused by your bather load and water turnover rates. The simple answer is that you might need to dump the water more frequently as there's no way to efficiently handle the kinds of bather loads you are describing without some serious off-hours water treatment.
You can certainly try the enzymes and let us know how it works. I can't say that TFP has ever heard spectacular things about them and few would bother to use them in their personal hot tubs.
That being said, you have a huge bather load in your therapy pool (16 patients per day for an hour each). That is going to cause a very large sanitizer demand and, if they are entering the pool "oiled up" (I'm assuming this is some kind of therapy/massage/spa business or, perhaps, a physical therapy business), that alone is going to cause problems. You may need to "offline" your therapy pool an extra day or so during the week or perhaps exclude bathers for a few hours each day to give you time to counteract some of the oil build up. What your experiencing is really just caused by your bather load and water turnover rates. The simple answer is that you might need to dump the water more frequently as there's no way to efficiently handle the kinds of bather loads you are describing without some serious off-hours water treatment.
You can certainly try the enzymes and let us know how it works. I can't say that TFP has ever heard spectacular things about them and few would bother to use them in their personal hot tubs.
The pool is a PT (physical therapy) pool, set at 92 deg, occasionally gets as high as 96. The system is 10 years old. Originally was Cl- but we switched to Br- last spring. We are switching back to Cl- as my colleague is having issues with the Br-. That being said, I have no idea what the ozone output is, only that the green light is always on, indicating ozone production. As for reactivation of the Br-, we have been using 8.5% household bleach as I am highly allergic to the MPS we were using.
As for shortening the schedule... yeah, not gonna happen. My colleague and I are working on clinic bathing and personal product use handouts to give to pts so they avoid applying lotions. Yes, we make them shower (rinse) before entering pool. Shower is on pool deck, so I know they are doing it.
Pool pump runs 24/7 and we operate 7-8 hours out of the day, with a 1hr lunch break 2 days per week.
As for shortening the schedule... yeah, not gonna happen. My colleague and I are working on clinic bathing and personal product use handouts to give to pts so they avoid applying lotions. Yes, we make them shower (rinse) before entering pool. Shower is on pool deck, so I know they are doing it.
Pool pump runs 24/7 and we operate 7-8 hours out of the day, with a 1hr lunch break 2 days per week.
- May 23, 2015
- 25,709
- Pool Size
- 16000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-60
My prediction is that ozone unit isn't generating any O3 and is simply adding air bubbles to the water. They don't last long.
If you switch back to chlorine, you're going to need a supplemental oxidizer source and I would suggest you invest in a commercial grade UV sanitizer such as a Paramount UltraUV system. It will help to speed up bather waste oxidation without forming lots of THMs.
Controlling bather cleanliness is a good approach. Anything you can do to get them to rinse off before getting in the therapy pool helps. You might also consider using a two stage clarifier product like the SeaKlear PRS clarifier. It's a high quality clarifier capable of removing cryptosporidium oocysts from water. C. difficile is a highly transmissible GI bacterium that can cause severe illness especially in vulnerable populations such as the elderly or immunocompromised. Crypto is impossible to kill with chlorine alone so if you deal with high bather loads, cutting down disease transmission is critical to bather safety.
If you switch back to chlorine, you're going to need a supplemental oxidizer source and I would suggest you invest in a commercial grade UV sanitizer such as a Paramount UltraUV system. It will help to speed up bather waste oxidation without forming lots of THMs.
Controlling bather cleanliness is a good approach. Anything you can do to get them to rinse off before getting in the therapy pool helps. You might also consider using a two stage clarifier product like the SeaKlear PRS clarifier. It's a high quality clarifier capable of removing cryptosporidium oocysts from water. C. difficile is a highly transmissible GI bacterium that can cause severe illness especially in vulnerable populations such as the elderly or immunocompromised. Crypto is impossible to kill with chlorine alone so if you deal with high bather loads, cutting down disease transmission is critical to bather safety.
Thanks for the info. I will pass the UV sterilizer info on to the powers that be. Yes, we take great precautions on crypto and Cdiff. I am meticulous about cleanliness in my therapy pool, hence the question about scum. Not only is it unsightly, it's a breeding ground for the nasties. I do use a clarifier on a regular basis.
Since I am highly allergic to MPS, what do you suggest as another oxidizer?
Since I am highly allergic to MPS, what do you suggest as another oxidizer?
You have to flush the plumbing, PERIOD. Draining and refilling without the plumbing colonoscopy is not getting to the root cause of your water issues. You have BIOFILM in your vessel. Just do yourself a favor. Purge the plumbing and jets of the bio-matter that is growing inside your plumbing. Drain and rinse thoroughly. Be sure to place the filter(s) inside the tub when purging so,we get the nasties and who knows what else that is buried deep within the pleats. It is like you are not listening to Joyful Noise. Purge, drain, rinse. Do this every 2-3 months with your active tub. This will,solve your problem. I do,like the fact that you are going back to chlorine as well. Smart decision.
Lastly, and this is very important. If you choose to use the Ahh-Some Hot Tub/Jetted Bath Plumbing & Jet Cleaner as your "flush and purge" protocol you will,only need 2 ounces of the gel to do the entire 3200 gallons. Our directions say 1 Level teaspoon for each 100 gallons, however, when you have such a large vessel you do NOT need that much gel to accomplish the job. 1/4 teaspoon per 100 gallons will work nicely for your PT Tub. So, 3200 gallons is 8 Level Teaspoons of Ahh-Some gel or the 2 ounce container. Ahh-Some is a cleaner on steroids. You will see results almost immediately.