Bio Film Questions

[Thantos]

Hey All,

New guy here with a bunch of probably new guy questions. So I have been reading through this forum and found a ton of great and useful info, and now have some questions to make sure I am understanding it all correctly.

We recently bought a Master Spa Twilight 8.25 series spa, its been in use about 4 months and had one water change (due to a broken wine glass) and like most new things, it sees a lot of usage by the family.

My questions concern what I believe to be called Bio Film, for lack of a better way to put it, this is the ring of greenish brown scum/dirt that forms around the top of the hot tub. I have noticed a waxy almost lard like substance recently forming above the water line and when I pulled one of the jets out to clean it, there it was on the threads and in the jet!

So after a bunch of reading it seems most people use and recommend a product called Ahh Some to clean and remove this condition. My plan is to buy some Ahh Some, do a cleaning/water change, and refill the tub and balance the water based on what I have read in this forum.

My main questions are;

Is this Ahh Some as good as what i have read, or is there something else to use, and the proper way to do a cleaning is to run it through before changing the water out and then again once the tub is refilled?

Are the Scum Bugs really a benefit to use, do they work?

Is there a way/product to use to clean the walls of the hot tub when its full of water to remove the greasy scunge ring with out contaminating the water and just smearing it around the side of the tub, I have seen some people post about using various types of wipes like Lysol wipes?

 

Thanks in advance and sorry if these have been asked a million times!

 

 

 

[Ahhsomeguy]

Hi Thantos:  I am the manufacturer of the Ahh-Some product.  Ahh-Some has been thoroughly tested at the Center for Biofilm Engineering, (CBE), at Montana State University, the gold standard University on Biofim studies and testing.  This is where the EPA and NSF go for information on this subject.  Yes, you have biofilm.  Yes, the product you mention will eliminate or mitigate it.  In head to head testing against other leading purge brands and based on the many thousands of consumer posts and reviews, the Ahh-Some product comes out on top.  Biofilm is partially comprised of polysaccharide molecules (sugar) and will adhese to acrylic tenaciously.  Wipe the biofilm remnants soon after you notice them with a microfiber cloth.

 

[dlleno]

If you would like a "regular joe" story regarding ahh-some, I have posted a rather long (but detailed) set of experiments around my personal journey understanding/correcting biofilms.  The short of it is that the product does work and I recommended it highly, but if you want to read about how I came to that conclusion my experiment is posted here. 

this happens to be my hobby photography site  that happens to have a blog capability.  note that  many people operate hot tubs successfully while remaining blind to the nefarious nature of biofilms, so keep in mind that there  are two sides to the question:  I'm on the side that seeks to understand them and eliminate the potential for their growth.