Pre Filter For Filling Tub And Green Water

[Nat]

This is my first post.

About a month ago I purchased a Watkins Tiger River Bengal Spa. My wife and I love it, and am now exploring on this discussion group water care, beyond what Watkins offers in the owner's manual. Wonderful information here, and I plan to begin using bleach soon, and have ordered a Taylor water testing kit.

I have a couple of questions:

1. Watkins suggests using a pre-filter to get rid of fine particles when filling. The filter attaches to the garden hose. I have not seen any posts on this list concerning this. Is it needed, or desirable?

2. The water in the tub has a slight green color to it, but is clear when the jets are not running. I think I have been too light on chlorine application and I have been shocking the water weekly with chlorine (per the dose on the instructions) and using MPS before tub use (most times), which is daily (per the instructions, again). The tub has an ozonater and a silver ion "purifier" in the filter (a Watkins thing).

I suspect the greenish water is from the water supply, not things growing in the water, the faucet I filled the tub from has not been used for a couple of years, and I did not flush it out well before filling the tub! I suspect copper from the water pipe is now in the spa, and that, combined with the clorine, has made green copper chloride. Looks kind of neat, actually. Any reason for concern?

I'll drain and refill in a month or so, since I have learned quite a bit, and can adjust the water alkalynity, Ca+ and pH, accordingly. I'll have a Taylor test kit by then, too. I guess I can try a "Metal Gone" product if the green water returns.

Great forum!

--Nate

[wireman]

Maybe your tub is green : ) Can you see it in a water sample?

[lmartine]

I installed a new 350gal spa in September and I am still learning (thanks to chem_geek and others here) but

if you are on less than top quality well water I would recommend a prefilter.

My first fill was well water straight from the ground (which is safe to drink but hard and sulferous) and after a week the water went cloudy and was frequently greenish. At first the green seemed to go away with a good chlorine shocking but eventually the green would remain or just come back quickly and the cloudiness never want away. I was dumping tons of chlorine in and by the time I figured out the stabilized vs non-stablized chlorine I am guessing the CYA was too high and my daily chlorine dose just was not enough. I would add a cup (16 ozs) of 6% bleach and after 30 minutes the poor little test strip would come out almost sizzling from the chlorine but in <6 hours the chlorine was gone. There was also a daily build up of grey goo on the pleated filter.

I drained and refilled in early Dec but this time I used an Ecotec prefilter on the hose, used half hard water and half softened water and also switched to a micron filter (another story for another thread). Two weeks in, with minimal CYA and now using only bleach the water is still incredibly clear.

[bendite]

I am on Well water with lots of sediment. I tried several pre filters and clogged them all with in 10 minutes. I can tell you even if you dont have sediment the pre filters will slow your fill time considerably. I would say 10 times longer.

After all pre filter attempts failed I purchased a secondary main tub filter, filled the tub, let the tub filter catch all the sediment after a few cycles, then replaced the filter with my back up in a day or two and all as good for 3-4 months.

If your problem isnt sediment and you dont mind a much longer fill time I would use the Micropure pre filter.

See my post titled "pre filter" using the search button on top right of the page. I am on page 4 of search results

[B0Darc]

Thanks for the update lmartine... interesting original thread. There are some spa chemicals that also seem to have some coloring agents like "clarifier", but you are probably right with your copper guess. You'll probably have better luck on your next fill, just run your fill line for a few minutes prior (onto the ground/drain?) I wouldn't worry about some dissolved copper as the rest of us are trying to add small levels with our "mineral" filters. I would think a small amount of copper in the water would be beneficial in killing bad stuff like algae (don't algae tabs for pool use have copper?) I'm sure copper is toxic in large amounts, but I somehow doubt your well water is that dangerous.

If your skin is fine and your water tests are fine, and there's no staining of your shell on this drain I wouldn't worry. I think some of the other well water complaints included iron which can make the water cloudy and brown and cause more of an issue with staining... just a green color shouldn't warrant worry, although of course it *is* an indicator there is something else in there beside hydrogen oxide (water!)

lmartine can you provide a link for your "ecotec" filter? General Motors calls their four cylinder engine "EcoTec" and it's google-jamming me finding your inline pre-filter product. Thanks! All I seem to be able to find is an oil filter for a Chevy Cavalier!

[lmartine]

Oops, I must have been thinking GM as well, that should be EcoOne:

http://www.pacificsandsinc.com/html/spa_pre-filter.html

The price on the web site is $49.95. I happened to see one at the local dealer before I saw the web site and he 'hosed' me for $80 CAN, supposedly on sale from $100.