When Water Goes Bad

[Whoneedsavacation]

If you have let your sanitizer get too low and the water has clouded, how long do you wait before declaring the tub safe to re-enter? As soon as the water has cleared?

[run1stride2nd]

If you have let your sanitizer get too low and the water has clouded, how long do you wait before declaring the tub safe to re-enter? As soon as the water has cleared?

Based on what I have learned here, and being a new owner in the past month, I would suggest that you would TEST your water and be sure that the sanitizer level is adequet for a minimum of 24 hours. From what I have been reading, Clear Water is not indicative of healthy water.

Shock the Spa, or super chlorinate, and by the time the levels come back to "normal" it should be about 24 hours, or possibly longer, and you should be "safe" and the water will probably be in the clear.

Let someone like waterbear confirm this, but my educated guess would lead me to believe that this is the case.

Run1stRide2nd.

[Hillbilly Hot Tub]

If you have let your sanitizer get too low and the water has clouded, how long do you wait before declaring the tub safe to re-enter? As soon as the water has cleared?

Based on what I have learned here, and being a new owner in the past month, I would suggest that you would TEST your water and be sure that the sanitizer level is adequet for a minimum of 24 hours. From what I have been reading, Clear Water is not indicative of healthy water.

Shock the Spa, or super chlorinate, and by the time the levels come back to "normal" it should be about 24 hours, or possibly longer, and you should be "safe" and the water will probably be in the clear.

Let someone like waterbear confirm this, but my educated guess would lead me to believe that this is the case.

Run1stRide2nd.

Run 1st is correct

[Hillbilly Hot Tub]

If you have let your sanitizer get too low and the water has clouded, how long do you wait before declaring the tub safe to re-enter? As soon as the water has cleared?

Based on what I have learned here, and being a new owner in the past month, I would suggest that you would TEST your water and be sure that the sanitizer level is adequet for a minimum of 24 hours. From what I have been reading, Clear Water is not indicative of healthy water.

Shock the Spa, or super chlorinate, and by the time the levels come back to "normal" it should be about 24 hours, or possibly longer, and you should be "safe" and the water will probably be in the clear.

Let someone like waterbear confirm this, but my educated guess would lead me to believe that this is the case.

Run1stRide2nd.

Run 1st is correct

[run1stride2nd]

If you have let your sanitizer get too low and the water has clouded, how long do you wait before declaring the tub safe to re-enter? As soon as the water has cleared?

Based on what I have learned here, and being a new owner in the past month, I would suggest that you would TEST your water and be sure that the sanitizer level is adequet for a minimum of 24 hours. From what I have been reading, Clear Water is not indicative of healthy water.

Shock the Spa, or super chlorinate, and by the time the levels come back to "normal" it should be about 24 hours, or possibly longer, and you should be "safe" and the water will probably be in the clear.

Let someone like waterbear confirm this, but my educated guess would lead me to believe that this is the case.

Run1stRide2nd.

Run 1st is correct

YIPEEE! What do I win Bob?

[Whoneedsavacation]

Bromine level has been up for nearly 48 hours and while the water is clearing, it isn't clear yet... to be honest, it isn't very appealing to climb in when it is still funky... I guess I'll wait for the filter to filter out the "dead guys".

[run1stride2nd]

Bromine level has been up for nearly 48 hours and while the water is clearing, it isn't clear yet... to be honest, it isn't very appealing to climb in when it is still funky... I guess I'll wait for the filter to filter out the "dead guys".

............might be a good idea to clean the filter every couple days until things clear up too. If you've used any clarifiers, or foam cutters, that stuff will coagulate in the filter and need to be cleaned out.

[waterbear]

Is your bromine level holding over 10 ppm overnight or is it dropping? If you can maintain sanitizer levels overnight with no loss then it indicates that the santizer is not actively trying to kill something in the water.

run1stride2nd gave you good advice about cleaning the filter also!

Wait until the water is clear, the santizer is holding, and there is no smell other than the normal bromine smell. In a case like this I like to shock the bromine with an unstabilized chlorine source and not MPS since you can really bring the bromine levels up pretty high without overdosing on the MPS.

[run1stride2nd]

Is your bromine level holding over 10 ppm overnight or is it dropping? If you can maintain sanitizer levels overnight with no loss then it indicates that the santizer is not actively trying to kill something in the water.

run1stride2nd gave you good advice about cleaning the filter also!

Wait until the water is clear, the santizer is holding, and there is no smell other than the normal bromine smell. In a case like this I like to shock the bromine with an unstabilized chlorine source and not MPS since you can really bring the bromine levels up pretty high without overdosing on the MPS.

Wooahhh! 2 in one day.

Time to shut down

[Whoneedsavacation]

Got better! Thanks, guys.

In a case like this I like to shock the bromine with an unstabilized chlorine source and not MPS since you can really bring the bromine levels up pretty high without overdosing on the MPS.

Can you explain a bit more what you mean by this? The chlorine allows the bromine levels to remain high? Or the MPS is likely to be underdosed in this situation? I think I'm being dense.

[TinyBubbles]

You should be able to shock with either dichlor or MPS. Chemically they will both be converted to bromine. It's really just a matter of personal preference. Technically, there are upper limits to the level of chlorine you should have in your spa before using it, but MPS does not have these limits. It's one of the reason it's so popular. You can shock and use it alot faster than with dichlor. Did your spa clear up?

[Whoneedsavacation]

Did your spa clear up?

Yep! Took about 3 days to really get the clarity back -- I put a new filter in and cleaned the heck out of the old one. I had bought it so I could rotate them anyway, just hadn't gotten around to putting it in!

Who is it, primarily, that likes to grow when sanitizer levels drop? E Coli? Something else? Just curious, but this is the second time sanitizer levels got low and within a couple of days the water went from crystal clear to funky looking and slightly swampy smelling, so whoever the little beasties are, they sure flourish when they get a chance.

[TinyBubbles]

Did your spa clear up?

Yep! Took about 3 days to really get the clarity back -- I put a new filter in and cleaned the heck out of the old one. I had bought it so I could rotate them anyway, just hadn't gotten around to putting it in!

Who is it, primarily, that likes to grow when sanitizer levels drop? E Coli? Something else? Just curious, but this is the second time sanitizer levels got low and within a couple of days the water went from crystal clear to funky looking and slightly swampy smelling, so whoever the little beasties are, they sure flourish when they get a chance.

I had the same thing happen in my spa with low sanitizer levels. It could be algae or something else that loves to feed on organics and waste in the water. We don't just use our spa after dark so it's often exposed to sunlight. An algae bloom can happen fast. Generally that smell means algae, but it could be from a bacteria. I doubt it's e. coli or anything else that's harmful, but you never know. E. coli and other nasty bugs would have to be introduced into your water. If they aren't there, they can't multiply. If you've ever set up a new aquarium you know that there is a nitrification process that happens in water. Even with nobody soaking in it, it turns cloudy and icky for several days and once it clears up you can introduce fish. There's a technical explanation for the whole process, but who really cares about that. When my water got nasty I had friends coming over to soak and I wanted it clear in a hurry. When it wasn't clearing up fast enough I added clarifier to the water and rinsed the filters every 30 minutes. I had clear water that night. The clarifier really seemed to help the filter trap the gunk. I just bought a new set of filters to rotate also. We use our spa alot and I could tell a big difference with the new filters. We might just get new ones every 6 months and toss the old ones. I'm glad you got your water cleared up. There's nothing like expecting to soak and opening your spa up to gunk.

[Whoneedsavacation]

I thought algae required sunlight and our spa is kept covered, as well as being in a rather shady location. Even a perfectly scrubbed human will put some E. Coli and other bacteria in the water. I'm pretty sure I've read that bacterial growth is more common in hot tubs than algae. Can some expert verify or falsify that? Waterbear?

[tony]

I thought algae required sunlight and our spa is kept covered, as well as being in a rather shady location. Even a perfectly scrubbed human will put some E. Coli and other bacteria in the water. I'm pretty sure I've read that bacterial growth is more common in hot tubs than algae. Can some expert verify or falsify that? Waterbear?

Algae is rather rare in a portable spa that stays covered when not in use. E. Coli is probably the most prevalent bacteria that gets introduced into a spa.

[waterbear]

You should be able to shock with either dichlor or MPS. Chemically they will both be converted to bromine. It's really just a matter of personal preference. Technically, there are upper limits to the level of chlorine you should have in your spa before using it, but MPS does not have these limits.

This is only true if you are using a chlorine system and not a bromine system. In a bromine system either one will convert the bromide ions into hypobromous acid (your active bromine sanitizer) and the level of this will rise. It doesn't matter how the hypbromous acid was created, if it is at a certain level it will take a certain amount of time for it to drop to a level where you can enter the tub. Under 10 ppm is usually considered ok. The acual 'shocking' that is burning up the organics and killing bacteria is NOT from the MPS or chlorine added but from the high levels of bromine that are formed!

It's one of the reason it's so popular. You can shock and use it alot faster than with dichlor.

This is only true if your santizer is chlorine. It is not applicable to bromine.

Did your spa clear up?

Hope this clears up the confusion on shocking a bromine system.

[waterbear]

Got better! Thanks, guys.

In a case like this I like to shock the bromine with an unstabilized chlorine source and not MPS since you can really bring the bromine levels up pretty high without overdosing on the MPS.

Can you explain a bit more what you mean by this? The chlorine allows the bromine levels to remain high? Or the MPS is likely to be underdosed in this situation? I think I'm being dense.

Basics of bromine chemistry. You have bromide ions in the water, usually by adding sodium bromide on each fill. You convert the bromide ions to active bromine sanitizer, hypobromous acid, by adding an oxidizing agent. The most common are chlorine, MPS, and ozone. It really doesn't matter which one you add. Chlorine is converted to chloride ions, MPS to sulfate ions, and Ozone to oxygen and the bromide ions are converted into hypobromous acid. There is no need to use a stabilized chlorine to shock a bromine tub and in fact by using an unstabilized chlorine you are making sure that all the chlorine converts quickly and non stays around as chlorinated isocyanurates. As far as MPS, it can and is irritating to many people at high doses (it is irritating to many people at normal dosage for that matter) so if you are trying to 'nuke' the tub becuase the water has gone foul doing so with MPS might leave to high a residual dosage in the water. Remember, it's not the chlorine or MPS that you are adding that is sanitizing the tub. It's the bromine being created. You want to raise the bromine levels very high (like you raise the chorine levels very high to shock a chlorine system). Because of the differences between chlorine and bromine chemistry it really does't matter whether you shock a bromine system with chlorine or mps. The result will be a high bromine level!

[Hillbilly Hot Tub]

I thought algae required sunlight and our spa is kept covered, as well as being in a rather shady location. Even a perfectly scrubbed human will put some E. Coli and other bacteria in the water. I'm pretty sure I've read that bacterial growth is more common in hot tubs than algae. Can some expert verify or falsify that? Waterbear?

Algea does require more sunlight than most covered hot tubs get. I have yet to see a tub that is covered except when using to develop algea. The bacteria grows from stuff from your body. Sweat, dead skin, fecal matter....we are all covered with bacteria no matter how clean we are. Each person sweats about a pint in a 30 minute tub soak, that a lot of bacteria. Dead skin falls off and so on. Get out of the tub, have a low sanitizer level and it grows. This causes the cloudy water and smell. Ever smell a grey water tank and a black water tank? black water (sewer) smells much better than grey water (showers, sinks etc.) Many more "smelly" bacteria come off us than out of us!

[TinyBubbles]

Good analogy about the grey water. The ammonia in our sweat and our dead skin cells feed so many organisms. That's why there is such a huge demand for oxidation in a spa. A pool can function with only a chlorine generator, but if you use one in a spa, you still have to add large amounts of an oxidizer. Bacteria from fecal matter may be the most common bacteria to cause digestive illnesses that could be introduced into swimming water, but they aren't what's clouding up your water and creating that smell. That's the problem with viruses, they can be in clear, fresh smelling water. It's probably safe to say that most people that contracted hot tub itch, did so in clear water. Hillbilly is correct that the things feeding off our waste products are responsible for cloudy, stinky water. For example, bacteria that breakdown sulfates thrive in warm water. It's the process of them consuming things in the water and the byproducts produced that are responsible for the smell. You are right that even clean individuals have some e.coli or other fecal contaminants on them. Fortunately for us spa users, most adults don't put their head under water, so we aren't getting it in our mouths. Transmission of gastroenteritus causing bacteria in a spa should be very low because of that reason. If I'm not showering immediately after getting out of the spa, I wash my hands with antibacterial soap. I don't want to grab a potato chip if some bug got on my finger. Keep in mind I said it could be algae or some other bacteria. I didn't mean to imply that it's the most common cause, but it does happen. We enjoy leaving our spa open on the weekends to enjoy the lights and water feature. I learned quickly that I have to keep my MPS or chlorine up during this time. I'm in the sunny south and people in colder climates may not encounter this problem. I know people here that use algaecide in their portable spas. Maybe it isn't common enough that I should have mentioned it.