Tissue-like, Mucus In Water

[whitestars]

Hello All

This is my first time here. My name is Jackie and I live in SE Georgia. I have just moved into a house on the marsh which has a hot tub on an upper deck which is roofed and screened. Water temp without heater is about 86 deg. The previous owners thought it was 15-17 years old. It is a Baja octagon shape, acrylic, I think (shiny marbley finish) and holds about 800 gallons of water. It is 8' by 8' and about 30" deep. They had not used it for 2-3 years and it had water in it when we bought the house but they said it had been empty pror. The water didn't look too bad considering but we drained it anyway and scrubbed it all down with bleach and it was sparkling. We have excellent well water. We have a water softener attached and a pervector for sulphur. Using a test kit there is no chlorine, the ph and total alkalinity is in the ideal range.

After filling we put the recommended amount of bromine tablets in a floater and kept adjusting until it was in the ideal range.

There are only 2 of us (adults) and we use it about 2 hrs/day. The filtration system runs about 12 hrs/day.

After about 5-7 days of use these filmy tissue like strands, mucus looking, started showing up in the water. They were also clinging to the thermometer string and the plastic around the jets. If I could manage to get one out of the water, it was mucus like, mostly clear with some white. Also every day an unpleasant odor got more prounounced. I thought it might be the bromine smell. By the eigth day the water was very cloudy and when you turned on the air for the jets the smell was sewer-like.

I drained it scrubbed it, hosed off all the "mucus', drained it out and kept hosing and emptying until it was all gone.

I then refilled and started her up. Again the same cycle took place with the pieces starting to appear after about 3-4 days.

I am now on my third emptying. It is now empty and I would like some advice before I proceed further. I have removed the new filter (cartridge type) and it is full of gunk but only in one spot about 4-5" in diameter about 2/3 of the way up the filter. The rest of the filter is clean. The cartridge holder smelled like a sewer when I removed the lid. When filling the inside ring with hose water, it came out the holes in spa bottom and water in the outside ring came out 2 of the 4 jets. The water was very cloudy and I pumped it out. I have put the top back on the cartridge holder and left the cartridge out.

Thanks in advance for your help

Jackie

[Hillbilly Hot Tub]

Do you know what the previous people used for a sanitizing system? It sounds like you have Baqa Goop, a common issue with spas that used Baqua.

Either way I would suggest you use a product such as swirl away to clean the plumbing lines. After running this through the system (I would leave it in a least 24 hours) I would vacuum the tub with a shop vac, making sure to vac each jet the suctions ect...everywhere there could be water left.

When you start a tub using bromine tabs, you are suppose to use sodium bromide at the start. This gives a bromine reserve so you don't have to wait for several of the tabs to dissolve before you have sanitizer. I would also give it a real good dose of shock when you refill it. Keep your sanitizer level where needed and shock the tub consistantly (how much depends on use)

Thats a start and my best guess....Also, either get a new filter, or if this one was new super clean it with bleach and water before putting back into the tub.

[whitestars]

Hi Hillbilly

Thanks for the reply.

I don't know what previous owners used but it was probably nothing exotic.

I would think it is bacteria because of the putrid smell and slime. I bought shock today and 2 big bottles of bleach to try and clean the lines and new filter.

Any more advice would be appreciated.

Thanks again

Jackie

Do you know what the previous people used for a sanitizing system? It sounds like you have Baqa Goop, a common issue with spas that used Baqua.

Either way I would suggest you use a product such as swirl away to clean the plumbing lines. After running this through the system (I would leave it in a least 24 hours) I would vacuum the tub with a shop vac, making sure to vac each jet the suctions ect...everywhere there could be water left.

When you start a tub using bromine tabs, you are suppose to use sodium bromide at the start. This gives a bromine reserve so you don't have to wait for several of the tabs to dissolve before you have sanitizer. I would also give it a real good dose of shock when you refill it. Keep your sanitizer level where needed and shock the tub consistantly (how much depends on use)

Thats a start and my best guess....Also, either get a new filter, or if this one was new super clean it with bleach and water before putting back into the tub.

[Whoneedsavacation]

In addition to using sodium bromide when you fill the tub using bromine floater system, you should also shock regularly. I use non-chlorine shock after each use or once a week, whichever comes first. If you've been running without shocking that may be your problem, even if you have a decent bromine residual the amount of chlorine in the tablets may not be activating it enough. The actual sanitizer is hypobromous acid which is formed from the tabs (and shock) in the water.

I'd also be tempted to shock the water until it actually seemed to clear up and stay that way before draining and refilling. That way you have some hope that the innards aren't contaminated.

I've never had the "goo" you describe, but when I've let the bromine run out, I have had a swampy smell and cloudy greenish water.

[whitestars]

Hi

Thanks for replying. I removed the filter and soaked for 2 days in a 3;1 BLEACH/WATER SOLUTION. Then i drained the tub.After draining, I scrubbed everything down w bleach, rinsed, pumped out and refilled. I used spa shock at 4x the recommended dosage and ran for 1 hr in circulation mode and then another hour in jet mode but w no air. Drained again , scrubbed again rinsed and refilled. This time i aded 2 gal bleach and ran on circ mode for 24 hrs. Drained again and refilled. Put the filter back. When full I checked the clorine level was off the scale a rusty brown instead of yellow in the test vial. Water looks very clear and I onle see a few "globs" of the mucus, bigger than before and easy to remove. It has been about 36 hrs now in circ mode. Chlorine level is still off the charts. My intention is to let the chlorine level drop on it's own to a normal range and then start using it and shocking weekly along with the bromine floater unless someone has a better idea.

Thanks

Jackie

In addition to using sodium bromide when you fill the tub using bromine floater system, you should also shock regularly. I use non-chlorine shock after each use or once a week, whichever comes first. If you've been running without shocking that may be your problem, even if you have a decent bromine residual the amount of chlorine in the tablets may not be activating it enough. The actual sanitizer is hypobromous acid which is formed from the tabs (and shock) in the water.

I'd also be tempted to shock the water until it actually seemed to clear up and stay that way before draining and refilling. That way you have some hope that the innards aren't contaminated.

I've never had the "goo" you describe, but when I've let the bromine run out, I have had a swampy smell and cloudy greenish water.