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My New Tub Rule: No Swimsuits


Kiz

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I'm no nudist or anything, but it seems that everytime I let someone get in my previous spa with a swimsuit, it ruined my water. I'd get foam or some other problem. So, the new rule is: no swimsuits. Anyone else have this rule?

You would not believe the problems that I am having with foam. I cannot decide whether it is the suits, which we do not wash, or even a mild bit of shampoo on my kids from a morning shower. As well, I now cannot get any bromine to now produce and I am not sure if it is because of this matter.

BMR

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If it's just me and the lady we don't wear suits. If we have quests, we do wear siuts and just expect to have foam the next day.

There's a couple things you can do to rid the foam though. First, turn on all your jets and air to let the foam build up. Then scoop it off the top with skimmer, or your hands. This will reduce it if you do it for a few days. You can also add an enzyme called Sea Klear. It works great at coagulating the oils, soaps etc., and depositing them on your filter. Just don't forget to clean your filiter in a day or two.

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If it's just me and the lady we don't wear suits. If we have quests, we do wear siuts and just expect to have foam the next day.

There's a couple things you can do to rid the foam though. First, turn on all your jets and air to let the foam build up. Then scoop it off the top with skimmer, or your hands. This will reduce it if you do it for a few days. You can also add an [u]enzyme called Sea Klear[/u][/i]. It works great at coagulating the oils, soaps etc., and depositing them on your filter. Just don't forget to clean your filiter in a day or two.

Sea Klear is not an enzyme, it is made from chitosin from crab shells. It 'collects the gunk where as an enzyme would break it down. Its awesome stuff! If you use it weekly, it will help prevent scum lines also. I never have a scum line in my tub and rarely have foam using Sea Klear weekly.

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Sea Klear is not an enzyme, it is made from chitosin from crab shells. It 'collects the gunk where as an enzyme would break it down. Its awesome stuff! If you use it weekly, it will help prevent scum lines also. I never have a scum line in my tub and rarely have foam using Sea Klear weekly.

Thanks for the correction. I thought it was an enzyme. I use it also and it does work well at getting rid of gunk. I only need it after having guests though.

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We never wear swimsuits. We have the occasional shy guest but when they realize we're gonna be nekkid, anyway, they usually join the crowd.

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Due to my sons bringing friends over, the high bather load with freshly washed bathing suits was killing me with foam. Could not get rid of it. Started using Spa Perfect along with a Zorbo oil/scum absorber. Not much left of any suds now. Wife and I either repeatedly ware same suit over and over, or none at all.

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My rule is the suit will be washed by me with no soap before it enters my tub. My parents had a hot tub when I was a kid and this was their rule and it really did keep the suds down, if you use it often you just leave a suit at the house that I wash with no soap every once in a while.

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  • 4 weeks later...
Sea Klear is not an enzyme, it is made from chitosin from crab shells. It 'collects the gunk where as an enzyme would break it down. Its awesome stuff! If you use it weekly, it will help prevent scum lines also. I never have a scum line in my tub and rarely have foam using Sea Klear weekly.

Im new to this all... Which Sea Klear is the correct one to get? I think Sea Klear is the brand, I see a "Natural Clarifier,"Algea Prevention and Remover," and a "Phosphate Remover".... Im guessing its the clarifier but dont want to get the wrong one :mellow:

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I'm no nudist or anything, but it seems that everytime I let someone get in my previous spa with a swimsuit, it ruined my water. I'd get foam or some other problem. So, the new rule is: no swimsuits. Anyone else have this rule?
Well, just me and my wife use the tub, and we soak at night, so we have had this policy since we bought the tub. I hate getting out of a wet bathing suit!

--Nate

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  • 1 month later...

We always wear our suits as we have close neighbors but we don't have a problem with foam unless a guest is over that has showered and used to much soap or shampoo. We usually just hang dry our suits and then give them a wash every couple weeks as needed. So far it's been over a year and no issues and every time I take my water into the shop to have them do a test it comes up perfect on the levels. I do monitor and keep my tub chemicals at perfect or near perfect levels almost daily though so that is a factor I'm sure.

Cheers

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  • 2 years later...

Test your Calcium Hardness (CH) level and if it's lower than 120-150 ppm, raise it to 120-150 ppm to see if that reduces foaming.

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We have a "suits optional" rule. Most of our friends go in "au natural" but there are a few who prefer suits. For the most part, those few "suits" generally , convert to "suitless" on their own over time. So for us, foaming has fortunately only been a minor problem that rarely occurs. When foaming has occurred, it's usually caused by too much residual body wash and/or shampoo on the body or hair of the tubbers. I keep Sea Klear on hand to take care of the problem, but I've only needed to use it once. Chlorox and regular filter cleaning seem to keep the spa water more or less foam free.

gman

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  • 2 years later...

When we first got our hot tub, we had a big problem with foam and scum. I think it was from heavy use in general, but also from the kids wearing big board shorts with residual soap. My wife and I only wear suits when the kids are in the tub with us, but even then she'll wear a thong bikini and I wear an aussieBum bikini. These suits retain little to no residue.

Early in our hot tub-owning days, I was making every effort to add bromine, scale and stain preventer, pH Down, Foam Away, Scum Out, Scum Balls, etc. I was chasing pH levels back and forth all the time and adding some new chemical every other day. These days, I've found that I've hit the sweet spot by adding pH down to bring the water into balance after I fill it, and then I just rotate a newly rinsed and bleached filter once a week with a Spa Frog in the filter compartment. The ozonator keeps the tub free of bacteria, so only once in a while I'll add lithium. For the most part, it's been very minimal maintenance since I started the filter rotation. My biggest issue these days is more scale and calcium deposits on the surfaces of the spa. I'm considering trying a spa water pre-filter the next time I drain and refill.

Regardless, when the kids aren't in the tub with us, we and our friends are naked. Nude soaks are relaxing, fun, convenient, and natural. The great majority of our friends think nothing of stripping down with us right away. As SmilinBare mentions above, the few shy friends we have tend to ditch their suits eventually since we don't change our habits for them! We do have close neighbors, and the tub is in our three-seasons room (all glass), but a modicum of modesty while entering and exiting the tub has resulted in avoiding any neighborhood issues.

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Naked is best, waterbug. Even though we have a tub that's in our three-seasons room at the back of the house on a retaining pond that is ringed with houses, there's never been a problem. The tub tends to fog the glass in the winter which obscures the view. During the summer, we just keep the lights low.

We're boaters and we love the freedom of the open water, but during the cold months when the boat is on the hard, there's nothing better than inviting friends over for drinks and a soak in the tub!

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  • 2 months later...

Most of my guests are 45-60 and just assume soaking in a spa is done without suits. For some reason it's the 21-30 crowd that gets all self-conscious about not having clothes on.

The best thing I have done for the spa experience is install a hot outdoor shower on the deck right around the corner from the spa. Suit or no suit, I don't require showering before soaking but most people seem to get it once I mention its available and the water is much easier to maintain because of it. I'm not sure why but the younger crowd thinks of a rinse as something one does after a soak while the older generation rinses before they get in. I always feel cleanest after a soak and never need to rinse off. I can't say the same about some public spas I've used. Rinsing afterwards was mandatory if the water had not been properly maintained.

I highly recommend outdoor showers if there is a suitable location. It's even better than I imagined and I use it right down to 32 degrees. I would use it at lower temps except I haven't figured out a practical way to stop the overspray from forming ice. It's not chilly when you are being sprayed by 120 degree water. Tip: Make sure the showerhead is of the non-aeration type. Adding cold air into the shower cools the water too much. I use a 1.5 gpm head from HighSierra - perfect for the application and it rinses better than many 2.5 gpm heads.

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