My Input On The Brown Goo (softsoak)

[William]

After using bromine for a year, I began to break out whenever I used the tub. The pool store suggested SoftSoak and after switching over, I must say I like it; except for the brown goo.

I tried a number of things but finally got frustrated and called BioGuard and talked to their tech support folks. They were very helpful and gave the following suggestions:

They said that the brown goo is the biguinde coming out of solution. This can happen with a high pH. If the TA is too high, you'll have problems keeping the pH steady. With that, they said:

Keep your TA to 100ppm

Keep your pH between 7.2 and 7.4

If the pH gets to 7.7, you'll get the goo

They suggested a product called "Off The Wall" to remove the goo. Also white vinegar will work. I just purchased a bottle of Off The Wall but haven't used it yet. The vinegar did work for me (used it between fills).

I did a fresh fill and balanced my water BEFORE adding any SoftSoak (this took 8 days! please see my other topic: "Question: Lowering Total Alkalinity"). Once balanced, the SoftSoak seems to be working well (no goo).

Just though I'd share.

[robin4747]

Hi William, could you please explain what the goo is. I wonder if this is the problem I am having when I posted on the other site regarding mold on hot tub cover. Today I dumped the water and I will start over. Where is the goo in your tub, ie;the walls handles or in the water. I just don't understand what you mean by goo.

After using bromine for a year, I began to break out whenever I used the tub. The pool store suggested SoftSoak and after switching over, I must say I like it; except for the brown goo.

I tried a number of things but finally got frustrated and called BioGuard and talked to their tech support folks. They were very helpful and gave the following suggestions:

They said that the brown goo is the biguinde coming out of solution. This can happen with a high pH. If the TA is too high, you'll have problems keeping the pH steady. With that, they said:

Keep your TA to 100ppm

Keep your pH between 7.2 and 7.4

If the pH gets to 7.7, you'll get the goo

They suggested a product called "Off The Wall" to remove the goo. Also white vinegar will work. I just purchased a bottle of Off The Wall but haven't used it yet. The vinegar did work for me (used it between fills).

I did a fresh fill and balanced my water BEFORE adding any SoftSoak (this took 8 days! please see my other topic: "Question: Lowering Total Alkalinity"). Once balanced, the SoftSoak seems to be working well (no goo).

Just though I'd share.

[William]

The "brown goo" is a brown substance that sticks to the walls of the tub right at the watterline. It tends to get there when I turn on the jets and the water is flowing up against the sides. The Bioguard tech I spoke with also mentioned that the pH of the tub will increase slightly when using the jets and that I may see more of the biguinde come out of solution especially if my pH is close to the 7.7 mark which I indeed seem to observe.

By the way, I spent the weekend working hard to get the pH in my tub down to 7.3 and guess what, no goo!

[chem geek]

If you keep your TA even lower, say at 80 ppm or 70 ppm, the rise in pH will be even slower and you'll need less acid to compensate for this. It is the combination of high TA, low pH and aeration that causes the pH to rise quickly (due to outgassing of carbon dioxide). It is one of those counter-intuitive facts of pool/spa water chemistry that lower TA leads to more stable pH IF the rise in pH is due to carbon dioxide outgassing. The only time to have high TA is in a pool that uses an acidic source of chlorine, such as Trichlor tablets.

[Abted0]

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