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Adding Borax Made The Spa Super Cloudy


gr82cu

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Hi Everyone! And thanks for sharing so much great information! I've been reading this forum for some time I bought a brand new Sundance spa (325 gal) with Nature 2 system last June. I started getting a rash in August last summer. Have been working with the spa dealer and have changed from chlorine to bromine and now back to chlorine with the MPS & Nature 2. I love my spa and qualify as a high user (1 hour or more each night). It's usually just me but occasionally one of my small dogs jumps in (not realizing the cover is off).

So initially I followed the dealer's instruction which is basically what I've read here Nature 2 + MPS followed by weekly chlorine shock with dichlor. When I got the first rash, I did some internet research & found this forum which is where I've found the best information most consistently. Anyway. I started using more chlorine which didn't seem to help the rash. I went to the doctor but she wasn't concerned -- didn't do any kind of test.

Then at one point the rash got much worse. so I changed from chlorine to bromine thinking that even though I've swam in chlorinated pools all my life with no issue maybe it was the chlorine. The rash after using the bromine was even worse. So I stayed out of the spa for a while dealer suggested just using the MPS and no chlorine or bromine. This didn't work because I would get foaming rather quickly.

After all these changes, I've noticed that the rash gets better and is fine when I add new water to the spa. Everything is fine until the foaming begins (about 2 weeks after water change). My last water change was March 7. So last night I decided to add whatever it took to kill the foam add calcium ... super chlorinate borax

I added the calcium yesterday (CH was very low; now over 100). I superchlorinated last night. Today the FC was low (not zero, but low). The water was perfectly clear but I noticed that the pH was dropping. So I added borax (had never added any ever before) just 1 cup (about half of what the Pool Calculator said to add). The water got super cloudy. But the foaming is totally gone. The pH was high so I added dry acid. Now the pH seems fine but the water is still quite cloudy.

I will be changing out the water next week, because I will be moving the spa to its new patio.

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Borax raises the pH so when you are using it to increase borates you aren't supposed to add it without also adding acid and you should split up the doses so your pH doesn't swing wildly. The Pool Calculator says for getting 50 ppm Borates in 325 gallons that you add 19 ounces weight or 18 fluid ounces volume of borax (e.g. 20 Mule Team Borax) AND add 9.1 fluid ounces of 31.45% Muriatic Acid. It sounds like you forgot the acid part and also added it all at once. This is why most people use boric acid instead since it doesn't require pH balancing and is only slightly acidic (lowers pH from 7.5 to around 7.2).

Your water may be cloudy from forming calcium carbonate when the pH rose and you might have created scale all over your spa surfaces as a result of adding so much base (Borax) all at once. You can try lowering the pH to around 7.2 or so (not below 7.0) to see if that helps dissolve the calcium carbonate and clear the water. Check your filters as well as they may be partly clogged.

By the way, for reducing foaming, it's Calcium Hardness (CH) at around 120-150 ppm that helps most with that.

As for your rash, I suspect you've got biofilms in your spa so I strongly suggest that just before your next water change you add Ahh-Some and then perform a decontamination procedure using chlorine (see this post, but use Ahh-Some instead of Spa System Flush or Swirl Away since we've found Ahh-Some to be better). The linked procedure does two drains, but you could probably do the superchlorination at the end of the Ahh-Some procedure unless that procedure results in a lot of gunk getting released (in which case there's not much point having chlorine just react with it -- better to physically remove it and then superchlorinate or use Ahh-Some again).

The key is to prevent biofilm formation in the first place and that is most easily done by maintaining a chlorine level at all times. However, if you use Dichlor-only, then that builds up Cyanuric Acid (CYA) that reduces chlorine's strength. You can read about the Dichlor then bleach method, but it takes work to set up and given your borax experience this may be too complicated for you. If you use Nature2 with MPS, then you need to always maintain an MPS concentration and probably need to use chlorine every week or two to keep the water clear.

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Thanks ChemGeek -- I cleaned my filter and added dry acid to dissolve the calcium carbonate. I tested this morning and the pH was low. So feeling brave -- I added about 4 more oz of borax. The pH is up to 7.5 and no cloudiness. So I guess that sort of worked. I don't think I'll make that mistake again. Experience is a great teacher -- just hope I don't break anything.

I ordered Ahh-Some -- thanks for letting me know that it was better than the others. I watched their video about how to clean the spa. I also ordered the Taylor kit and MPS strips.

I think because of my high spa usage, I will have to do more than just N2 + MPS.

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  • 5 years later...

I have had a hot tub for over 30 years and used it daily without problems mostly using borax and occasional additions of a clorinator or household bleach. 

In February 2 this year my old hot tub finally failed and could not be repaired so I purchased a new 265gal one.  This came with a number of chemical additives and the initial fill instructions were: 

9 tablespoons of alkalinity increaser, 90ml Silk Balance and 1.5 tablespoon of Spa Sanitizer chlorine powder. The temperature was set at 104F.

Since I had used borax successfully in the past I added 1 cup of borax.  The test strips indicated low chlorine so I added 1 more tbsp of chlorine powder.

on February 14 I started to have problems with a skin rash and itching on my legs.

This got worse and on March 20 I emptied the tub and cleaned the filters, refilled as before but with 1/2 cup borax plus 1 cup vinegar.  

I add weekly chlorine but test strips always indicate low to no chlorine and the water is still causing itching on my skin.

what am I doing wrong?

 

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  • 8 months later...

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