Possible Biofilm

[SpaGuy247]

Hello everyone, been reading and getting a lot of info from this forum and i'm finally making my first post.  

Here is a little back ground info on my situation... Bought a new Marquis Vector 21 v77l Hot tub in the first week of February.  I got a good deal on a floor model, which was filled on the show room floor.  (this is possibly important to the problem I am having)  As far as I know, the dealer had it filled since some time in November on their floor.  Also, the dealer was running an inline system by Spa Frog, called @ease SmartChlor.  Which I have also been running since.

I'll try and make this short.  About a week and a half of having the tub, It started to go cloudy.  I brought a sample to the dealer, and found out my chlorine was low.  I added more ( in addition to the cartridges which are supposed to be enough alone)  The test strips I was using at the time were horrible.  So it briefly cleared up, before going cloudy again.  This time I was getting a very foamy situation.  I drained and refilled.  As I was refilling, I noticed a bunch of white flakes floating.   Specifically as I put the hose in the filter hole to fill the tub.  I looked it up and saw it could either be Biofilm or calcium deposits from possibly high PH.  I was having trouble maintaining my PH, so I assumed the latter. (looking back, PH was never CRAZY high.. was lingering around 7.9, but only for a week )

Now lets jump ahead.. We are about 3 weeks on the second fill. Hadn't used the tub in about a week.  I open the cover and its still cloudy, and the water has an odd smell to it.  So now I suspect it could have been biofilm all along, so I pick up some Jet Clean.  As I pull the filter off I can see the white flakes are floating under the filter.  So now i'm almost positive that it is in fact Biofilm.  Keep in mind, after the second fill I finally got a better understanding of how to balance the water.  The Taylor test kit helped a ton,  I had it PERFECT for a couple weeks and just couldn't get it to clear up.  

So my main question here is how long does it take for biofilm to develop? Could this have happened in the first week I had the tub?  Or is it more likely this was from the dealer while they had the tub filled for 2 months on their floor?

[Markee]

Generally Biofilm won't develop super quick, and the V77L is a brand new model for Marquis so they couldn't have had it on the floor very long.  It is possible though, I would suggest picking up a product called "Ahh-Some".  Some spa dealers have it, but you can definitely find it on Amazon.  It's a small container that has a blue paste material in it. This stuff works much better than any other Jetline Cleaner product on the market.  Run this through the system, it will require you to drain and refill.  In extreme cases you may have to do this twice.  Typically when you run this through the system it is going to strip anything out of the plumbing and it will generally find any oil residuals that are left from manufacturing the plumbing.  On a new spa it is common to see some colored foam after you run this through.  I would take off the headrests and have a wet-dry shop vac on hand in case you have any colored foam to suck up off the surface.

Also, how often are you using the hot tub?  How many people use it each time, and are any kids using it?

[SpaGuy247]

Thanks for the reply, Wish I knew about that product sooner. I ran jet clean through it, drained, Filled and dosed with 24 ounces of bleach for about an hour with the Jets on.  Then drained and refilled again to get the high dose of chlorine/bleach out.  Pretty much followed nitros decontamination post on this form. So far it is the clearest it has ever been.  Hopefully it holds up.

To answer you question.. I was using it about 3-4 times a week.  Usually only myself, or me and my girlfriend.  No kids

[Markee]

You'll get a handle on it, the water should be pretty easy to take care of.  You might have got it, but if you have more issues I would suggest the Ahh-Some product.  Also, you may want to consider getting a new filter if you have to do another treatment.

[SpaGuy247]

Thanks for you help.  Seems like I got it.  What ever was in the pipes was actually causing the pumps to surge.  Now they are running smooth.  This makes me think that the pipes running from the inline sanitation were also clogged, and thats why I was not getting proper chlorine levels from my @ease smartchlor cartridges. This was possibly combined with a massive chlorine demand trying to control what ever was in the pipes. Thanks again