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Can't get/keep hot tub clean


Fultons

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We bought an AquaTerra hot tub at Costco about two years ago. We keep it meticulously clean and maintained. A couple of months ago we noticed a sticky film on every underwater surface, and when we got out our skin was VERY sticky. We drained and cleaned it repeatedly with no improvement. 

Finally, we called the manufacturer who recommended running a dozen or so bottles of Hydrogen Peroxide through the water for a couple of days, followed by Ahh-some. We are now on our fourth treatment of Ahh-some, draining and scrubbing between each, and nasty, sticky gunk is still pouring into the tub.

This gunk does not wipe away with a rag. We are having to use a scrub brush, bleach and a lot of elbow grease. Even used the power washer - and the stickiness is still there!

What else can we possibly do?! 

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Hi Fultons:  What you are describing does sound like it is Biofilm, which is a buildup of sticky and slimy gunk within the plumbing lines.  Do NOT add hydrogen peroxide before adding Ahh-Some.  Hydrogen peroxide will NOT eliminate biofilm.  Here is what you need to do.  Get the water in the hot tub up to 90degrees or higher, add 3 Level Teaspoons of the Ahh-Some Gel Cleaner.  Put your filter(s) inside the hot tub after you rinse them off.  We want to clean them thoroughly as well.  Run the jets on high for 20 minutes, wipe away any sticky gunk with a micro fiber cloth, let the tub set for a few hours with intermittent starting and stopping of the pump with air intakes wide open.  We want turbulence.  Water flow, turbulence and the penetration of the Ahh-Some into the biofilm matrix will cause it to be flushed into the hot tub itself.  You should add a little dichlor chlorine or bleach just prior to doing this purge.  After 2-3 hours you should have removed a major amount of the clinging gunk inside the plumbing. Remove the filter(s),hose them off, drain the tub, rinse and wipe fully, refill, adjust chemical parameters, and let’s see if the situation is eliminated.  You may have to purge a second time in some cases.  When you eliminate most of the biofilm you will notice a shine to your water and maintenance will be minimal.  The big tip-off as to,whether you have a Biofilm build up is to watch your sanitizer demand.  If it increases quickly, purge the system.

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AG, Thank you so much for taking the time to reply.

We have repeated the Ahhsome purge four times now. A fifth dose was added last night. Every time we purge, we have to thoroughly scrub every surface. A cloth will not wipe away the buildup, it only smears. The shell is rough, not smooth. 

After cleaning and upon refill, you can still feel the stickiness underwater. And as soon as the pump is turned on, a new gunk line starts forming, and the water foams up topped with its own gunk. 

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Ok.  Since your hot tub is not the smooth acrylic sheet it is more difficult to scrub away the sticky stuff.  Take one half of a level teaspoon of the gel and mix it with a quart of water in a typical spray bottle.  Spray this on  the gunk that is clinging to your root molded shell.  The solution will loosen and allow you to rinse and wipe it away.  Just use the hot tub upon the next refill.  If you see some slight foaming and brownish gunk

this is normal.  Wipe away what you can and just let the filter(s)grab this residual.  After 4purges with the Ahh-Some your plumbing is now cleaner than when it was new.

just put up with the brownish foamy stuff for a few days.  It will clear up.  Please let us know how it goes.  You did a great job folks.

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Below is a photo of the current state after round 5 with the Ahhsome.  Draining now, and I'll try the cleaning solution you suggest, thanks. I assure you, we won't be using the tub until this disgusting stuff is gone. 

I'll update after cleaning again and we've given it a couple of days.

In the meantime, if anyone reading this post is thinking of buying a hot tub, take my advice, get a smooth shell. We never had a single issue in ten years with our old spa until it just died of old age, and even then, the shell was recyclable. 

20171125_162547_resized_1.jpg

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Biofilm doesn’t care what your hot tub shell is made of.  You just have a very bad case of Biofilm.  Not sure what you were using as a sanitizer before all this occurred.  Your image is definitely Biofilm.  Purge again and maybe another after that.  We will get your plumbing clean.  3 Teaspoons is what you need, no more.  A few more purges and Imhope we get to,the root of the matrix.

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welcome Fultons to the forum;  there are a bunch of us here that are experienced with Ahh-some;  I have performed a number of experiments myself and from these experiments, and from coaching others, I have learned that for extensively contaminated spas it requires sometimes 15 or more purges with ahh-some, and I am not making this up.  biofilms are nasty dudes;  they adapt, they multiply, they stick to pipes and corners in the plumbing, and they make protective chlorine resistant covers for themselves, they hide in other oils and food supplies left over from skin oils and other bio mass materials in the water not trapped by the filter.  In the end, biofilms are very hard to remove, especially if they have been growing for some time.

I've been through several thousand gallons of purges of water myself.... my encouragement to you is to just keep purging over and over.  your pipes and equipment are harboring these nasties, and since biofilms are very tenacious you have to keep after it.  don't give up!  there is no substitute for multiple ahh-some purges -- don't be tempted to use a different product, which will give the appearance of success when in reality it is leaving untouched biofilms in your spa. 

keep persevering.  

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Just another suggestion.  Ahh some is good at breaking stuff up but rough agitated water helps all the more.  What I mean by that is create as much change  in the flow as possible.  Turn pumps on and off, soak 5 minutes then fire up the pumps  stuff like that.  Steady easy flow is not your friend.  Agitated changes in flow rate are good . 

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So, 15 purges followed by 15 total scrubs?!  Ugh!  Thankfully, it seems 5 was our magic number.  Still seeing some scum at the waterline, but a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser wipes it away.  I stand by my belief that a smooth shell would have been easier to clean than this textured one. 

Many thanks to you both for your time and expertise!  What are the odds of a recurrence, and is there anything we can do to prevent it?

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Unfortunately, if indeed your problem was of a Biofilm nature, and we think it was, there is little you can do to prevent any further bio-buildup.  However, by maintIng adequate sanitizer levels and keeping your water balanced will certainly help to keep large biofilm build ups at bay.  Where there is water, there is Biofilm.  Period.  End of story.  Your problem was because the spa had probably sat for a while after the manufacture date without water.  Factories test hot tubs before shipping to be sure the plumbing is 100% leak free.  They all do this.  This is a good thing. After they drain the tub in preparation for shipping, small amount of water and moisture are still inside..  Over a short period of time Biofilm colonies can and will develop.  Some dealers purge every tub they get in before they deliver it to the buyer.  However, the majority of dealers are way too busy to take the time to do this first clean out.  So, you get the tub and over time you see some brownish gunk flowing from the plumbing.  You also see that the water clarity is going downhill even if you are maintaining the tub perfectly.  Sanitizer levels are always testing on the low side.  This is an indication that you need to do the “purge”, usually only once or twice a year.  Hope this helps and best wishes on your new tub.  

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here are my suggestions to help keep this from recurring

1.  100% 2nd the sanitizer demand test recommendation.   experimentation you will get to know your own spa but the rule of thumb is that for a chlorine spa and no ozone, you should see no more than  about 20% sanitizer decay over 24 hours and no bather load and the spa is covered.  over time you will then learn what an unusual sanitizer demand is on your own spa, as you factor in the effects of ozone and bromine.  i learned that with a strong ozone generator and with sufficient bromide salts in the water, the ozone generator will actually oxidize the salts and generate a small residual bromine level -- thats IF there is no load.  In such spa its actually difficult to recover from a high sanitizer dose or shock level dose because it takes so long for the level to decay down to usable levels!

2.  I'm an advocate for purging with ahh-some on every drain, primarily  because its crazy simple, cheep, and easy.  just dose the tired water with ahh-some before you drain.  after you do this a few times, you will know, from observing the results, if you need to purge every drain or you might want to  purge every other drain.  I purge every time because i get an observable release (gunk) and I don't want that around.

 

purging a spa is like backing up your computer: there are three kinds of users (1) those to back up (2) those who wish they had and (3) those who are blissfully unaware of the need.  I used to be in the latter category, until my brand new Hot Spring Grandee was shipped from the factory contaminated with biofilms, and I had sanitizer demand problems from day 1.  I documented my learning experience in great detail in a blog post if you are interested in a long read:

http://boisediesel.com/blog/2016/7/spa-purge

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