New to me tub and possible issues

[Rayf01]

Hi everyone.

 

I bought a house back in May that came with a 1580 Liter hot tub. The previous owner hadn't lived in the house for a few months and the hot tub was running. It wasn't gross by any measure, but there were some floaties in it and I wanted to be sure it was clean. I purchased a tub clean product, ran the product in the hot tub for awhile ( I can't recall how long now) and then did a drain. I scrubbed the walls down as well with tub clean, rinsed it, and left it for a couple months as the tub needed a few repairs and had some leaks. During that time I also know that there was likely residual water in some of the piping including the bottom drain as it never seems to empty all the way.

Fast forward two months and I have the tub back together again with a new motor/pump, seals and a few jets. I also installed a new filter and pre filter sock on the skimmer basket. I did the following two days ago:

1. Filled with tap water.

2. Added some water decriminalize as thats what the hot tub shop said to do. Based on my research and my water here I don't think I needed to do it.

3. I then balanced, but the only thing I had to do was raise the calcium hardness and my PH and Alkalinity were good out of the tap.

4. I used a non chlorinated shock to spec on the bottle.

5. After it was balanced and heated, I added the Bromide liquid to spec, then added MSP to spec. The bromine level shot up to about 10.

6. I later noticed some floatie stuff in the water at all levels so I added a bit of clarifier to the tub, and later added a product called "Soft" which the spa dealer said helps make the water feel softer.

Now that "floatie" stuff i referred to I would describe as chunks of skin almost. They were of various sized but honestly looked like skin flaked off the bottom of someones foot. I know it wasn't skin though and there was a decent amount of it.

I ran the jets on high for quite a bit and would take out the pre filter sock and rinse all that crap out of it. I've done that three times now and for the most part its pretty good. I do notice some pieces still floating around so I have been watching it. I've used the tub twice yesterday once the bromine level came down and I also added a bromine tablet floater. After using the tub twice yesterday I notice the bromine level was like nearly 1. So I added a bit of MSP to the tub last night along with the bromine floater. This morning the bromine level hasn't come up a whole lot, its probably at 2 still.

There are also some of the peices still floating around and the sock had some inside it. I also noticed a small discoloration ring on the top of the filter itself which is a similar colour to what the sock is once I rinse it, due to those floaty things.

I did have all of the motor/pump out, along with the large PVC pipe that runs between the heater spa pack pipe and the pump itself. All of those pipes, including the heater pipe, and the PVC pipe looked clean and didn't appear to have any "build up".

Sooooooo, this leads me to the following:

 

1.Is that floatie stuff bio flim that I keep reading about?

2. Should I decontaminate my hot tub again using Nitro's post method that i read about? The level of the floaty stuff has gone down, but I am guessing its still in the pipes..

3. My bromine level went from 10 yesterday, to like 1 by the end of the day. I used it with my two young children for about 20 minutes, then again with a friend at the end of the day for about an hour. After that I added a bit of MSP to the tub, and again this morning the bromine level is still pretty low. That is with the floater in all night as well.

Reading that post about medical bills and sickness has me concerned, so I want to make sure I am doing this right. Not sure if I should do a full decontamination or what. Is it possible this isnt old dead biofilm or something else?

[Rayf01]

took a few of the "flakes" and put them in 1 cup of water. I then put in a bunch of bleech as I read online that it a way to test for biofilm. If it remains its likely not biofilm and likely calcium. Well so far after 20 minutes the flake is still there and I added a decent amount of bleech. Does this mean its not biofilm them?

 

Just seems like it woulndt  be calcium, it kind of tears when I hold it. It also coated the inside of the prefilter sock and made it yucky. That said there is a lot less in the hot tub now then there was before.

[Rayf01]

After over an hour, the largest one is still there along with a small one. there appears to be some white dustish looking debris in the bottom like it has partially broken off. the piece itself is quite soft and a bit slimy, tearing easily, its still like paper.

I honestly have no idea.

[RaviePoolGirl]

I think if it were me, I would get some Ah Some and do another decontamination on it.