Anybody know what I'm dealing with here?

[bigroo42]

2 months in to ownership of my hot springs rhythm tub and saw this last night. Other pics in comments. 

[bigroo42]

[RDspaguy]

Does it wipe off?

Are those ripples in the water or the spa?

[bigroo42]

3 minutes ago, RDspaguy said:

Does it wipe off?

Are those ripples in the water or the spa?

Yes it wipes off. 

 

That's like a textured bottom of the tub. I guess it's there for grip? Who knows.

[RDspaguy]

I'd guess it is makeup, conditioner, lotion, fabric softener, skin oil, or a combination thereof. Commonly known as scum, which accumulates at and above the water line. They have floating sponges called "scum ball", believe it or not, that gather it up. But if you don't bring it in it can't get into your water.

[bigroo42]

8 hours ago, RDspaguy said:

 

I do have a "scum bug" and I do wring it out every week or so. Does it help to add a 2nd one? Or wring it out more often? 

[RDspaguy]

It would help more to eliminate the contamination to begin with. Wash off before using the spa, keep hair up and out of the water, do not use suntan oil or sunblock, rinse bathing suit in sink instead of washing with detergent and fabric softener.

What is your chemical maintenance routine?

[bigroo42]

I do each of these once a week. And I have an ozonater. It's called the 'ease system' or something like that. 

[RDspaguy]

What are your chemical readings? You need a good test kit, or at least some test strips, to maintain your spa. You also need to be doing more than some of this and that every week.

Here is a decent article to get you started.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.wikihow.com/Maintain-Your-Spa-or-Hot-Tub%3famp=1

[bigroo42]

The dealer, who is a licensed and we'll reviewed hot springs dealer provided these 2 chemicals to use and they said this is all I need. They said this is one of rhe benefits of this type of spa is how easy it is to maintain. 

 

Said I don't even need to use test strips since this method is so dependable. 

I did buy some test strips tho and everything looked OK to my untrained eye except chlorine. When I asked the dealer about this he said that is to be expected since I'm not using chlorine as a sanitizer. I was gonna upload my test strip pic but the file is too big. 

[RDspaguy]

I don't even know how to respond to that. I am amazed he hasn't been sued out of business yet.

Lets ask another hot springs dealer his opinion.

@castletonia, what do you think?

[castletonia]

If you are using the @ease system, you have to have the Frog cartridges.  There is a blue mineral cartridge that lasts 4 months and then the silver smartchlor cartridge that lasts 3-4 weeks.  If you haven't replaced the smartchlor cartridge yet I would guarantee its been empty for at least 4 weeks which means the only chlorine that water is getting is from the Enhanced Shock and that is not full strength dichlor.  

I would have to guess that whatever that stuff is is either a white water mold (white algae) or I wonder if it could have anything to do with the Silk Balance?  If you are not using Frog @ease test strips, you need to.  That is the only way to accurately test the Smartchlor level.  You also need products to balance water.  Either your dealer is incompetent or your salesman is, either way they gave you bad information.

Silk Balance is a lot of money and from what I heard, it no longer contains silver.  I like the @ease system and I like ozone and I like Enhanced Shock, but I would bail on the Silk Balance.  At this point, shock the hell out of that hot tub with either chlorine or a lot of the Enhanced Shock.  I would then purge that plumbing, drain, clean, and refill.  I would also probably either confirm your dealers instructions or find someone else to help with water care.

[bigroo42]

I appreciate all the good info here guys. I'm not sure where to go here. It's like when you think you've been getting good advice from your mechanic and a lot of other mechanics, who have no reason to say otherwise, start to all agree something is missing. I no nothing about this stuff and all has been working fine until I saw this gunk pop up. Now I'm really concerned I may not have a sustainable solution for safe water. 

 

Only thing I question is this - if there was something else I should be adding in, I'm sure my dealer would be HAPPY to sell it to me. But he says this is all I need.

When I fired up the tub I do remember putting in, what I remember to be, a silver cartridge into the filter area. But he said that would last 4 months. And I would get a new one with my shipment of chemicals every 4 months. 

 

Where would the other cartridge be at? Would one be a floating cartridge? 

 

Thanks again! 

[castletonia]

You should have a cap on top of the hot tub that screws off exposing the cartridge holder.  A blue mineral cartridge goes in top and the silver smartchlor cartridges goes on the bottom.  Unless your not using the @ease system, then you would have a silver cartridge that could go in the filter area.

[bigroo42]

OK I definitely don't have those 2. I just have the 1 cartridge that goes in the filter area. It's evidently called  "agplus" cartridge. I must not have the @ease system then. Must have gotten confused. 

 

With that being said, Castletonia, are the 2 products I'm using along with the cartridge in the filter appropriate? Or am I still missing a step? Again, greatly appreciate your time. 

[RDspaguy]

7 hours ago, RDspaguy said:

What are your chemical readings? You need a good test kit, or at least some test strips, to maintain your spa. You also need to be doing more than some of this and that every week.

Here is a decent article to get you started.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.wikihow.com/Maintain-Your-Spa-or-Hot-Tub%3famp=1

You are missing alot of steps. I can write you an article on it, it wouldn't be my first, but I am typing this with one thumb on my phone at about a half-word a minute. The article will give you a good overview of chemical maintenance, and we can dial you in from there. I am not sure how long castletonia has been in the business, but canadaguy and I have over 50 years between us. Not our first rodeo, if you know what I mean. We'll get you squared away.

[bigroo42]

I do appreciate all of yalls help. I have to say though I read the instructions / reviews / customer questions of all 3 products I'm using on Amazon.  It all seems to check out. From what I can tell rhe 4 month silver Ion cartridge combined with the shock and silk weekly appear to play well together.

 

I plan on calling hot springs directly on Monday to confirm my 'plan'. 

 

Not that I'm not open to other guidance but Im gonna stick with what I'm doing for now and see if this biofilm/scum problem keeps coming back. 

 

One thing I will change immediately is to do the shock, at half dose, twice a week instead of all of it at once one time a week. 

Thanks again yall. I will re read the article posted above. 

[castletonia]

Been doing this 19 years.

The AG plus cartridge is Hot Springs version of the Nature2.  That is fine and so is the Enhanced Shock.  Problem is you need to add the Enhanced shock more frequently, you have to balance pH and alkalinity and depending on your water, might have to use a stain and scale product or maybe even phosphate remover.

Also, how long is your filtration set to run?  Remember, the ozone only runs when either the tub is filtering or the pump is running on low speed.

If you want to pm me your email I can send you the directions I provide my customers.  Not saying they are always correct, perfect or will work for you, it’s what I’ve come up with and you can take from it what you want.

[bigroo42]

Castletonia much thanks! I will pm you my email and if greatly appreciate your directions! 

 

I set f1 and f2 both for 2 hours initially, as directed. But since I use the tub 5-7 nights as week and after I had this issue he told me to bump it up to 3 hours. 

Gonna start doing 1 cap ful of enhanced shock twice a week inatead of 1.5 caps weekly. That sound appropriate to you? 

 

[RDspaguy]

And there is the key. There are many ways to maintain your water. In the end, what matters most is that you are happy with it. But you will never be happy if it does not meet a few minimum requirements, like balance and sanitization. If it makes your eyes burn, your skin itch, and you get a funky rash for 2 weeks after you use it, you will not be happy. 

I would listen to castletonia, he knows that brand and that system better than I ever will. I worked on all brands, but these are his livelihood.

Hey castletonia, why don't you post your method here so others can benefit as well? We get quite a few Watkins owners here. I am guessing it's not a secret formula? Maybe we could do a sticky? (Is that what it's called? I am still figuring this whole forum thing out.) Is there already a sticky on the topic? Hmmm...