Vanishing Pipe Mold?

[MarquisMartin]

Hi all,

Yesterday, after shocking my spa I checked the water chemistry an hour or so later. I noticed small amounts of very tiny white flakes floating in the water. Because I have a huge fear of pipe mold (due to a horrible case years ago in my last tub) I immediately feared the worse and planned to do a deep cleaning today. Before I did I decided to do the bleach test to make sure it wasn't calcium even though the water here is very soft and if anything I struggle to keep the hardness up in my water. When I went to pull a sample, I realized the tiny white flakes were gone. It seems like I read something over the years that shocking can sometimes cause solids to form that can be filtered during a full cycle. Did I imagine this? Should I still do a heavy shock, drain and cleaning? 

My tub is only a year old, a Marquis "Vegas" using Bromine and an ozinator.

Thanks in advance for your input!

Martin

[RDspaguy]

Did you shock with mps? (Non-chlorine shock) Mps has a high ph and that could cause dissolved solids to come out of solution, causing scale. Most likely on the heater, where the heat acts as a catalyst for the reaction, and more so if your mps was pulled into the suction in concentration. It will dissolve again once in the lower ph water. 

A purge, or even a 24 hour ph drop, should clear it up. If you are concerned about it being organic, then go ahead and purge with Ahhsome.

I would like to hear more about your bad experience, perhaps in a different thread with an appropriate title so that others might find it and learn from your experience.

[MarquisMartin]

Thanks! It cleared up just fine, in only a few hours. I appreciate the explanation, I'd never noticed that happening before. I'll post about the other incident another day.