Lessons learnt.....

[Nosher]

Well, as I type this, I am draining my hot tub.  

The water is only 13 days old but after a 3 hour soak by my 12 year old daughter and her 4 friends, the water was in a disgusting state.  

I have just finished cleaning the scum line from the outside and water has a really bad smell about it as well as a greenish colour to it...    

The submersible pump is nearly done and I have learnt some valuable lessons, which include:-

1) Keep the bromine levels up - I now have some granulated bromine to help the pucks keep the level of bromine up.
2) Inspect every child entering my tub for hair gel, make-up and other oily things that will turn the after nasty
3) Keep my eyes on the scum line - I was shocked about how bad this was and have bought a scouring pad that is just for cleaning the tub
4) Ground my 12 year old until she is 21....

Nosh.

[Vinny]

Scum line IS what happens to the tub as it squeeky cleans our bodies.

Don't use too harsh a scrub pab, it may scratch the surface. A lot of people use a Mr Clean eraser pad - don't know if it's sold over in the UK but it works great.

I tell kids - do not dunk their heads! I have boys but I would probably ask girls to put their hair up. They will come in with freshly washed bathing suits and body gunk and there's nothing to do - I get shorts in there.

If not too bad (for future use) - raise the bromine level to shock level, run the tub with air jets, scoop out the foam (believe me it will foam) and hit the tub with non chlorine shock. You can also try weekly enzymes as it too will eat some or all of that stuff.

Being new, it's a WOW factor. I have my tub now for a little over 2 years and my children are "oh yeah we have a hot tub".  Their friends just can't wait to go in. Just recently my 16 YO had a group of his friends over and one of them was exclaining how he wishes this was his backyard ... a pool and hot tub ... I got to come over more often! They haven't been over since!

It does get better!

[Nosher]

Vinny

OK points taken - but she is still grounded!!  

As an aside, I have bought some Bromine granules - on the bottle is says "Freshly filled spas require a shock dose of  50mg / 1 (ppm) for one hour or 25 mg /1 (ppm) for 2 hours"

In English, how many teaspoons of granules do I need to put in???

Cheers
Nosh

[Vinny]

Nosh,

I went to a web site for metric to American Standard (?) conversion and it said 50 mg = 0.001764 oz. A teaspoon = 0.16 oz so 1/2 teaspoon would be almost 50x of what's needed (0.08/0.001764=45.35). But you also have to take into account the tub's volume.

Although I don't use bromine, the "shock" dose sounds way too low. Usually the regular dose of bromine is 2x the chlorine amount (example 2 PPM chlorine = 4 PPM bromine) and a shock dose for chlorine can be 10 PPM, so I'm thinking 20 PPM for bromine.

Chlorine is a stronger santizer/oxidizer than bromine which is why you need more bromine than chlorine.

Vinny

[Nosher]

So - it would figger I would need LESS than chlorine initially, right?  

So how much chlorine do you put it \and I will put that in and top up as required....

Cheers in advance
Nosh

[tony]

Well, as I type this, I am draining my hot tub.  

The water is only 13 days old but after a 3 hour soak by my 12 year old daughter and her 4 friends, the water was in a disgusting state.  

I have just finished cleaning the scum line from the outside and water has a really bad smell about it as well as a greenish colour to it...    

The submersible pump is nearly done and I have learnt some valuable lessons, which include:-

1) Keep the bromine levels up - I now have some granulated bromine to help the pucks keep the level of bromine up.
2) Inspect every child entering my tub for hair gel, make-up and other oily things that will turn the after nasty
3) Keep my eyes on the scum line - I was shocked about how bad this was and have bought a scouring pad that is just for cleaning the tub
4) Ground my 12 year old until she is 21....

Nosh.

My experience has been...it gets worse when they're older.  The past two summers have been abusive to my spa with late teens.  They get in at all hours of the day (night) so practically impossile to watch.  When the spa in inundated with a bunch of kids its going to be tough for the water not to turn.  You can clean your water up even when it looks awful.  It takes sanitizer and filtering.  Something to try in your bromine spa....if your bromine levels zero out or you have a large party going on in it, add chlorine to get your levels up and give it shot in the arm.  I use a tub rub for any scouring of the shell.  They work well.  Also, Majic Eraser takes almost any gunk off.  They are amazing.  I also like using enzymes.  During high teen use months, I change my water about every two months which is about double what I normally do.

[Vinny]

So - it would figger I would need LESS than chlorine initially, right?  

So how much chlorine do you put it \and I will put that in and top up as required....

Cheers in advance
Nosh

Bromine needs a reserve which I believe is sodium bromide. IF the stuff you're using doesn't need a reserve ...

I put in 2 somewhat heaping teaspoons for my 400 gallon spa. This gives me approx 3 PPM chlorine (I think a little more than 3). So to shock to 10 PPM I would add 6 teaspoons which also = 2 tablespoons. If your tub is less gallons - 2 teaspoons would be more chlorine, larger less.

This also differs with the amount of people I have in the spa. I add another teaspoon per person, up to 2 more (6 PPM) under a regular soak. If attacked by teenagers - shock with MPS to get rid of the grunge and then a shock with chlorine to really get rid of the grunge and kill the nasties!

I haven't had the experience yet that Tony has had but I am waiting for it ... I think as your daughter gets older a chain lock on the tub is required (thankfully I don't have girls) to keep the boys from getting a "bright" idea. I've instructed my son to keep it in HIS pants!

[Nosher]

Cheers Vin

I have a 365 us gallons tub - I am going for 4 teaspoons and then will start dunking the strips !!!

Thanks mate
Nosh.

PS - you wait till the son brings home the gal!! You will soon be jumping into the same boat I am currently trying to scoop water out of !! LOL

[Nosher]

New water in the tub and when it was empty I managed to clean the whole tub!  

Looks loverly (again) and I have shocked the water and left the jets going to aid circulation.

Gonna do a test with the strips in an hour or so and see what the levels look like...

...current temp = 18.8oC Damn thats cold - no soaking tonight, but at least ti will be ready for me after work tomorrow - 2 days without a soak! Jeez - I never thought I would miss it !!

Cheers
Nosh.

[Spatech_tuo]

In the future don't give up so quick. I'm sure the water looked nasty as you noted but it wasn't too old so I would have suggested you shock it with chlorine (leave open 15 minutes with pumps on), let it filter for 4 hrs, clean the sum line again, hose off the filters and the next day it probably would have been fine.

[Nosher]

A good point SpaTech, but the water was simply awful - it really was and I really felt it was beyond redemption.

Next time I will not be so over eager to just refill and try to 'save' the water.....

Nosh.

[ndabunka]

Don't use a scrub pad AT ALL.  It isn't needed.  One thing I discovered is that straight baking soda on a sponge will take the scum line away in practically one swipe without even rubbing hard.  Something to do with the base chemicals that are part of baking soda.  Really, try it once and you too will be surprised.  it is VERY effective.

[Gomboman]

In the future don't give up so quick. I'm sure the water looked nasty as you noted but it wasn't too old so I would have suggested you shock it with chlorine (leave open 15 minutes with pumps on), let it filter for 4 hrs, clean the sum line again, hose off the filters and the next day it probably would have been fine.

Yep, what Spatech says. I live with a house full of women and this is my standard operating procedure. Good luck with the girls......

[Nosher]

UPDATE -

Well, the water looks lush (as it should) and the last strip test I did showed I had 5 ppm Bromine (which is 'ideal' on the indicator).

In hindsight (and I maybe wrong), all the pointers were there for me to see, as I know now I had low bromine levels. When I was doing my tests each day, I was showing 0 to 1 PPM which (of course) is way too low. I just added a puck, but this of course had no chance in helping the water stay clean, IMHO.

Certainly a learning experience and as I now have the bromine granules, I will be able to better manage the bromine levels - this, in turn, should theoretically help the water recover and keep it 'fresher' longer. Once a week oxidization shock will also be administered.

Thanks to all for your advice - it really was truly welcome!  You guys rock!
Regards
Nosh.