Anybody know what this crap is?

[jamesfarrell]

We drained the hot tub today, refilled it and noticed this stuff. Disgusting. Any ideas?

[Jacuzzi Jim]

 Looks like bio-film/water mold. 

[jamesfarrell]

Awesome, just what I wanted to hear.

[Jacuzzi Jim]

 How old is the water?    Nuke it with chlorine, run jets on high for a few hours, then drain and refill, hopefully it will go away, but you may need to repeat if needed. 

[jamesfarrell]

The water is 1 hour old.

[Jacuzzi Jim]

 Well maybe a bit more info from you about what have there, like where does you water come from, well, city.  Or did it come from the spa is it new, used?    So many questions, so little info..    If you just refilled and it showed up, then its prolly is bio-film so see first reply if so,  nuke with chlorine, run then drain and refill.   Repeat if necessary.   

[jamesfarrell]

I drained the tub today and filled it with new fresh (city) water.

[Sam]

Could have been in the plumbing.  Nuke with chlorine and/or do a system flush.

[jamesfarrell]

Wife added the usual chemicals, ran the thing for a while and it seems clear. I was just worried it was some mold or something like that. But we did drain the thing. Kind of odd that there was so much of that crap in the water.

[Chas]

Your Watkins product has more than one drain. Put in a bunch of chlorine, give it the jets to mix (be sure to run ALL jets - move the diverter valves around) and then open all drains. Main, and any other ones. Watch to see if anything milky looking comes out.

Then keep the chlorine level high for a few days.

Looks like water mold.

 

[jamesfarrell]

I don't have access to the lower drain. There's a deck around it. I have to use a sump pump to drain it unfortunately. It's a Hot Springs Flair.

[Jacuzzi Jim]

I don't have access to the lower drain. There's a deck around it. I have to use a sump pump to drain it unfortunately. It's a Hot Springs Flair.

 Prolly should just set fire to it then 

[Hot Spring Ace]

I don't have access to the lower drain. There's a deck around it. I have to use a sump pump to drain it unfortunately. It's a Hot Springs Flair.

In that case I'd suggest you get a good pump from Home Depot, Lowes, Ace, etc. It makes life much easier, especially if that drain isn't accessible.

[Flyonthewall]

because it is a bio-film most people agree that a flushing product is required to fully eradicate it.  i found a good thread discussing methods while searching yesterday.  i hope its ok to post the link.

//www.poolspaforum.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=19115

[chem geek]

As for flushing products, Spa System Flush has worked well, but there's also Ahh-Some that in theory should be better against biofilms but we haven't had many people try it yet.  We know that Swirl Away didn't work as well for some people as Spa System Flush.