Post party yucky water

[brenrn]

We had our annual pig roast yesterday...pouring rain and all.  Anyway, I managed to keep the 30 or so kids out of the tub and in the pool all day!  However, once the kiddies were tucked away all of the adults hopped in.  We had 7 adults in there for a few hours, in and out, back and forth to the pool to cool down.  Couple spilled drinks here and there.  Anyway, the water looked pretty darn gross when I opened it up this morning.  I shocked it good and added 2tsp of sodium dichlor.  It looks better but is still a little on the yellow side.  I'm wondering if it's worth it to keep on trying to get it back to the crystal blue it was pre-party or just drain and refill it.  On the bright side...my pH and TA were in perfect range this morning for the first time since we filled the tub!

[Chas]

I would drain and refill, then shock it with Dichlor.

[windsurfdog]

How old was your water before the party?  If it was close to change time, heed Chas' advice.   Anyway, you just can't beat new water, no matter what.  If a change very recently occured and you would prefer not changing again, shock and monitor.  What kind of drinks were they?  Sounds like the perfect combination for pH and TA!

[Spatech_tuo]

I would have done a quick rinse of the filter followed by adding 2-3 TBS of dichlor under those condisitons. It should come back.

[brenrn]

[=How old was your water before the party?  If it was close to change time, heed Chas' advice.   Anyway, you just can't beat new water, no matter what.  If a change very recently occured and you would prefer not changing again, shock and monitor.  What kind of drinks were they?  Sounds like the perfect combination for pH and TA!

The water was only 2 weeks old before the party.  As for those drinks...a couple beers and a vodka/lemonade maybe

[brenrn]

I would have done a quick rinse of the filter followed by adding 2-3 TBS of dichlor under those condisitons. It should come back.

We sprayed down the filter, let it sit and then rinsed...the water does look a little better today.  I shocked again with MPS and added 2tsp of dichlor this morning.

[Chas]

As for those drinks...a couple beers and a vodka/lemonade maybe

I have heard that spilling beer into a spa opens the door to yeast infection problems. Anyone know if that's true?

[windsurfdog]

I have heard that spilling beer into a spa opens the door to yeast infection problems. Anyone know if that's true?

Not a problem as long as the vodka/lemonade is introduced with it!  

[Brewman]

Chas-

Are you asking if the yeast that is in the beer could possibly propogate in the spa?  

For most commercially brewed beer, there is very little yeast in the bottle.  Some "craft" style beers possibly have a higher concentration of yeast, and my homebrewed stuff definately does.  

In my home brewery, I often use a very dilute solution of bleach and water (a couple ounces of regular household bleach to 5 gallons of water) to sanitize my brewing equipment.  This concentration of chlorine will pretty much kill any yeast it contacts.

I'm thinking that a properly kept up spa should easily kill off any brewers yeast.  Plus, there would have to be some food source for the yeast to activate and multiply.  Brewers yeast likes sugar, of which there is very little left in most fermented beer.  

I'd say the chances are pretty low.

Brewman

[Drewski]

Hi Brenrn:

Your situation sounds exactly like what my tub goes through every weekend.  BTW, it's the KIDS that are always the ones -- playing with the controls, on/off/on/off, "let's see how long it takes the ice to melt!!!!", "Hey, Uncle Drew, I peed twice in your tub, that won't hurt it will it? etc., etc....

DARN little rug rats...  Still love 'em though...

One problem that I’ve come to recognize is that kids generally use a TON of suntan lotion (SPF 100!) that will dissolve off their skin in the tub.  Same problem with adults too.  Also, most women LOVE cocoa butter and similar skin moisturizers, all of which dissolve into your spa.

This means you get “dissolved solids” (not the mineral type) in your spa that need to be removed.  Even showering prior to use won’t always prevent this because it’s the hot water of the spa that brings it out of people’s skin.

Try this.  First, go to your local Lowes and buy a product called "Super Clear Clarifier" by AquaEZ (the big BLUE bottle, about $8.00 and it lasts a LONG time, see link below).  This product is a highly concentrated cationic polymer that will "clump" the CRAP out of the stuff in your tub.  From what I can tell, it’s also pH neutral.  

Pre-shock your tub 2 hours prior to use, followed by shocking with sodium dichlor immediately after use.  This kills the "nasties" so you don't have a "growing" problem.  Let the tub run for a few minutes after shocking and set up the tub jets so that the surface foam in your tub is very obviously flowing into the filter area.  Measure out a CAPFUL of the clarifier.  For water that looks like soup in a large spa, use four (4) capfuls in rapid succession.  Rinse the cap between each capful (this stuff is thick).  Let the spa run.

In about 5 minutes you will begin to see orange "stuff" clumping in the surface foam and running into your filter.  A bunch of this stuff may also form on the tub walls in the filter area or even around your tub.  GET RID OF IT!  Use a wet cotton cloth and wipe it out.  This is the “STUFF” that comes out of people’s skin (moisturizing agents, dissolved fats, dead skin, dirt, etc., YEAH, I know, that’s GROSS).  Rinse the cloth in a pail of water between wipes.  Keep the spa running for about 30 minutes.

Stop the spa, remove the filters and rinse the filters with a "strong" garden hose.  A LOT more "stuff" will come out.  Consider using a filter cleaning product that you spray on to help with this.  After rinsing the filters, look at the spa water.  If the spa has been off for 20 minutes (except the circ pump), the water should be clear.  If not, re-install the filters and repeat the procedure using two (2) caps of the clarifier.  Two treatments is all that should be needed.

I've used this product VERY effectively and have literally "cleaned" water that looked so BAD you couldn't see the bottom of the tub and made CLEAR sparkling water out of it in less than an hour.

For maintenance, I use a "scum ball" (the white puffy ball they sell in spa stores) with one (1) cap of clarifier and a little bit of dichlor after each use.  Generally, I add clarifier a few minutes AFTER dichlor while the tub is running.  Once weekly (or more often after heavier use), I rinse out the scum ball.

Check this product link:

http:// http://www.aquaez.com/sub_chemicals.html


Hope this helps...

Drewski

[Lucas]

Drain it and refill, or use a whole lot of chems. trying to get it clean.