Baqua Spa and Cloudy/Greenish water

[TimC]

Hi all

I have a Vanguard tub (400 gals) that is about 3 months old.  The first two months were great with Baqua Spa.  The water was clear and no problems.

Over the past two months I have had my water turn greenish twice and it has a sicky sweet smell to it.

The first time I eventually dumped the water and started fresh.

Now a month later, the water turned couldy/greenish again and I am at a loss as to why.

I am on very good Michigan (detroit area) city water.  My chems were tested today and are as follows

Sanitizer 40  (ideal 30 - 50)
ph 7.87 (ideal 7.2 - 7.8 )
Calcium 159 (ideal 150 - 300)
Shock 53 (I really shocked over the past two days)
Copper 0
Iron 0

The filters are changed/rotated once a month and I put a new filter on the circ pump yesterday.

I ran the tub for about 2.5 hours with the cover off yesterday and today.

I am hoping that it may clear up, but wanted to see if anyone had some suggestions.  (I know the first will be to switch to something besides Baqua, and that may happen, but I would like to try and figure out this problem with out changing too many variables first)

We don't wash our suits is soap and there aren't any lotions users that are in the tub, and no hair goes under water.

What am I missing.

We have a couple of those floating ducks that we have removed and discovered that they have a metal weight inside and am wondering if that may have caused some chemical raction.

Thanks in advance for your patience reading this and your help.

Tim

[TCMarvin]

timc

Do you have a cover on your spa and/or is your water in direct sunlight?

If the water is cloudy green, you most likely have an algea problem. If it is clear green, there could be copper in your water. Are you sure it is cloudy?

Take a sample in a clear glass and look through it. What does it look like?

[stuart]

I would agree with TCMarvin as far as trying to figure out whether this is an organic issue or metal issue...

Cloudy is typically a sign of organic so you need to be sure.

I recommend to soft soak or Baqua customers to change the water every 3 months and to run the calcium on the high side as opposed to the low side.

In almost every instance of green water we have found the customer had an iron issue and needed to run a sequestering agent.

[TimC]

Here is some additional info.

The spa has a cover and is used about 5 out of 7 days a week for about 30 - 60 minutes.

I took two glasses and filled one with cold tap water and the other with spa water.  I let them sit for an hour.  

The spa water glass is visibly more cloudy than the tap water.  It does not have a green tint in the glass.

Maybe green is two strong of a color to describe the condition.  It looks (hmmmmm......) well.....  cloudy or not clear.

I thought after finding metal in the floating ducks that the metal had reacted, but I had the spa dear do the metal test and they both turned up zero.

See if this helps at all.

The test scores in the original post were from 1-9-04

Sanitizer 40  (ideal 30 - 50)
ph 7.87 (ideal 7.2 - 7.8 )
Calcium 159 (ideal 150 - 300)
Shock 53 (I really shocked over the past two days)
Copper 0
Iron 0

I also had the water tested the day before just after adding the chems for the week and it tested as

(1-8-04)
Sanitizer 55.7(ideal 30 - 50)
ph 7.56 (ideal 7.2 - 7.8 )
Calcium 172 (ideal 150 - 300)
Shock 8 (I really shocked over the past two days)
Copper Not tested
Iron Not tested

The only chems added after the first test was about 15 oz of Baqua Shock.  (about double the recommended dose) in an effrot to try to kill any little nastys that may have been causing the cloudy water.

Still confused.

[TCMarvin]

tim

What color is your spas shell? It's not green is it? (lol)

Try this.... Turn your jets off and take another sample, but do so from water at the BOTTOM of the spa. After it has settled for a couple hours.... Cup your hand over a clear glass and release your hand at the BOTTOM of the spa, then cup your hand back over and pull it out. Place this on a white sheet of paper and look through it. Green? (i found this trick on another site)

I did a Google search on your problem and some users on another message board "claim" that Baqua is not compatible with an ozonater. Their water turned green from using them together. It's an interesting concept, but i did not find enough evidence to convince me that this is indeed the case. I used Baqua a long time ago with an ozonator and had problems myself, but not green water.

An ozonator will oxidize metals and turn the water brown or green, but it doesn't quite make sense that it reacts with the Baqua Spa chemicals. I bet these posters problem was heavy metals.

I would try adding some Baqua Spa Stain & Scale Control, even though your readings came up as zero for heavy metals. The double dose of shock did not clear it up, so it most likely is not organic. Also, it takes some time for the water to turn green, it does not happen within days of a fresh fill, so there is a chance that some part of your spas equipment is corroding and being oxidized, which eventually reaches a certain level that becomes visible.  

If the Stain and Scale control clears it up, have your dealer test your water right from the SAME place you fill your spa with and another sample from the bottom portion of your spas water. If he does not find any in the tap water and there is metal ending up at the bottom of your spa, especially large particles that SETTLE on the bottom of the spa. Something is being corroded.

Some manufacturers will void your warranty if you use Baqua. From what i understand this is usually due to discoloration of the shell, not corrosion.

You also might want to ask your dealer to test your TDS level to see if your water has crashed and is no longer controllable.


I don't know what else to tell you. Hope this helps!

Just a thought..... It makes me laugh how people pitch Baqua as an "alternative" to chlorine & bromine. This usually leads people to believe that it is less toxic, but it is nothing more than replacing chemicals with other chemicals. Not reducing them.

[lynnette]

We also live in Michigan and have a Tiger River Caspian by Hot Springs since July.  We were given Baqua with our spa as part of the package.  We always had cloudy water, white scum, lot of foam but never green water.  We changed our water 3 times thinking maybe Baqua would work for us, but never had clear water.  Finally we switched to Fresh Water by Hot Springs (Nature 2). It has been 3 weeks still clear water and no foaming problems!!!  I recommend you try Nature 2, we are glad we did.  Lynnette    

[Brewman]

We used Baqua for about a year, and switched to Brilliance ( a bromine product).  

After we switched we were suprised as to how much clearer our water was.  We really didn't notice that the Baqua water was cloudy, just that the water without was clearer enough to notice.  We are also spending less on Brilliance by about half.

We dumped Baqua becase we got this coughing problem which seemed to develop about 4 weeks into a new water change.  

Baqua claims their product is ozone compatible.

Brewman

[TimC]

TCMarvin

I am leaning away from the green color and toward more of a dirty dish water color.  The spa shell is pearl (white).

No Ozonator in this tub.   But you did spark a thought.  We are getting some very small black granules in the bottom of the tub.  You only notice them when you haven't turned the jets on and I have noticed them on the two empty and refills and had to suck them up with the shop-vac.  Is this a normal by-product or could I have a piece of hardware that is corroding?

The two glass test showed that the color is not green, but the water is cloudy.  Tap water looked crystal sitting next to it.  Holding a type written page behind both and it was visibly more cloudy.  Not opaque, but not clear.

[TimC]

lynnette

My dealer also suggested that I consider switching to Hot Springs fresh water system.

Was it a big deal to make the switch?

[huh?]

Brewman,

Any draw backs to the brilliance systems?  I noticed it doesn't have the same strong smell as other bromine systems, as it doesn't have the dichlor like other bromine systems.  Do you reccomend?

[Brewman]

So far I'm ok with it.  It's about half the cost of Baqua, but probably more expensive than other bromine, since it's made by the same company as Baqua, which means that only authorized dealers can sell it.
I'm pretty sure there is no chlorine in Brilliance.  And when we get out of the tub we don't have a really strong bromine scent on our skin.  
Brewman

[envoy]

 " But you did spark a thought.  We are getting some very small black granules in the bottom of the tub.  You only notice them when you haven't turned the jets on and I have noticed them on the two empty and refills and had to suck them up with the shop-vac.  Is this a normal by-product or could I have a piece of hardware that is corroding?"


What color is your shingles on your house? I noticed the same thing in my tub and found out the granules were comming off the shingles after a hard rain. We were tracking them in the tub! Don't know if this is your problem or not.

[TimC]

Here is a picture of the water samples after a day of settling.

Left one is Tap Water the Right one is Spa Water.



The tub seems to be clearing up slightly.  Keep your fingers crossed.

[lynnette]

Tim,  The switch was very easy to Fresh Water (Nature 2).  The hardest part was waitng for warmer weather here in Michigan to drain spa.  We drained spa, wiped it out real good, ran clear water in the drain, and changed the filter.  I was told to bring in a water sample from the tap first, which I did, we had to add 2 oz ph decreaser. (Was told to use Baqua ph decreaser which we still had).  Added Fresh Water stick to filter area, added small amount of chlorinating concentrate and spa shock.  Now before or after each use we have to add Spa Shock, we add 2 1/2 tbsp each time. (Spa 330 gallons).  We have no more foaming problems and water is very clear.  All the products are cheaper than Baqua, test strips are half the price.  We are very happy we finally made the switch.    Lynnette