Green tinted water

[sunnydee]

Hope you guys aren't tired of talking chemicals. My spa is only 4 days old and my water although it is clear, it seems to have a slight green tint to it. I treated it with Metal out on initial fill. I've been adding ph up and alk up since those readings have been low. I'm using Nature 2 with MPS which read low this morning. I added a Tablespoon of MPS. Do you think adding a dose of dichlor would be helpful?? I don't want to obsess and over treat my water either.  

[Brookenstein]

I remember reading a post about this a few months ago... as silly as it sounds, you don't have trees that the sun is reflecting off of just making your water look green do you?

I can't remember any of the other advice given, but you could try doing a search.  It was probably early September maybe?

[sunnydee]

Thanks Brooke, I'll look. My house has blue siding..hmmm. Our trees right now in northeast Pa are gold and red and dropping leaves so it can't be a reflection from the trees.

[windsurfdog]

Normally any sign of green tint is stuff growing in the water.  If you haven't added any sanitization (dichlor, bromine) you are likely seeing the first signs of "water gone bad".  Yes, a healthy shot (4-5 tspn) of dichlor will kill the growers and a good dose of clarifier will "coagulate" the greenies allowing you to skim'em out of the foam and off the sides of the spa.  Don't forget to thoroughly rinse your filters afterwards as well.  If you don't want to use the clarifier, just filter longer for the next couple of days and you should see a difference.  Using 2-3 tspn. of dichlor after soaking will keep that from happening.  A good MPS or dichlor shock once a week plus weeklly to bi-weekly filter cleaning and you're all set.  Good luck!

[Perk1]

I would definitely recommend using dichlor with your MPS and N2.  I dont even use MPS anymore, I just strictly use N2 and dichlor.(with ozone)

[drewstar]

Green tint = fungus? Could it also be copper in the water?

[TattedVenus]

9 times out of 10 green tinted water is due to improper water balance. You mentioned your pH and Alkalinity are low. Those would be the number one culprit. You should take it to a dealer that does proper water testing just to be on the safe side. Most offer free analysis. Good luck!  

[Dr. Spa™ Ret.]

Green AND cloudy is usually something growing in the water. BUT, if it's clear and NOT cloudy, it's almost always metals oxidizing. Copper or magnesium are most common.

[golferm]

sunnydee.... don't get to crazed about "green water".  I obsessed about it for quite a while, however, when you look at pictures of tubs on this site or others, with lighter shell colours, the water tends to have a "aqua tint" to it - obviously.  It's hidden in tubs with darker and especially blue shells from what I've seen.

Even my white bath tub, once filled has that same colour.  

Having said this, definitely balancing your ph and alk will help keep it more "aqua" than "forest green" IMHO.

Mark

[Mendocino101]

Green AND cloudy is usually something growing in the water. BUT, if it's clear and NOT cloudy, it's almost always metals oxidizing. Copper or magnesium are most common.

Yes and depending on the amount of metals it seems not uncommon for them to take up to a week on a new fill before they are gone.

[sunnydee]

So if it's metals oxidizing, is it "just wait it out". Or do I have to treat with "metal out" again. It seems to have gotten greener after I added the dichlor this afternoon.  :-/

[hymbaw]

My guess is that your culprit it low total alkalinity. Get you TA in balance, then your ph, then your sanatizer, then see what color it is. Algae is seldom a problem in a spa.
good luck

[windsurfdog]

sunny,

Based upon your intial post, it sounded as if you had introduced no sanitizer into your tub.  It also sounded as if the water was once "blue clear" and had changed to "green clear".  If this is the case, then the problem is probably related to a lack of sanitizer.  If your water was "green clear" to begin with, then certainly the presence of metals would be a likely culprit.  If you dose with dichlor, use a clarifier, remove the green material that coagulates from the clarifier plus rinse your filters, and your water still remains "green clear" after a day or so, then the presence of metals should be addressed next.  Either way, it's probably one or the other.  My guess is sanitation related.

Spare the dichlor, spoil the tub.

HTH  

[sunnydee]

Thanks everyone. I'm still trying to get my alkalinity up. If the water still looks the same by morning, I'll bring it to be tested to pinpoint the problem(hopefully).

[Vinny]

I had that problem until one day the sun light shined onto my tub - the color was from the surroundings!