Foam and Dirt floating?

[TwistedC]

Just recently purchased a hot tub ( Cabana Cove 744l ) and still in the process of learning all of the chemicals and such and stumbled upon this forum..

• For the past 2 days, I have had a couple problems. 1st I have recently been having a foam situation come up. I have thrown in "Defoamer" and it goes away, but I seem to need to use it often.
• Also, I have noticed that some sort of dirt or scum has been floating at the top also. What causes this? Just body oils and such?

Should I just change the water and clean the tub when this happens? I have only had the tub filled for about a month..

Also, all chemicals I use have been Swimway, as that was the bucket of chemicals that the company had given me on startup... Thanks for the advice[/list]

[Jacuzzi Jim]

 The scuz is normal foam down will work good for awhile but if used too often may not do as good of a job.   As far as changing the water many suggest draining the tub after the first couple of weeks to a month.   I have never heard of those chems.  Sounds like you may need a good shocking.   Look for a product called shock.   What are you doing now and how often you adding chems.    Chlorine or bromine?? 

[clover]

• For the past 2 days, I have had a couple problems. 1st I have recently been having a foam situation come up. I have thrown in "Defoamer" and it goes away, but I seem to need to use it often.
• Also, I have noticed that some sort of dirt or scum has been floating at the top also. What causes this? Just body oils and such?

[/list]

Welcome to the world of hot water soaks. 

In answer to your question, What ever you see in the water has been introduced into the water.  We have alwas suggested that ONLY "clean bodies" should enter, only because clean bodies will exit the tub.  As for the foam, most likely residual soap contained within what ever was worn into the tub.  Now that it is rinsed clean, it should be OK.  The best experience is sans suit, or your birthday suit.

Anti foam will resolve the problem, but why create the problem that requires you to buy anti-foam.  Actually, it causes more problems than it solves. 

As for the scum and scuz, it's dirt and oils, and not what you want in your clean water.  Shock would be the right thing to correct what you can actually prevent.

[TwistedC]

Thank you for the replies.. The scum is a slight brown, so I guess it would be the wife's mascara or something..We try to use the same suit (if worn), so we do not get the soap residue in it..

Jim, after initial fillup, I have just done the basic shock, chlorine, PH + or - as needed to try and keep the levels correct.The tub also uses some "frog" that goes in the water.. If I use the heck out of the tub, I will try and throw a capful of chlorine  after we are out of the tub. But other than that, I haven't done much to it....Thanks for the advice on 1 month cleaning though.. I will go ahead and drain it out and give it a good cleaning..

Thanks again for the replies, as I can only get better with experience..LOL

[Flyonthewall]

definitely have to watch what you introduce into the tub.  make sure you hose the filter frequently if you are seeing this.  products such as spa perfect and leisure time enzyme claim to help break down these kinds of contaminents.  might be worth a try in your case.  a flushing might help as well.  we filled a floor model and were constantly fighting the water quality.  doses of chlorine that should last a week were burning off in a day.  we flushed it and some nasty stuff came out of the plumbing.  it had to be from the test water at the factory.