White Mold Problem

[flipflopper]

I appear to have a white mold problem. It all started after I poured a clarifier product in it. White, slimy things coming to the water line. The foaming was bad so I poured in defoamer. I have little white swirlies in the tub. The water is only two weeks old and the tub was properly sanitized/decontaminated when I got it. I keep the bromine at 2-5 with tablets.

I will run Nitro's decontamination procedure once the Spa Flush I just ordered arrives. In the meantime, I gave it a super shock of bleach (6 oz 8.25% bleach in 370 gallons) with 2 tablespoons of MPS thrown in for good measure. I will shock once more with brominating concentrate (Spa Essentials) at their super shock dose later today and, if bromine levels are under 10 by nightfall, I would like to get in.

After the first shock, the water looks much better but time will tell. If, after the second shock and degreasing/santizing the filters, things are still looking good, would it be safe to get in it? I'd like to keep using the spa until the spa flush arrives.

Thanks!

[wandak421]

Same problem here but we use chlorine.

[flipflopper]

The first round of bleach shock I mentioned worked really well. The water was crystal clear but my bromine had come down to about 4. I imagine the sun really worked on the levels and got them down as it was strong when the cover was off for two hours. I later super shocked with Spa Essentials and then waited a few hours and got in.
I shocked with the same dose of bleach after that soak and left the cover off and jets on for an hour. The water was sparkling clean again this morning but I worried about the chlorine being too high so I will leave the cover off for a few hours. I may give a maintenance shock dose of Spa Essentials Brominating Concentrate at 5 and then put this issue out of my mind (until/if it resurfaces).

Can you shock spa water too many times in a short window of time?

[Dr. Spa™ Ret.]

Unlikely it's a mold. This typically is caused by something in the water that the clarifier coagulates into large enough particles to then create this problem. Most frequently it's personal hygiene products. i.e. hair conditioner, make-up, body lotion etc.

[flipflopper]

I ended up shocking it quite a bit with bleach and the water was very clean. But the whitish slime/flakes came back. I ended up running SpaKlean through it (all night) and then a couple of hours with a high bleach cycle (23 oz of 8.25% bleach in 370 gallons). I then drained it and filled it back up and did another disinfection cycle with bleach. I also cleaned my filters with a filter cleaner and then gave them a high bleach soaking (I noticed some of the white stuff in the filter pleats). As it drained, I wiped everything down and got almost all the old water out.
To date, things have been good. I'm keeping my bromine levels at about 5 and hoping for the best. We'll see.

[dlleno]

I have a rather lengthy experiment documented at http://boisediesel.com/blog/2016/7/spa-purge where I tested several purge products and present several evidence-based conclusions.  note that products I tested represent what was current in 2013.

is your spa new?  I'm just fishing for the nature/type of purge you did.  after my experience above I'm convinced that purges can be ineffective/incomplete.  used spas especially need a real serious purge routine.