Green slime/gunk appears on the seat

[tempeste]

Hey guys,

I've spent the last few months refurbishing a beachcomber tub that was in storage for 2 years (probably not winterized).

I've replaced all the motors and hoses that are easily accessible. Along with the filter.

How to reproduce the issue:
- Fill the tub up with water
- Once full, turn on the jets for 5min
- In about 20 minutes green slime will appear at the bottom of the tub (seats, bottom of hot tub floor)

Things I've tried
- Pipe cleaner (and drained)
- Used "ahh-some" and drained/filled the pool 3 times
- Left it for a week to see if it disappears (water heated to 80f, with bromine + other chemicals added)
- Wet Shop vacing it up and see if it returns (it does after running the jets)
- Cleaned the entire surface with dish soap and "Simple green" using paper towl and microfiber clothes (done this 3 times now)

When I touch the green stuff with the shop vac or broom handle disappears into little particles

Can anyone identify what the green stuff is with some certainty? First thought was algae, but I thought it was slimey and I haven't found any pictures that match what I have in my tub.


http://imgur.com/a/U3dBc


http://imgur.com/a/2xKVS

[MarKee]

Hard to say what that is but I wouldn't use Simple Green or Dish Soap to clean a hot tub, those are only going to leave residues.  Are your filters clean?  Buy some granular dichlor (chlorine) and hit it with a heavy dose of 3-4 ounces.  Sometimes it can work better than bromine, especially if you're using an inactive sodium bromide.

[The Wizard of Spas]

Whatever sanitizer you are using (Bromine?), turn off the power to the unit for a bit and leave a tablet there.  If the slime dissipates and and doesn't come back to that area its being killed by said sanitzer and is likely organic growth.  (Turning off the power solely to allow the tab to sit there and not be moved from the area by the turbulence of the water).

Try that and if not you at least can cross that off your list. 

Check the cover and behind jets in the jet housings, behind headrests, and any other nook/cranny you can find for any green slime too.  Its best to wipe the tub down with white vinegar/warm water mix to clean the shell.  Also if your bathing suits have come from somewhere else (Pool, beach, lake, stream, etc) there is a chance that they could transport algae spores into your water.

Just some tips to help you identify.  It may not be that at all but you got to start somewhere.  I hope this helps.  Good luck moving forward.

[someguy]

Use a purge or hot tub plumbing cleaner to remove any traces of biofilm.

[tempeste]

Hard to say what that is but I wouldn't use Simple Green or Dish Soap to clean a hot tub, those are only going to leave residues.  Are your filters clean?  Buy some granular dichlor (chlorine) and hit it with a heavy dose of 3-4 ounces.  Sometimes it can work better than bromine, especially if you're using an inactive sodium bromide.

Thanks for the heads up about the cleaning solution, will look into alternative (although I've gotten lucky and seen no residues yet). Filters are clean and will give the granular dichlor a shot - I'm assuming I'll have to drain the hot tub after this as I don't think you should mix chlorine and bromine. Not sure if I'm using inactive sodium, will have to check.

Whatever sanitizer you are using (Bromine?), turn off the power to the unit for a bit and leave a tablet there.  If the slime dissipates and and doesn't come back to that area its being killed by said sanitzer and is likely organic growth.  (Turning off the power solely to allow the tab to sit there and not be moved from the area by the turbulence of the water).

Try that and if not you at least can cross that off your list. 

Check the cover and behind jets in the jet housings, behind headrests, and any other nook/cranny you can find for any green slime too.  Its best to wipe the tub down with white vinegar/warm water mix to clean the shell.  Also if your bathing suits have come from somewhere else (Pool, beach, lake, stream, etc) there is a chance that they could transport algae spores into your water.

Just some tips to help you identify.  It may not be that at all but you got to start somewhere.  I hope this helps.  Good luck moving forward.

Yep bromine and I have left the unit for a while without the jets running (4 days), slime was back in bigger numbers. Thanks for the heads up on vinegar and warm water! No one has actually been in this hot tub yet, but that's a good tip for the future. Thank you!

Use a purge or hot tub plumbing cleaner to remove any traces of biofilm.

I thought it was biofilm as well, but couldn't find any pictures that looked exactly the same. I tried "ahh-some", but didn't really see any dark lines in the foam or debris of any kind - tried it 3 times.


Funny enough after I posted the original post I haven't seen any green slime back yet (2 days so far after I just shop vacced up the remaining slime). Will take a peak this morning and see if anything has come back.

[tempeste]

No green slime/gunk is back. I'm not sure what solved it exactly, after I shop-vac'ed the rest of the green stuff (didn't change the water) it never returned.

This is strange since I've vacuumed it up previously and it returned after turning on the jets. Could be that I have it at a higher heat now, or that the bromine took a few days to stop the green stuff from appearing again.