Paper mold in hot tub

[jons]

I ran the tub all night long with the Ahh-Some and bleach.  This morning at 6am I added a bit more Ahh-Some cycled the pump on high for one hour then I added more bleach and cycled the pump on high for another hour.  I drained the tub and got a decent amount of gunk at the water line.  So far mine has always looked like chewed up paper  I've cleaned everything off and currently in the process of filling the tub for the one hour bleach cycle. 

I'm still concerned that I got a decent amount of gunk.  I haven't seen any evidence of paper mold during this fill so keep your fingers crossed that it's gone.  It was 31 degrees this morning and my fingers are still numb   I'd give anything if I had done this Ahh-Some process all night both Friday and Saturday but like they say hindsight is 20/20.

[jons]

  After the bleach only cycle I pulled all the jets to clean them.  During this time I used my garden hose to force some water in the jets and out of all the jets I got 20 or pieces of paper mold   It's not the 50 or so million that I was getting before but it's still there. 

I think I'm down for the count. 

[Quickbeam]

Good for you Jons. Sounds like you are on the right track.

[chem geek]

Just keep at it.  The Ahh-Some dislodges the mold from the pipes and the high chlorine level mostly kills it.  If you are getting less and less material out, then it's likely not growing anymore and you are in the process of physically removing every last bit of it.

[jons]

Thanks for the motivation.  I wish my sump pump hadn't died.  It's one of the cheap ones from Harbor Freight.  I've had it for several years so I can't complain.  The problem is when the float is vertical the GFCI trips.  My guess is a short but I am open to all suggestions.  I was going to disassemble it but the float looks tricky to get into and the manufacturer decided to use 3 way screws on the pump. 

Because of my sump not working It'll be next to impossible for me to do a drain and clean during the week.  Would it hurt/help to do another Ahh-Some treatment from now until Friday evening?  I was thinking that if I can leave work early Friday then I could drain, clean, fill to flush, then fill again and do another overnight Ahh-Some treatment.  If I'm still seeing gunk Saturday then repeat this process.  At this point I'm about to believe the only way to kill the paper mold is with a stick of dynamite.    

[chem geek]

You don't want to leave the Ahh-Some in the water longer than recommended.  Otherwise, the gunk it dislodges can form a very hard residual on spa surfaces mostly above the water line that is very hard to remove.  Basically, while the powerful surfactants work great to dislodge material that is on surfaces exposed to water, this same material when on the surface of the water and splashed up to spa surfaces above the water can dry out to something much harder to remove.

[jons]

I finally KO'd the paper mold   I drained the week long Ahh-Some out of the tub after work yesterday, then filled, drained, and refiled.  I added a cup of bleach and let the water temp come up overnight.  I did what I believe was my 6 or 7th  Ahh-Some treatment this morning starting at 530.  An hour later I added 1/2 gallon of bleach and let it run for an hour.  Then I drained, filled, drained again.  I forced water into all the jets via a garden hose nozzle and saw ZERO evidence of paper mold.

I removed all the jets, placed them in a bucket filled with water and vinegar, let them soak, then washed them with clean water.  I also heated up some water, mixed it with vinegar and cleaned the tub thoroughly.  Chem geek, I did my best to clean the sides of the tub at the water line twice a day to help minimize the problem you spoke of.  I sort of succeeded as I didn't have any hard gunk to remove however I did have a small gummy type layer of stuff to remove at the water line which the hot water/vinegar easily removed.

I plan on doing one more purge around the last week of December, about 5 weeks away.  I'm off that week and IF anything is coming back hopefully I'll notice it by then and be able to quickly squelch it before it gets out of hand. 

One last time I want say thanks to everybody for helping me fight and conquer the demon beast known as paper mold.  I don't think I would have succeeded without you.  Also thanks to the people who run this forum, without you none of this would be possible.   

[Quickbeam]

Congratulations to you Jons,

Glad you are finally on the winning side of this. This thread should serve as a lesson to others about how important it is to keep your spa in good order.

It’s a long story, but some time ago I had shut my waterfall off and inadvertently left it off. Sure enough, I had some bio-film build up behind the waterfall. My situation wasn’t as bad as yours, but I learned a very valuable lesson in how much work it is to get rid of this stuff.

[amy2421]

Congratulations to you Jons,

Glad you are finally on the winning side of this. This thread should serve as a lesson to others about how important it is to keep your spa in good order.

It’s a long story, but some time ago I had shut my waterfall off and inadvertently left it off. Sure enough, I had some bio-film build up behind the waterfall. My situation wasn’t as bad as yours, but I learned a very valuable lesson in how much work it is to get rid of this stuff.

What is the best way to approach the waterfall? I've heard differing opinions.

[Quickbeam]

Congratulations to you Jons,

Glad you are finally on the winning side of this. This thread should serve as a lesson to others about how important it is to keep your spa in good order.

It’s a long story, but some time ago I had shut my waterfall off and inadvertently left it off. Sure enough, I had some bio-film build up behind the waterfall. My situation wasn’t as bad as yours, but I learned a very valuable lesson in how much work it is to get rid of this stuff.

What is the best way to approach the waterfall? I've heard differing opinions.

Leave it at least partially open. When your circ. pump is running, you want water coming out of your waterfall. With no water coming out of your waterfall, you will get a build up of bio-film. And as you’ve seen in this thread, it is a whole lot of work to get rid of it.

[Vinny]

I finally KO'd the paper mold   I drained the week long Ahh-Some out of the tub after work yesterday, then filled, drained, and refiled.  I added a cup of bleach and let the water temp come up overnight.  I did what I believe was my 6 or 7th  Ahh-Some treatment this morning starting at 530.  An hour later I added 1/2 gallon of bleach and let it run for an hour.  Then I drained, filled, drained again.  I forced water into all the jets via a garden hose nozzle and saw ZERO evidence of paper mold.

I removed all the jets, placed them in a bucket filled with water and vinegar, let them soak, then washed them with clean water.  I also heated up some water, mixed it with vinegar and cleaned the tub thoroughly.  Chem geek, I did my best to clean the sides of the tub at the water line twice a day to help minimize the problem you spoke of.  I sort of succeeded as I didn't have any hard gunk to remove however I did have a small gummy type layer of stuff to remove at the water line which the hot water/vinegar easily removed.

I plan on doing one more purge around the last week of December, about 5 weeks away.  I'm off that week and IF anything is coming back hopefully I'll notice it by then and be able to quickly squelch it before it gets out of hand. 

One last time I want say thanks to everybody for helping me fight and conquer the demon beast known as paper mold.  I don't think I would have succeeded without you.  Also thanks to the people who run this forum, without you none of this would be possible.   

Good job jons!!!

Glad you won the battle. Ahh-some is awesome! I have used other cleaners in the past but will be using it after seeing what it did for my tub - Spring 2016 will be my tub's cleaning time They also sell filter cleaner as well if you need.

I know that you had no problems before your health situation so you have water care down OK. But if you see a problem (residue from this episode) hit the tub hard with chlorine and monitor the chlorine level and if it drops significantly keep it high until it stops.

Oh, magic eraser works great on the spa shell.

[Vinny]

Congratulations to you Jons,

Glad you are finally on the winning side of this. This thread should serve as a lesson to others about how important it is to keep your spa in good order.

It’s a long story, but some time ago I had shut my waterfall off and inadvertently left it off. Sure enough, I had some bio-film build up behind the waterfall. My situation wasn’t as bad as yours, but I learned a very valuable lesson in how much work it is to get rid of this stuff.

I used to freak out on my kids because they would go into the tub and leave a diverter on one side. A week later I would go to use the tub and I would be pissed that they "forgot". As a side note, they used to forget to put chlorine in after they used it ... you could have fried an egg on my head!

[amy2421]

Leave it at least partially open. When your circ. pump is running, you want water coming out of your waterfall. With no water coming out of your waterfall, you will get a build up of bio-film. And as you’ve seen in this thread, it is a whole lot of work to get rid of it.

OK, thanks. We have been closing the waterfall valve but leaving a little trickle coming out, which was what one of the Jacuzzi technicians advised us to do. Maybe I'll start leaving it open with a little bit more flow, after what you've shared. I guess there is no downside, or wear & tear issue, since the circ pump is running anyways, right?

Thanks again

[Quickbeam]

Leave it at least partially open. When your circ. pump is running, you want water coming out of your waterfall. With no water coming out of your waterfall, you will get a build up of bio-film. And as you’ve seen in this thread, it is a whole lot of work to get rid of it.

OK, thanks. We have been closing the waterfall valve but leaving a little trickle coming out, which was what one of the Jacuzzi technicians advised us to do. Maybe I'll start leaving it open with a little bit more flow, after what you've shared. I guess there is no downside, or wear & tear issue, since the circ pump is running anyways, right?

Thanks again

Hi Amy,
I think you're probably O.K. as long as you have some water coming out (as in a trickle), but because of what I went through with mine I err on the side of caution and leave a pretty healthy flow coming out. I really don't want to have to go through cleaning out bio-film again, and mine wasn't near as bad as what Jons (the OP) had. As for the downside of leaving more flow through the waterfall, only one I can think of is there will be a little more vapour on the underside of your cover. Hope this helps.

[Vinny]

A trickle is good enough, you just want the chlorinated (or whatever) water to flow through the pipes and replenish what was there. As long as you keep up with the water it will be OK.