Hot Tub Scum

[Hottubtime]

Hello all. New to the hot tub world. Recently purchased a brand new Artesian. So far, loving the tub, but there is one issue...SCUM. Research has taught me to shower before entering the tub to remove dead skin, oils and such. Although I feel this has helped slightly, I am still getting scum on edges of tub about 15 minutes after entering. What is it and how can I prevent it?? I tried the scum ball. My ph water levels all seem ok. I believe I’m using chemicals as I should...is there a trick or a product I should try? Any help would be appreciated! Thanks

[bud16415]

We don’t get it as fast as you do but it is common. We have some clean micro-fiber wash cloths we take in and just wipe down the whole tub about once a week. If you don’t let it stay long it comes off easy and the filter will just pick it up. Clean your filter regularly.

We have a white tub and it has the acrylic finish and it shows it up easily.

Swimming suits that go thru the laundry along with skin products are the main cause. 

[Mikedee]

Hello all. New to the hot tub world. Recently purchased a brand new Artesian. So far, loving the tub, but there is one issue...SCUM. Research has taught me to shower before entering the tub to remove dead skin, oils and such. Although I feel this has helped slightly, I am still getting scum on edges of tub about 15 minutes after entering. What is it and how can I prevent it?? I tried the scum ball. My ph water levels all seem ok. I believe I’m using chemicals as I should...is there a trick or a product I should try? Any help would be appreciated! Thanks

Are you sure you don't have bio-film ? Even if your tub is new you should have purged the system to clean out the plumbing system ...

[dlleno]

This is an interesting one.  the fact that you get this "scum" within a few minutes of entering the spa may tempt one to suggest that the root cause is the one who is entering.   You have pointed out that you are careful to shower before, so that rules out skin oils on the one who is entering.  Member bud16415 has made a good point, though, in that whatever soaps or shampoos or conditioners that you might have accumulated in the pre-soak shower ritual could be a factor.  Those who are experienced are also quick to point out that fabric softeners used in the laundry have a habit of accumulating on  swimwear and can wreak havoc as well. Thing is, the filter system should be trapping the stuff that the bathers introduce upon entering, and it bothers me that you still have gunk on the vessel walls.  You could have an insufficient filter system (I'm not familiar with your tub, how many filters it has, etc.). In any case, you should not have to help your filters out by wiping stuff up.   

I'm making an assumption here that your water is properly balanced and that you don't have a metals problem.

the chronological data point here that might be fooling us here, though, is "15 minutes after entering".  are there any other things that happen coincidentally with this event?  for example, do you add any chemicals prior to or within that 15 min interval?  turn the jets on? 

so be aware of the above while you figure this out.  What intrigues me here is that your tub is new, and that immediately raises a flag, similar to what member mikedee is alluding to.  In your situation I would follow mikedee's advice, and I'll tell you why:

I've been experimenting with biofilms and "gunk" for several years now, because my brand new Hot Springs Grandee (I figured out too late) was delivered contaminated with biofilms -- organisms that develop and grow as a natural consequence of wet testing at the factory, followed by periods of storage and transportation delays.  Its just a high probability event that impacts all hot tubs no matter how  deep the mfg or dealer's heads are buried in the sand.  This (biofilm stuff)  is also a factor that can NOT be mitigated by the traditional shock treatment that most dealers recommend on first start-up.  So Mikedee is onto the right path -- ultimately, you don't know if "biofilms" or just plain yucko residue from manufacturing is at fault, but the solution is the same  -- you need to purge.

So the long winded road to my conclusion is to do a serious purge with an effective purge product.  For the last few years I've been playing with various of these products, and tested 10 so far.  After many thousands of gallons of water in my yard I can say with great certainty that the product known as "ahh-some" is the only truly effective one, and backed by the only company who truly understands biofilms.  If your are interested in a long read, and the story of how I came to this conclusion, you can read all about my experiments and the conclusions I reached, in my hobby photography site blog

https://boisediesel.com/blog/2016/7/spa-purge

or just get some of this stuff (its on amazon) and follow the label directions! 

[Nick W]

Hello all. New to the hot tub world. Recently purchased a brand new Artesian. So far, loving the tub, but there is one issue...SCUM. Research has taught me to shower before entering the tub to remove dead skin, oils and such. Although I feel this has helped slightly, I am still getting scum on edges of tub about 15 minutes after entering. What is it and how can I prevent it?? I tried the scum ball. My ph water levels all seem ok. I believe I’m using chemicals as I should...is there a trick or a product I should try? Any help would be appreciated! Thanks

To Mike Dee's point, the plumbing of the tub may contain biofilms that developed at the factory after wet-testing. Also, you may need to set your filtration cycle so the water is filtered more frequently over a 24 hour period. (If the water is only filtering 4 hours for every 24 hours, change that to 6 hours).

When you are ready to change the water in your tub (should be within a couple months of startup or earlier), remove the filters, super chlorinate the water to kill off any possible bacteria/mold that may be contributing to the problem (just to be safe). After the chlorine levels haven't dropped for 24 hours straight, add a purge to the water. I use Spa Marvel Cleanser.Make sure you open up ALL of the jets/waterways so the purge can get into all parts of the plumbing. Follow the instructions on the bottle of purge. Clean the filter with a filter cleaner. (Follow the instructions on the bottle)

Drain the tub, rinse the jets/water ways, wipe everything down. Install a fresh filter. Fill the tub, balance the water. You may want to look at using Spa Marvel. I've never had a scum line since I started using it 4 years ago.

Good luck!