Let’s Talk About Cloudy Water

Friday evening. It’s been a long week with lots of problems to solve. You went out for dinner earlier in the evening and now you are looking forward to a relaxing soak in your hot tub and a good night’s sleep. You open the cover to your hot tub and, “Yikes!” Instead of seeing pristine water, you are looking at, well let’s gently call it, “soup”. Instead of clear, inviting water, you have cloudy water that screams, “Stay out”.
Has this happened to you? Almost certainly, you have experienced the dreaded cloudy water problem in your spa, maybe fairly often. Why?

Let’s start by admitting a few facts.

1. A typical hot tub has some 350 – 500 gallons of water while your average pool is 15,000 – 20,000 gallons, yet you likely has a similar number of people in them. Dead skin cells, body oils, bacteria on your skin, etc. is just going to be some 40x more concentrated in your hot tub than your pool.
2. Consider also that your hot tub is likely in the 100 – 102-degree range, while your pool is likely around 85 degrees, or 15 – 17 degrees cooler. Bacteria, viruses, etc. love warm water and reproduce more rapidly in this warmer water.
3. Your 100+ degree spa water is doing something else also. It’s causing you to sweat – up to 2 pints an hour – and that’s for each person in your spa.
4. Lastly, those jets that you love for their relaxing massage are also literally scrubbing away dead skin cells from your body. That’s what bacteria and other pathogens call “food”.

Put all of these facts together and you can see that keeping your spa water pristine is a challenge – a big one. Which leads to the #1, by far more common, reason for cloudy water in your hot tub – Insufficient Sanitizer. Your sanitizer level is too low to kill and remove bacteria, viruses, and other contaminants in your spa water.
However, there is another factor to consider – Ineffective Sanitizer. For this Blog I’ll avoid the more technical discussion, but I will make this point. It is very important to keep your pH in the proper range of 7.2 – 7.6 and change your spa water at least 4x a year, every three months!

So how do you keep your spa water clean, clear, and ready for your use whenever you wish? Actually, it’s quite simple. Be disciplined and follow the rules. Hmmm – Seems I remember this coming from my parents more than a few years ago.
And the rules?

1. Check your water chemistry at least once a week and make any needed adjustments to ensure your sanitizer level and pH are in the proper range.
   1. Chlorine: 1 – 3 ppm
   2. Bromine: 2 – 6 ppm
   3. pH: 7.2 – 7.6

2. Along with ensuring you maintain the proper sanitizer level, add Serum Total Maintenance every week.
   1. Total Maintenance helps your primary sanitizer be more effective and
   2. If your sanitizer level should drop too low sometime during the week, Total Maintenance kills bacteria and other pathogens to keep your spa water clear and safe for use.

3. Remove your filters every couple of weeks and spray them down vigorously with a hose. Also replace them every 18 months.
   1. By the way, Serum Total Maintenance keeps your filters clean. You don’t need a filter cleaner if you are using Total Maintenance.

4. Drain and refill your spa every 3 months if you use it 3x a week. If you use your spa more often than this, drain it more frequently.

5. Purge your spa with Serum Total Cleanse twice a year (or every other drain and refill)
   1. Lots of issues can develop inside your spa’s plumbing. Total Cleanse ensures you again have a clean spa.
   2. If you use your spa heavily, then purge it with Total Cleanse every time you drain and refill.

Thanks for reading,
Tony Turbo