I have an old Polynesian hot tub (1985) that came w/house I bought a few years ago. No manual. 24 hr. circulating pump. Been reading the forum & wondering if Soft Soak system I am using is not a good choice for such an old tub. Also wondering if anyone can tell me why my tub always takes on a musty smell 2 to 3 weeks after filling with new water. Could it be that the Soft Soak doesn't work well with my tub? I'm good about putting in the Soft Soak every week.

Hi Panda,
Have you taken a sample in for testing at your chemical retailer?

Not this year - JUST opened the tub. Same problem last year. When I take water samples for testing my calcium hardness tends to be low my pH is usually fine, as is the shock. I always seem to put more sanitizer in than I'm supposed to. I only take the water once every six weeks or so. They didn't have an answer for the musty smell - and they were the ones who suggested the Soft Soak when we first started it up - so I'm looking for another opinion. It's almost always young kids working. They put my water in the machine and give me my piece of paper telling me what to add to the water - I never get the feeling that there is a wealth knowledge there - but it is the only place close by.

If your getting a musty smell?

This is usually a indicator that the ph is out of whack, Low sanitizer and or the spa needs to be shocked. Excessive bather load will increase the demand for more sanitizer. Could be why your adding more? Make sure you change you water every three months. Run the hardness low 100 ppm and use a liquid de-foam if needed. Proper hardness levels are 200-400ppm. I don't see why it wouldn't work ? And if proper should be somewhat odor less.
Do you have an ozone unit installed on your spa? If so disconnect it.

I have some customers using similar products who have no problems and some whom seem to never be able to get it right. I personally use sodium diachlor, and a UV ozone myself. This is what works for me. I have read somewhere awhile back that some guy had high iron in his water and that this may have been the cause of his musty smelling water. "first time I had heard of that. But It seemed plausible." If the problems expressed in this thread is what your talking about http://spaforums.com/Spa_Hot_Tub_about_ ... _3295.html ? Keep in mind I have had many complaints on chlorine and other systems as well. Chlorine can tear a tub up pretty fast if you just keep dumping it in. Many of the same problems listed can occur with most products. And in most cases it's user neglect. Just to keep things on balance here.

Give it another shot with fresh water. Test it your self. If you don't find it user friendly and If it doesn't work out for you then try something else. Plenty of options on the market.

Good Luck

Thanks for the advice - my tub was built in 1985, came with no paperwork, and I could not find anything on the Internet about the tub. I only know when it was built and that it is a Polynesian from the metal tag on the inside of the tub surround. I've guessed that it is about 400 gallons of waters (5 seats). My knowledge base about the tub and keeping the water balanced is limited (it only goes as far as the SoftSoak directions pamphlet) so I'm sure the problems are all my fault - however, after reading all the posts, I just didn't know if SoftSoak was the best choice for my tub. It's all I've ever used. I don't know what an ozone unit is, so I'll assume I don't have one. I've been reading a lot of the posts and learning lots... I'm pretty sure I have white mold? as well. This has been a problem since day one - I skim it out, it comes back. Here's what I'm thinking - I'm going to drain, clean, get a new filter, and use chlorine - super shock it? with chlorine, drain again and try chlorine for a while. I don't know of any other options. (I have no idea what sodium diachlor is). If you wouldn't mind - I'd love to know if you think this is good/bad idea? I appreciate any input I can get, especially considering you get nothing out of helping me. Thanks again for the advice.

Panda,

An Ozone unit is a electrical device plugged into the main control box that produces Ozone gas which is pumped into the water to help keep it clean an reduce the usage of chemicals like Chlorine or Bromine.

Sodium diachlor is a type of chlorine used in spas.

If you have white mold you should see tiny white paper / skin like particles floating all around in the water and entrapped into the folds of the filter. If you have this you should shock the molded water 20ppm chlorine and run spa so it can filter and clean the pipes. Use a skim net to remove as many of the particles as you can. Drain and wash down spa, spa cover and any spa accessories. Repeat this process one more time scrubbing everything and running the spa. Discard the old filter and get a new one. Wet vac all the water out before restarting the spa fresh. Suck the jets out too. Change your chemical system to a bromine or chlorine system and shock it regularly. Watch for a reoccurrence so you can prevent it from coming back. Make sure you take a close look at the particals. If it's mold it will be white/pinkish and kinda silky/slimey. Not white hard and flakey.

Hope this helps you,

Definately not hard and flaky - sounds like white mold - I appreciate your help. Can I ask a few more questions? How do I tell if I've put in enough chlorine (ie. that I have 20 ppm chlorine)? Can I just use a test strip? Should I be shocking it with the old filter in place or should I put a new one in before I shock and replace that new one when I refill the tub? (I just ordered two new filters because of the mold) Lastly, when I bought the chlorine, the kid at the spa dealer told me I didn't need to buy the shock because it was the same thing as the chlorine. True? He did tell me to consider buying something that gets inserted in to the core of the filter to make the water less harsh and use less chemicals. Worthwhile? I don't want to spend the $28 if it doesn't really help. This spa stuff is much more complicated than I had ever imagined!

Why don't you just start out with a bromine system then later if you want to add a Spa Frog or ozone you can make the necessary adjustments. Buy a Bromine Start-up kit and one bottle of sodium diachlor. Use the sodium diachlor to shock the tub and kill the mold. A start up kit should have a pretty good basic water chemistry instruction pamphlet. Take the time and read it. Most the dosages will be on the back of the packages and bottles also.

Yes you can use the test strips. If they only go to 10 ppm then just double the dosage. Should be around 2 heaping tbs for 400 gal. +/- Yes I would leave the old filter in during the first flush not to contaminate the new filters.

To answer you shock question ? yes and no ............." There are non chlorine shocks available."

Google Super Chlorination,
Here one. http://www.tps.com.au/pools/shock.htm
Here another http://poolcenter.com/chlor.htm#CL2FAQ9

Beware that some types of chlorine can damage your spa.

I'm going to leave you with this. In you right hand you have to balance the water. In you left hand you have to disinfect it. If you don't keep the water balanced the disinfectants won't work so well.
It not as hard as you think.

If you have any more questions about using bromine systems you should start a new thread in the Chemistry forum on bromine because your no longer forth and forty.

Hope this helps you

THANK YOU!!!! - And I'm all out of questions so I'll move forward and see how I do. I'm very appreciative of the all the help. What a great forum.