Greetings,

I'm new to the hot tub experience, having just bought a house with a tub. I've drained the water and refilled a few times now over the past few months but I always end up with pale yellow flakes in the water. They tend to settle to the bottom so I can extract them, but they always come back.

My local spa dealer tells me it's something to do with the inside of the pipes within the plumbing and there isn't much I can do about it. I thought I'd ask you folks, so thanks for any help or advice you can provide.

Jack

I've never had this issue, but I have read about several folks who have. The answer given to them was it's water mold. Someone suggest a test. Scoop some up in a glass jar along with some of the water. Add bleach. Do another and add vinegar. The bad part to his was I don't remember which test meant it was water mold. If one of them dissolved it, then it would be water mold and you'd need to dump something in to fix it. The other bad parts was I don't remember what. I have to run a few errands, but I'll search again later to see if I can find.


Wait, I found it:

I own a 200 Model year vita spa everything works fine, but I am finding some type of white flaking in the water,i think its the gasketing material degenerating over time, do they do this? Replacement gaskets are generic or do they have to come from manufacturer? Is this alotta labor?
Can they be replaced from tub side of shell? Thanks

HIGHLY unlikely it's gasketing material. Given 2 choices, would you describe the flakes as chalky, or more like pasta consistency? How old is the spa, and do you have an ozonator on it?



I agree with the Doc. Does it look like wet tissue paper?---If so, that's white water mold.

Maybe water mold, the tub stunk and I just drained and refilled it, hope I'm not wasting all this good fresh water and your gonna tell me I should do something. Thanks
and yes I have a cd ozonator that is probabl 3-4 years old.
Tub is 8 years old

"Chalky" would be mineral deposits dislodging from inside the plumbing. Pasta or tissue paper like would be a mold, or possible a bio film breaking off from inside the plumbing.

If you can capture some of the flakes (an aquarium net?) put them in a very small glass of water, add a tiny amount of chlorine, if they disappear in about 20-30 minutes, it's probably mold or bio film. If not, drop a few drops of vinegar on some flakes, if there's any bubbling, it's mineral deposits.

Well I drained and refilled and a good dose of spa chlorine. Hopefully it will be good. Im thinking mold now because it sure did stink. And Thank you for your help and patience.


This is quoted from SpaParts dot net forums. We'll give them the glory, honor, and pat on the back if this helps.

"I agree with the Doc. Does it look like wet tissue paper?---If so, that's white water mold."

It's NOT how it looks, but how it 'feels'. Is it mushy like pasta (mold)? Or does it crumble like chalk (mineral deposits)?