You’ve just purchased and installed a spa for your home. It’s time to relax and help you slow down a bit, get away from the chaotic busyness. It’s your favorite new toy – you’re finding it really is helping to relieve the stress. You’re getting ready to take a dip, and find an unpleasant surprise! You lift up the cover to get in, and it’s no longer that crystal clear water you’re expecting, but a green and smelly mess. When your spa water has a tint of green, one immediately thinks they have an algae blooming in their hot tub. If your filter is dirty or if your sanitizer is/has been running low, you most likely have an algae infestation. There could be multiple reasons to your green water, though.
Use Test Strips to Test Your Chemical Balance
The first step in tackling your green water problem is to test your spa water with testing strips to gauge total hardness, chlorine and bromine, pH, and alkalinity. For those who use bromine systems, make sure you’re testing for both bromine and chlorine. Testing all levels will let you know what to adjust. Keep levels in the appropriate range to prevent future surprises like horrible smells, off-color water and scum.
Check Sides of Spa for Unusual Texture
A slimy texture is an indicator of a water imbalance. Try touching the sides of your spa – is it slimy, or not slimy?
Green and Slimy
If the water is green and the sides of your spa feel slimy, you most likely have algae in your water. Algae can grow in hot water, under a spa cover in the dark.
To begin treating your spa for algae, check and balance the pH and alkalinity. Add a shock treatment accordingly to break down unwanted organic material in your hot tub. After filtering out the dead algae, replace your spa cartridge with a new one.
Green and not slimy
If your hot tub water is green but the sides of it don’t feel slimy, there are most likely metal and minerals such as copper and manganese present in your water. Copper can enter from copper pipes that are carrying in your fill water, or from natural well water. Adding chlorine, shock and cleaning your filter can help to balance out mineral issues.
High Usage
If you use your spa frequently or more than the average user, often you’ll find that the chlorine gets used up quicker. Clean your filters, add appropriate shocks/sanitizers. Add the appropriate pH/Alkalinity balancing chemicals.
Last Resort: Drain the hot tub
If you’ve tried the suggestions for adjusting your spa’s water chemistry and it’s still green, our next suggestion is to drain the entire thing. Give the surface a good cleaning and refill your spa with clean water. If your water chemistry or pH gets too out of balance, draining and refilling your spa can solve a lot of those issues. And as always you can call our customer representatives to schedule a consultation! For your convenience you can also schedule an appointment for your Spring Spa Prep by clicking here!