Here’s a simple guide on how to get rid of hot tub foam. You can watch the quick video below or keep reading for a complete hot tub foam tutorial.

What Causes Foam in a Hot Tub?

Maybe you’ve seen seafoam for yourself. Seafoam is fundamentally the same as hot tub foam, just with a slightly different chemical makeup.

For foam to appear, it needs three things: water, air, and surfactants. If you’re not a chemistry geek, surfactants are basically super-sticky molecules that reduce the surface tension of a liquid, which makes it easier for substances like oil and water to mix.

Your hot tub contains water and some surfactants, even if you properly maintain your chemistry. But if you slip a little on your maintenance schedule or don’t clear the water after a big hot tub party, you might flip on your jets—unlocking that final ingredient—and find yourself with a foamy mess.

Because the surfactants often end up creating a thin layer of water in between themselves, they tend to push the water molecule into a ball, and suddenly you have a bubble. The more surfactants you have, the more stacking you get, and the more bubbles you get. The final result? Hot Tub Foam!

If you want to skip to solving foam in your hot tub, you can pick up some of our exclusive 3-in-1 hot tub water clarifier and conditioner called Weekly Cleanse. Not only will it help eliminate foam, but it’ll also keep your water crystal clear.

Our Top Pick

Hot Tub Weekly Cleanse: Water Conditioner & Clarifier

Keep it always feeling like new between Detoxes with our one-time-a-week treatment that combines hot tub cleaner, conditioner, and clarifier to give your hot tub water a soft & silky feel plus sparkling clean water!

Buy Now On Swim University

If you click this link and make a purchase, we earn a commission at no additional cost to you.

The Main Surfactant Culprits In Your Hot Tub

If you regularly maintain your hot tub chemistry, your spa water is thoroughly mixed with sanitizing chemicals and calcium, which help neutralize surfactants and prevent them from creating bubbles.

But if you miss even just a couple of maintenance days, surfactants build up from three main sources.

1. Personal Care Products

Makeup, conditioner, shampoo, mousse, hairspray, lotion, and deodorant can make your sanitizing chemicals work overtime and eventually wreak sudsy havoc. The more of these products you use—say, you have long hair that requires more styling products—the more likely it is that surfactants will build up in your hot tub.

Laundry detergent and soap are also major culprits. Yes, we need to wash our swimsuits, but any leftover detergent in the fabric can really mess with your water’s chemical balance.

2. Beverages

You might enjoy a glass of wine, a beer, a fancy tropical concoction, or even just a soda with your weekend soak. Nothing wrong with that, but you may want to keep beverages away from the hot tub.

Spilling alcoholic or sugary beverages in your carefully tended water can lead to foaming. Plus, who wants to clean up a sticky mess on the edges of a spa, anyway?

3. Human Bodies

When you get down to it, the things the human body can produce are kind of gross. Oils and dead skin cells are all over us whether we like it or not. But that’s why we have sanitizing chemicals in our hot tubs.

If your sanitizing agents are overburdened with body oil and dead proteins, you’re probably going to have a problem with foam in your hot tub.

A Warning About Cheap Hot Tub Chemicals

We all love saving money, but sometimes the savings just aren’t worth it. This is especially true with cheap hot tub chemicals.

They may not be as effective or as concentrated as more expensive options, which means you’ll have to use more to make sure your hot tub is clean. Which means you have to buy more. And then you use more. It’s a vicious cycle.

Even worse, those cheap chemicals could actually cause a buildup of surfactants and a whole slew of other water chemistry problems. That means you’ll have to spend more money on corrective treatments, more time cleaning your hot tub, and less time actually enjoying it.

Good hot tub chemicals aren’t a splurge—they’re an investment. Get the best you can, and save yourself the headache. After all, a hot tub is all about relaxation.

How to Get Rid of Foam in a Hot Tub

Got foam? That’s OK. While clearing a hot tub full of foam may seem like an impossible, messy task, it’s actually pretty simple.

1. Test Your Water

Before you do anything corrective, test your water to find out what your pH, alkalinity, and sanitizer levels are, as well as check for total dissolved solids (TDS)—these are the surfactants. Knowing what your water chemistry looks like after foaming can help you understand how to avoid the problem in the future.

Another thing to note is low calcium hardness may cause foam in your hot tub. Low calcium can cause other problems, too, like corrosion and etching on your finishes, so it’s important to regularly test these levels as well.

Our Top Pick

SpaGuard Chlorinating Concentrate

Easy to add chlorine to your hot tub with granules (powder) and a cap that's perfect for measuring the amounts you add.

Buy Now On Amazon

If you click this link and make a purchase, we earn a commission at no additional cost to you.

2. Drain and Refill

Once you’ve tested your water and made note of all the chemical levels, the best thing you can do to get rid of the foam is drain and clean your hot tub. If you have enough surfactants in your water to cause foaming, you may also need to do a line flush and replace your filters.

Since you need to drain your hot tub anyway, this is the perfect time to perform a hot tub deep clean as well.

Basic Steps to Drain Your Hot Tub

1. Use a line flush product, as needed, according to the package directions.
2. Remove the filters. Depending on how dirty they are, you can either clean them with a cartridge filter cleaner spray or replace them.
3. Turn off the power to your hot tub, disconnect anything electrical, and trip the breaker.
4. Drain your hot tub using a sump pump or the drain plug.

Our Top Pick

Hot Tub Filter Cleaner

Spray Filter Cleanse on your hot tub filters, rinse with water, and your filters will look brand new in less than 20 minutes! Hot Tub Filter Cleanse is a powerful, fast-acting spray cleaner that removes body oils, lotions, and other organic materials from your hot tub filter cartridges.

Buy Now

If you click this link and make a purchase, we earn a commission at no additional cost to you.

Basic Steps to Clean and Refill Your Hot Tub

1. Once your hot tub is entirely drained, wipe down the interior surface with a mixture of one part white vinegar to four parts water. Or you can use hot tub cleaner.
2. Thoroughly rinse the inside of your hot tub and wipe it down.
3. Make sure to remove all traces of cleaner. Otherwise, you’ll end up with foamy water again!
4. Replace your filters.
5. Refill your hot tub. We recommend you use a hose filter attached to your garden hose to prevent chemical impurities.

After you’ve drained, cleaned, and refilled your hot tub, test the water, add chemicals, and allow the water to circulate for at least a day. When the circulation is complete, test the water one more time to ensure it’s ready for soaking.

Our Top Pick

Hot Tub Detox: Hot Tub Cleaner & Purge

Don't let your hot tub fill with hard-to-remove gunk. Clear out the gunk and keep your hot tub water fresh. It removes gunk in your pipes caused by lotions, sunscreens, cosmetics, etc.

Kills bacteria inside the pipes for maximum effect.

Buy Now On Swim University

If you click this link and make a purchase, we earn a commission at no additional cost to you.

For Quick Fixes: Anti-Foam Chemicals

Say you’ve got a party coming up and not enough time to go through all the steps to correct a foamy hot tub. You can buy a foam remover chemical, which will get rid of the foam in your hot tub almost instantly and can last for up to 24 hours.

Remember, foam remover chemicals do not address the cause of foam in your hot tub. It just relieves the problem for a little while. You’ll still need to drain and refill your hot tub to get rid of the foam for good.

Besides, knowing what you know now about the makeup of hot tub foam, do you really want to soak in that? Didn’t think so.

Leisure Time Hot Tub Foam Remover - 32 oz.

Buy Now

If you click this link and make a purchase, we earn a commission at no additional cost to you.

How to Prevent Hot Tub Foam

• Shower before soaking in the hot tub to remove any soap residue, makeup, or deodorant. It doesn’t have to be a full shower. Just a quick rinse is enough.
• Rinse your clean bathing suit with fresh water before getting in your hot tub.
• Avoid dunking your head underwater unless you’re sure your hair is free (or as free as possible) of natural oils, conditioner, and styling products. If you or one of your guests has long hair, tuck it in a baseball cap or pull it into a bun to keep it out of the water.This goes for beards too.
• Keep sugary or alcoholic drinks away from the hot tub. This eliminates the chance of something spilling in the water.
• Buy your chemicals from a trusted source, even if you end up paying a little more. You’ll thank yourself in the long run.
• Maintain a regular hot tub maintenance schedule. This includes weekly or biweekly water testing and a full hot tub draining and cleaning every three to four months.

Our Top Pick

Hot Tub Water Care Kit

Our kit makes taking care of your water easy and lasts 6-8 months. It includes two (2) bottles of Hot Tub Weekly Cleanse to keep your hot tub water clear and one (1) bottle of Hot Tub Detox, which includes two treatments every 3-4 months for deep cleaning.

Buy Now

Leave the Bubbles for the Bathtub

Waking up to a foamy spa might feel a little nightmarish, but correcting foam in a hot tub is relatively simple. Once you have a clean hot tub and freshwater, preventing foam in the future will be easy. Just remember to avoid adding things that make your sanitizing chemicals work overtime and keep a regular maintenance schedule.

These simple steps mean more time to spend in your relaxing, foam-free hot tub.

Happy Soaking!

The post How to Get Rid of Foam in a Hot Tub appeared first on Swim University®.

Look, we all slack on our chores from time to time. But even if you’ve been diligent about keeping your hot tub clean, it may still develop oily scum on the water, or a scum ring around the shell. The key is to know what causes it so you can remove it and keep it from happening again.

What Causes Hot Tub Scum?

Some of what goes into hot tub water is filtered out. Dust, debris, chemicals, even bacteria, depending on the type of filter you have. But a filter can only do so much, and only for so long.

If the contaminants that end up in your hot tub are left long enough, or you haven’t taken measures to combat them, they’ll eventually form a layer of hot tub scum that floats on the surface of the water, or forms a nasty ring around the hot tub shell.

Bodily Residue

This is the most common cause of hot tub scum. Every day, our bodies slough off 30,000 to 40,000 dead skin cells, and the top 18 to 23 layers of our skin are made up of dead cells lining up to be expelled. That process is sped up by sitting in hot, bubbly water.

We also lose between 50 and 100 hairs a day, and our bodies produce oils that rise to the surface of our skin. Plus, even though you’re sitting in water, it’s usually much higher than your body temperature, which means you may sweat while you soak.

The minute you step into your hot tub, a lot of those contaminants end up in the water with you.

Personal Care Products

In addition to the things our bodies naturally shed each day, we add a lot of products. Deodorant, shampoo, perfume, lotion, anything and everything you use every to make yourself look, smell, and feel good goes right into the water if you don’t remove it all beforehand.

Metals

We don’t mean getting into your spa with your jewelry on. We’re talking about metal present in the water.

All water has at least some amount of metals like copper, iron, and magnesium. Depending on where you live, the concentrations may be higher in your city-supplied water, and possibly even higher if you use well water.

Once those metals start reacting with chlorine, they can oxidize and stain the shell. But they can also cause a greenish hot tub scum to form in the water.

Note: Speaking of jewelry in hot tubs, that’s not a good idea. Silver will have a chemical reaction with chlorine that will create a tarnish that regular jewelry cleaner won’t remove. Gold is a soft metal that can also be damaged by chlorine, and soft stones like pearls and turquoise can be damaged beyond repair. To protect your jewelry from damage and yourself from heartache, always remove it before getting into a hot tub (or a pool, for that matter).

Leisure Time Spa Chlorinating Granules

Buy Now

If you click this link and make a purchase, we earn a commission at no additional cost to you.

Poor Water Chemistry

Keeping your water balanced is essential to keeping your hot tub clean and anyone who soaks in it healthy. Unbalanced water—specifically, high pH—can create a welcoming environment for algae, bacteria, and hot tub scum.

Dirty or Worn Out Filter

Your filter’s job is to keep the hot tub water clean. It can’t very well do its job if it’s dirty. And at some point, cleaning the filter won’t be enough to keep it functioning properly, and you’ll need to replace it.

Until you either clean or replace your filter, all those nasty things that cause hot tub scum will just pass right through the filter that can no longer capture them, and end up right back in the water.

Hot Tub Scum Types

Knowing what might cause the formation of hot tub scum is only half the battle. Its color will tell what did cause it so you’ll know how to get rid of it.

Brown Scum

If the water’s pH level is too high, it can cause minerals like iron to react with the chlorine. This will create a nasty brown scum on the water’s surface, and it may also stick to the shell’s surface.

Green Scum

You’ve seen what happens to an old penny, right? It turns green. So if you see green scum in your hot tub, it’s likely you have a high copper level in the water. Magnesium in the water will also cause this reaction.

Blue-Green Scum

This is the big bad of hot tub scum. It’s caused by a combination of several things: metals, bodily secretions, and personal care products in the water, and a dirty or worn-out filter. Put all those things together, and you’ve got blue-green scum.

Important: If you see white flakes in your hot tub, they’re probably calcium scale deposits. And if you notice a white, non-flaky substance floating on the water or attached to the shell’s surface, you probably have white water mold in your hot tub. Those two problems need to be addressed a little differently, so make sure you know what you’re dealing with before you start the removal and treatment process.

How to Prevent Hot Tub Scum

The type of scum you have in your hot tub will determine how you prevent it.

Brown Scum Prevention

This one’s an easy fix. Since brown scum is caused by too-high pH levels, first, keep the water balanced. Second, if the pH level gets higher than 7.6, use a pH decreaser to bring it down to the correct range.

SpaGuard Hot Tub pH Decreaser - 22 oz.

Buy Now

If you click this link and make a purchase, we earn a commission at no additional cost to you.

Green Scum Prevention

You can’t keep metals out of your water completely, but you can keep them from messing up your hot tub.

Use a hose filter when filling your hot tub. It’ll keep a portion of the dissolved metals (as well as other nasty stuff you’d rather not soak in) out of the water so you’re starting with cleaner, fresher water.

Also, keep a metal sequestrant on hand. This doesn’t remove metals, but clumps them together so they can be grabbed by the filter before they have a chance to oxidize and form that green hot tub scum, or worse, stain your spa.

As a bonus, some metal sequestrants also address scaling caused by high calcium hardness, so if that’s something you’re also concerned about, look for one hot tub chemical that does both.

Spa Essentials Spa Stain and Scale Control - 1 pt.

Buy Now

If you click this link and make a purchase, we earn a commission at no additional cost to you.

Blue-Green Scum Prevention

Metals, bodily secretions, and toiletries, oh my! Throw in a bad filter for good measure.

To keep metals under control, follow the same preventive measures you’d follow for green scum. For the rest, several general steps will help you prevent blue-green and any other type of hot tub scum.

Tired of trying to keep your hot tub clean all the time and dealing with chemicals?

You'll save $100 right away with this easy-to-follow digital ebook and video course. This is the ultimate maintenance guide that hot tub manufacturer doesn’t provide you.

Click Here to Learn More

Test the Water Regularly

How are you going to know whether the pH is too high, or that you have a high level of dissolved metals in your water source? By testing the water.

You can do this with test strips or a liquid testing kit. Any of them will test for pH, but you may need to find special strips to test for metals if that’s a concern.

Test the water at least weekly, but more often if you’re having trouble with hot tub scum, your water has high metal content, or you use your spa often.

Metals Test Strips

$19.95

Buy Now

If you click this link and make a purchase, we earn a commission at no additional cost to you.

01/27/2023 09:30 pm GMT

Shower Before Using Your Hot Tub

All those loose hairs and body oils? A quick rinse can help keep them out of your hot tub water. But the lotions, perfumes, makeup, and deodorants? The only way those are coming off is in a full shower with soap.

While that would be ideal, at least rinsing off before you get into your hot tub goes a long way to keeping contaminants out of the water.

And the dead skin cells? Those are constantly being shed, before, during, and after your shower, so there’s not really any way to rid yourself of them completely before you take a soak.

But taking a little extra time to exfoliate when you bathe can help remove more dead skin cells and send them down the drain instead of into your spa water.

Mayberry Exfoliating Cloth - 4 Pack

$4.70 ($1.18 / Count)

Buy Now

If you click this link and make a purchase, we earn a commission at no additional cost to you.

01/27/2023 10:59 pm GMT

Shock Your Spa Regularly

Shocking your hot tub is part of your regular hot tub maintenance, which means you’re probably adding shock every two weeks or so.

But if you’re having trouble keeping the hot tub scum at bay, try shocking once a week instead. And remember to shock once a week anyway if your hot tub is getting heavy use, either with more people or more frequent use, or both.

Spa Essentials Dichlor Chlorine Hot Tub Shock - 6 lbs

Buy Now

If you click this link and make a purchase, we earn a commission at no additional cost to you.

Clean Your Hot Tub Regularly

After every soak, wipe down the headrests and any portion of the shell not in the water with a soft cloth or towel. Then at least once a week, use hot tub cleaner and a soft sponge to clean those areas and keep them free of contaminants. This will also help combat mildew.

Tip: To clean the water line without getting any cleaning chemicals in the water, use a dampened melamine sponge to wipe just above and below the water line.

Melamine Sponge (Magic Eraser)

Buy Now

If you click this link and make a purchase, we earn a commission at no additional cost to you.

Clean the Filter Regularly

Maintaining your filter will not only help keep the hot tub scum away, it’ll help your filters last longer, which will save you money in the long run.

Rinse your hot tub filter as often as possible with warm water or a garden hose and spray nozzle, especially if you’ve been using your spa more than usual.

Spray the filter once a week with a hot tub filter cleaner to gi e it a deeper clean. Don’t forget to rinse it afterward.

Soak the filter in chemical cleaner every time you drain and refill your hot tub to extend the filter’s life and loosen any stubborn particles. Rinse it thoroughly afterward.

When your filter gets to the point where even a chemical soak doesn’t completely clean it, it’s time to replace it

Our Top Pick

Hot Tub Filter Cleaner

Spray Filter Cleanse on your hot tub filters, rinse with water, and your filters will look brand new in less than 20 minutes! Hot Tub Filter Cleanse is a powerful, fast-acting spray cleaner that removes body oils, lotions, and other organic materials from your hot tub filter cartridges.

Buy Now

If you click this link and make a purchase, we earn a commission at no additional cost to you.

How to Remove Hot Tub Scum

If all your preventive measures didn’t work, and a little scum was still able to form, you can remove it quickly and easily—most of the time.

Skim the Water’s Surface

Use a fine-mesh skimmer to scoop up any hot tub scum that’s collected on the surface of the water. If there’s a lot, rinse the skimmer between passes.

Our Top Pick

Heavy Duty Pool Leaf Net

It's a deep and durable leaf net pool skimmer that can collect a lot of debris all in one skimming. It also includes a lifetime guarantee. This is what the pros use!

Buy Now On Amazon Buy on InTheSwim.com

If you click this link and make a purchase, we earn a commission at no additional cost to you.

Use Oil-Absorbing Sponges

You may have heard you can toss a couple of tennis balls into your hot tub to soak up oil, lotion, and other gunky stuff. This is true. In fact, we recommend it.

But while tennis balls will do in a pinch, they don’t have as much absorption power as the floating sponges made specifically for this task. Consider investing in a handful of these.

You can even have a couple of them floating around while you’re in the hot tub. They’re small and soft, so they won’t really get in the way. Plus, they come in cute shapes like turtles and stars.

Swimables Floating Sponges for Pools and Spas - 2 pack

Buy Now

If you click this link and make a purchase, we earn a commission at no additional cost to you.

Clean Your Hot Tub

Even if your spa water is balanced and doesn’t have a layer of scum floating on its surface, you can sometimes still see a ring of hot tub scum around the shell right at the water line. When this happens, it means whatever makeup, lotion, or other gunk floated along until it attached itself to the shell’s surface and started building up.

The good news is, it’s not in the water anymore. The bad news is … no wait, this is also good news! It means all you need to do is clean the water line.

Turn the hot tub off before you start. You may also want to remove some water from the hot tub to bring the water line below the scum line. You don’t want any cleaning products to get into the water because then you’ll be draining the entire tub.

Instead, scoop a few gallons out and set them aside in a large bucket. Then use hot tub cleaner and a soft cloth or a sponge, and gently scrub the scum line away. When it’s gone, pour the water back into the hot tub, and you’re back in business.

Remember to also clean the headrests and any other exposed parts of the shell to make sure no contaminants that may be lingering there find their way into the water.

Oh Yuk Healthy Hot Tub Cleaner - 16 oz.

Buy Now

If you click this link and make a purchase, we earn a commission at no additional cost to you.

Clean or Replace the Filter

Even if you’ve skimmed the water, thrown in a few oil-absorbing sponges, and cleaned the hot tub scum line, you still have a scum problem—in your filter. Before you got that scum out of the water, it was passing through your filter. If you don’t also clean your filter when you clean everything else, you’re just inviting that scum back in.

In this case, though, just a rinse with plain water won’t be enough. You’ll definitely need to use a filter cleaner. You may even just want to skip straight to the chemical soak.

And if the cleaning doesn’t get the job done, just replace it. Filters are fairly inexpensive, and it’s better to start over with a fresh one than to perpetuate the scum problem by sticking a dirty filter back into your spa.

Leisure Time Spa Filter Soak - 1 qt. - 2 Pack

Buy Now

If you click this link and make a purchase, we earn a commission at no additional cost to you.

Drain, Clean, and Refill the Spa

If you’ve done everything from skimming the water to replacing the filter, and you just can’t get rid of that last bit of scum that seems to be clinging to your hot tub for dear life, you’re left with one option: drain and clean your hot tub.

This is the last resort for addressing hot tub scum because, admittedly, it’s a hassle. It’s something you should be doing quarterly anyway, so having to tackle this big job in between regular drainings is irksome.

But if it’s between that and soaking in scummy water … well, you do the math.

Send That Scum Packin’!

No one should have to put up with any kind of scum in their lives, whether it’s hot tub scum or that terrible neighbor who sends their dog into your yard to do his business.

You may have a hard time keeping that dog in his own yard. But at least now when you stress about it, you’ll be able to relax in a nice, bubbly, scum-free hot tub.

Happy Soaking!

The post How To Prevent and Remove Hot Tub Scum appeared first on Swim University®.

Prevention is, of course, key. But before you can work on that, you need to know how to remove hot tub stains. Start with a clean slate (or in this case, shell), and it’ll be a lot easier to keep them from coming back.

What Causes Hot Tub Stains?

Obviously, if you don’t clean your spa on a regular basis, it’s going to develop stains, just like anything else would if you left it dirty all the time. But what about when you have been cleaning it, and stains still show up? What’s going on?

This is because hot tub stains can be caused by a few factors aside from dirt:

Calcium Buildup

If you live in an area with hard water, it’s only a matter of time before you start seeing the telltale signs of hot tub scale in the shell.

The calcium and magnesium in the water—high levels of which are what make it hard—will slowly begin to deposit scale on hard surfaces. And not just the shell, but the fixtures too.

Rust

Your water source may contain high levels of metals such as iron and copper. This is especially true if you get your water from a well. Over time, the metals will react with the chlorine in the water, and oxidize, or rust.

When you see greenish-brownish-red stains on the shell, there’s probably a lot of iron in the water. If the stains are blueish-greenish-black, that’s an indication of high copper content.

Scum Buildup

The same way body oils and bathing products can leave a ring around your bathtub, those same contaminants can be released into the water when you go for a soak.

Then, those contaminants are deposited onto the shell, leaving an ugly ring of hot tub scum. Left long enough, it can stain the fiberglass, no matter how much you scrub.

Luckily, none of these issues is impossible to remedy.

How to Remove Hot Tub Stains

It’s going to come down to good, old-fashioned elbow grease to get rid of hot tub stains. But the substances you use may differ depending on the type of stain you’re dealing with.

Test the Water

To know what type of cleaner you’ll need, it’s crucial to test the hot tub water first. If you suspect the problem may be with high metal levels (if you use well water, for example), make sure the testing strips or kit you use measures for at least iron and copper.

Here’s what you need:

• spa shock
• line flush product
• nylon scrubbing sponges
• filter cleaner
• hot tub cleaner
  • scale remover (if you have calcium buildup)
  • rust remover (if you have high metal content in the water)
  • heavy-duty fiberglass cleaner (if you have a scum ring)
• soft cleaning cloths

Metals Test Strips

$19.95

Buy Now

If you click this link and make a purchase, we earn a commission at no additional cost to you.

01/27/2023 09:30 pm GMT

All that’s left is to get to work.

1. Shock the hot tub to kill bacteria.
2. Clean the plumbing with the hot tub line flush product.
3. Turn off the hot tub.
4. Turn off the hot tub breaker to ensure it’s not receiving any electricity.
5. Drain and clean your hot tub, using the cleaning product that corresponds to the type of stains you’re removing, and scrubbing the stains thoroughly with the nylon sponges.
6. Clean the hot tub filter; replace it, if necessary.
7. Rinse the shell thoroughly; cleaner residue can cause a foaming problem, and you’ll have to start over.
8. Inspect the stained areas; if any stains remain, scrub them again, and rinse again.
9. Dry the fixtures and other areas around the hot tub that won’t be filled with water.
10. Refill the hot tub; if you have hard water or high metal content, use a hose filter.
11. Balance the water.
12. Test the water; balance again if necessary.
13. Get back to soaking!

To keep from having to go through this process again, take a few steps to prevent stains from forming again.

Our Top Pick

Hot Tub Detox: Hot Tub Cleaner & Purge

Don't let your hot tub fill with hard-to-remove gunk. Clear out the gunk and keep your hot tub water fresh. It removes gunk in your pipes caused by lotions, sunscreens, cosmetics, etc.

Kills bacteria inside the pipes for maximum effect.

Buy Now On Swim University

If you click this link and make a purchase, we earn a commission at no additional cost to you.

How to Keep Hot Tub Stains From Returning

So how do you stop stains from forming in the first place? I can sum it up in two words: water chemistry. That’s right. If you keep the hot tub water balanced, stains will have a difficult time forming. The most important tactic is to keep the hot tub pH balanced.

Now, this doesn’t mean that you won’t have to drain your hot tub periodically and give the shell a good cleaning. Nothing will ever free you from that. But it does mean stains will be a lot less likely to come back. To make that even more likely, you can take a few extra steps, depending on your water.

Hard Water

Add a calcium hardness reducer or a scale prevention chemical to the water. Follow the manufacturer’s instructions to ensure you add the right amount.

Tip: You’ll need to know how many gallons of water are in your hot tub. You need to know this to add any chemicals and keep the water balanced, so it’s important to determine this, and keep the information handy for proper maintenance.

SpaGuard Hot Tub Stain and Scale Control

Buy Now

If you click this link and make a purchase, we earn a commission at no additional cost to you.

High Metal Content

To keep metals from oxidizing in your spa, use a metal sequestrant. This chemical doesn’t remove metals. Instead, it causes the metal molecules to clump together so they can be caught in the hot tub filter. Follow the manufacturer’s instructions for use.

Hot Tub Metal Remover

$15.33 ($0.96 / Fl Oz)

Quickly remove metals like iron and copper from your hot tub water.

Buy Now on Amazon

If you click this link and make a purchase, we earn a commission at no additional cost to you.

01/27/2023 10:54 pm GMT

Scum

You can’t possibly keep body oils and toiletry residue out of hot tub water. You can try to keep it from building up on the shell. Special floating sponges are made precisely for this purpose, but if you don’t have any on hand, two or three tennis balls will do.

Swimables Floating Sponges for Pools and Spas - 2 pack

Buy Now

If you click this link and make a purchase, we earn a commission at no additional cost to you.

Stains Don’t Have to Be Pains

Hey, no one wants to take a soak in a dirty hot tub, much less a stained one. Knowing how to remove hot tub stains is just as important as knowing how to prevent them because no matter how hard you try, you may still end up with a stain or two now and then.

Just know, they don’t have to be permanent. With the right materials and some perseverance, you can keep your hot tub looking like new for many years to come.

Happy Soaking!

The post How to Remove and Prevent Hot Tub Stains appeared first on Swim University®.

It won’t make you sick, no. But if you don’t address it quickly enough, you may find yourself with a bigger problem than just some ugly buildup on the shell.

What Is Hot Tub Scale?

You know water contains minerals. Some water sources contain more minerals than others. Over time, these minerals will build up and leave behind hot tub scale on the shell and fixtures.

This buildup isn’t dangerous—just unsightly. The real problem lies inside your hot tub’s fixtures and plumbing. If hot tub scale gets too far out of hand, it can damage fixtures and clog the plumbing.

But hot tub scale has other causes aside from water.

What Causes Hot Tub Scale?

Removing it once it’s there is fairly easy. But the key to caring for your spa is knowing what causes hot tub scaling in the first place so you can prevent it.

Hard Water

When a water source contains high levels of calcium and magnesium, it’s known as hard water. If you live in an area with hard water, that’s probably what you’re using to fill your hot tub.

When the water in your hot tub evaporates, minerals are left behind, and they’ll cling to the spa shell and fixtures. You’ll replace the lost water, and it’ll evaporate again, leaving behind more mineral deposits. After a while, you’ll have mineral buildup on the hot tub walls and fixtures.

Highly Alkaline Water

Related to hard water, when a water source contains a high level of dissolved solids, it’s considered alkaline, especially if lime is present. These dissolved solids work the same way calcium and magnesium do in evaporated water—they stay behind and create hot tub scale.

You can follow our guide on how to lower the alkalinity in your hot tub.

Body Oils and Other Contaminants

Our bodies are constantly producing oils. Even when you’ve just showered, even if your skin is dry, your skin produces natural oils. And if your skin is dry, your body is also sloughing off bits of dry skin on a regular basis.

Then there’s all the hair your body loses, anywhere from 50 to 100 strands every day. We’re not going to talk about all the other substances human bodies secrete.

The point is, every time you step into your hot tub, so do all of those other contaminants. Over time, if you’re not keeping your hot tub clean, they’ll create and contribute to hot tub scale.

Toiletry Products

When you take a shower, you come out nice and clean. But what you don’t see is all the residue left behind by your soap, shampoo, shower oil, and any other products you use when you bathe.

That residue mixes with the spa water, and—you guessed it—contributes to hot tub scaling.

Sounds like it’s best just to stay out of your hot tub altogether, huh? Not at all! The first step will be to remove any existing hot tub scale. The next step will be to take measures to prevent it, and save yourself a lot of work in the future.

How to Remove Hot Tub Scale

Get ready to roll up your sleeves. Removing hot tub scaling isn’t impossible, but depending on its cause and how long it’s been building up, it may take some elbow grease.

Clean Your Hot Tub

Sounds pretty obvious, right? And it is. If the scaling is mild, you may be able to simply apply a little hot tub scale remover and be done with it.

The only thing is, you’ll need to be very careful not to get any cleaning agents in the water. You don’t want to soak in that, do you? Didn’t think so.

Make sure the hot tub is off, and carefully clean the shell just above the water line, and any accessible fixtures. If some of the scaling does fall into the water, don’t worry. It should be caught by the filter. If that happens, clean the filter afterward to keep the scale from getting back into the hot tub and starting the cycle all over again.

SpaGuard Hot Tub Stain and Scale Control

Buy Now

If you click this link and make a purchase, we earn a commission at no additional cost to you.

Drain First, Then Clean

If you’re dealing with heavy buildup, and the majority of it is below the water line, your best bet will be to drain and clean your hot tub.

With the water completely out of the way, you can apply as much hot tub scale remover as you need without worrying about dripping down into the shell. It’s also an opportunity to give your hot tub a good scrubbing all over.

To make sure you get all the hot tub scale wherever it’s hiding, also use a line flush product to get any buildup out of the plumbing.

Our Top Pick

Hot Tub Detox: Hot Tub Cleaner & Purge

Don't let your hot tub fill with hard-to-remove gunk. Clear out the gunk and keep your hot tub water fresh. It removes gunk in your pipes caused by lotions, sunscreens, cosmetics, etc.

Kills bacteria inside the pipes for maximum effect.

Buy Now On Swim University

If you click this link and make a purchase, we earn a commission at no additional cost to you.

How to Prevent Hot Tub Scaling

Once you’ve done all that work to get rid of it, you’ll want to make sure that hot tub scaling doesn’t come back.

Keep the Filter Clean

If your filter is doing its job, it’s trapping a lot of those contaminants that cause hot tub scale. But if it goes too long between cleanings, it’ll catch less and less dirt and debris, and it’ll all just start building up in the water, and in your hot tub. Keep the filter clean to help keep your hot tub clean and free of scale.

Our Top Pick

Hot Tub Filter Cleaner

Spray Filter Cleanse on your hot tub filters, rinse with water, and your filters will look brand new in less than 20 minutes! Hot Tub Filter Cleanse is a powerful, fast-acting spray cleaner that removes body oils, lotions, and other organic materials from your hot tub filter cartridges.

Buy Now

If you click this link and make a purchase, we earn a commission at no additional cost to you.

Keep the Water Balanced

This is inarguably the most important part of hot tub maintenance. Aside from just keeping the water clean, it’s crucial to preventing hot tub scaling.

Alkalinity

Because it acts as a buffer for pH, alkalinity should always be adjusted first. Alkalinity refers to the ability of your water to neutralize acids. If alkalinity is high, chances are the pH will be high as well. If the alkalinity is low, the pH level will probably also be low.

Total alkalinity (TA) should be kept somewhere between 80 and 120 parts per million. Once you get the TA level in the correct range, you’ll have a much easier time maintaining the pH level, and controlling scale buildup.

pH

The recommended pH range for hot tub water is 7.4 to 7.6. High water temperatures in your hot tub can make the pH level climb, so keep an eye on the thermostat. A high pH level can cause calcium to build up on the surface of your hot tub. Keep the pH level within the optimal range to help prevent hot tub scale.

Our Top Pick

Test Strips for Pools and Hot Tubs

Tests for 7 important chemistries in seconds: Total Hardness, Total Chlorine, Total Bromine, Free Chlorine, pH, Total Alkalinity, and Cyanuric Acid.

Buy Now on Amazon Buy on InTheSwim.com

If you click this link and make a purchase, we earn a commission at no additional cost to you.

Use a Hose Filter and Water Softener

If you live in an area with hard water, you start down the scaling path every time you add water to or refill your hot tub.

To prevent buildup, try using a hose filter to remove some of the minerals from the water while you fill your hot tub. If that doesn’t help, you can add water softeners to reduce the amount of minerals in the water.

Our Top Pick

Hose Filter with Flexible Hose Protector

Fill your pool or hot tub with this hose filter that'll filter your water so you can have a fresh start with water chemistry.

Buy Now On Amazon

If you click this link and make a purchase, we earn a commission at no additional cost to you.

Use a Scale Prevention Product

Easily added to your hot tub water, a scale preventer will do most of the heavy lifting for you. If you’re averse to adding yet another chemical to your spa water, though, just stick to the other prevention methods.

Hot Tub Metal Remover

$15.33 ($0.96 / Fl Oz)

Quickly remove metals like iron and copper from your hot tub water.

Buy Now on Amazon

If you click this link and make a purchase, we earn a commission at no additional cost to you.

01/27/2023 10:54 pm GMT

Keep Your Hot Tub Clean

Look, we get it. Cleaning a hot tub can be a hassle. But it’s one of the best ways to avoid hot tub scaling as well as keep mold from growing, and keep from developing a rash every time you soak.

Keep the areas above the water line clean, and do a full draining and cleaning on a quarterly basis, more often if you use the hot tub often or have a high bather load.

Oh Yuk Healthy Hot Tub Cleaner - 16 oz.

Buy Now

If you click this link and make a purchase, we earn a commission at no additional cost to you.

You Can Scale the Hot Tub Scale Mountain!

Even if you live in an area with the hardest water ever, there’s really no excuse for allowing hot tub scale to build up and take over your spa. Keep it clean, keep the water balanced, and take appropriate measures at the first sign of buildup, and your hot tub will last you a good, long time.

Happy Soaking!

The post How to Remove and Prevent Hot Tub Scale appeared first on Swim University®.

The bad news is, your spa has algae. The good news is, though it’ll be a little labor-intensive, it is treatable, so you can get your hot tub back to normal. It’s also preventable with just a few simple precautions.

Why is Your Hot Tub Water Green?

In other words, how did your spa become infected with algae? One or more factors can create an algae-hospitable environment:

• You leave your hot tub uncovered when you’re not using it. This is especially dangerous if it’s outside where the sun can help algae grow.
• You’re not adding enough sanitizer, or adding it often enough, or both.
• The hot tub’s filtration system isn’t working properly, or the filter isn’t being cleaned and replaced often enough.
• Algae hitched a ride into your hot tub on a swimsuit or accessory that you used in another, algae-infected body of water.

Knowing why it’s happening is important because these will be the first steps you take to prevent algae blooms in the future.

How to Prevent Hot Tub Algae

You thought you were doing everything right, but you still woke up to green hot tub water. You may have been laying out the welcome mat without even realizing it. Pick that up, and put out a no trespassing sign instead.

• Cover your hot tub when you’re not using it, even if it’s inside.
• Make sure you add enough sanitizer for your hot tub’s volume, and that you’re adding it often enough. The only way to know this is to test the water regularly.
• Check the filtration system, and be sure to clean the hot tub filters on a regular basis. Also, replace the filters when they’re worn out.
• Wash your swimsuits and any accessories you’ve used in a pool, lake, or any other body of water before you allow them into your hot tub.

Those few simple tactics will help keep algae from forming again. But first, you need to address the algae already in the hot tub.

How to Get Rid of Hot Tub Algae

You’ll need to set aside some time to do this so you can do it properly. Once you’ve noticed your hot tub water is green, you can’t take any shortcuts in clearing it up.

1. Deep Clean the Spa

The first step is to drain and clean the hot tub. You have to get rid of the water that has algae in it, and then clean every surface to make sure every bit of algae is gone.

2. Clean or Replace the Filter

With an algae problem, just rinsing the filter with clean water won’t be enough. You’ll need to apply a filter cleaner. You may even want to soak it overnight in a chemical rinse to be absolutely sure it’s free of algae.

If that doesn’t make you comfortable enough, or if the filter is just worn out, now’s the time to replace it.

3. Scrub-a-Dub That Tub

Just a wipe-down won’t do. Break out the hot tub cleaner for a total and thorough shell cleaning. Or, if you prefer, you can use diluted bleach, diluted cleaning vinegar, or some other household product to clean your hot tub.

For an algae problem, though, we highly recommend using a cleaner made for hot tubs.

Oh Yuk Healthy Hot Tub Cleaner - 1 gal.

Buy Now

If you click this link and make a purchase, we earn a commission at no additional cost to you.

4. Refill the Hot Tub

Regardless of whether you use city water, or you get your water from a well, we highly recommend using a hose filter. This will help keep minerals and other contaminants out of your hot tub.

Our Top Pick

Hose Filter with Flexible Hose Protector

Fill your pool or hot tub with this hose filter that'll filter your water so you can have a fresh start with water chemistry.

Buy Now On Amazon

If you click this link and make a purchase, we earn a commission at no additional cost to you.

5. Clean the Cover

Because condensation will collect on the underside of the hot tub cover, it’s entirely possible that a few algae spores have set up shop there. While you’re waiting for your hot tub to refill, clean the cover with diluted bleach, diluted cleaning vinegar, or with a vinyl cleaner. Again, when dealing with algae, we recommend using a cleaner specific to the task.

303 Multi-Surface Cleaner - Fabric & Vinyl - 32 oz.

Buy Now

If you click this link and make a purchase, we earn a commission at no additional cost to you.

6. Shock the Heck Out of It

One the tub is full, shock the hot tub. Then shock it again so algae won’t even think about coming back.

Spa Essentials Dichlor Chlorine Hot Tub Shock - 6 lbs

Buy Now

If you click this link and make a purchase, we earn a commission at no additional cost to you.

7. Test the Water

Once the shock has had time to dissipate, test the water either with test strips or a liquid test kit. This will give you a baseline so you’ll know what chemicals to add, and how much.

Our Top Pick

Test Strips for Pools and Hot Tubs

Tests for 7 important chemistries in seconds: Total Hardness, Total Chlorine, Total Bromine, Free Chlorine, pH, Total Alkalinity, and Cyanuric Acid.

Buy Now on Amazon Buy on InTheSwim.com

If you click this link and make a purchase, we earn a commission at no additional cost to you.

8. Balance the Water

Give the chemicals you’ve added a little time to disperse, then test the water again. If everything’s where it should be, great! You’re all done! If not, adjust as necessary, wait a little while, and test again, repeating the process until the water is properly balanced.

Our Top Pick

SpaGuard Chlorinating Concentrate

Easy to add chlorine to your hot tub with granules (powder) and a cap that's perfect for measuring the amounts you add.

Buy Now On Amazon

If you click this link and make a purchase, we earn a commission at no additional cost to you.

But … My Water is Yellow!

What if the problem isn’t that your hot tub water is green, but that it’s yellow? You likely still have an algae problem, just a different type.

Yellow algae, also known as mustard algae, is a rare form of algae found most commonly in areas with a warmer climate.

Yellow algae is tough to get rid of and has even been known to be chlorine resistant. So if you’re looking at yellow water, follow the algae cleaning steps slowly and carefully.

What About an Algae Encore?

After you’ve followed all the steps to get rid of algae, it’s gone. Or is it?! Algae—both green and yellow—is tough stuff, and the truth is, it may take two or even three tries to get rid of it completely, so be prepared for that possibility.

You: 1 Algae: 0

You’re now on your way to winning the war against algae that makes your hot tub water green or yellow. But it’s a never ending battle, and you must be vigilant. It can sneak back into your territory at any moment.

Take the proper precautions, keep your hot tub clean, and keep the water balanced, and you’ll maintain a strong, algae-free front line.

Happy Soaking!

The post What to Do If Your Hot Tub Water Is Green appeared first on Swim University®.

Now you’ve got a sufficiently motivating mental image, it’s time to troubleshoot the possible causes for your cloudy hot tub. Fix the problem, then find out how to keep it from happening again because no one wants to kick back and relax with a cold one in a tub full of rash-inducing bacteria stew.

What Causes Cloudy Spa Water?

The average home spa holds just 400 gallons of water. You’ll usually keep your hot tub water somewhere in the ideal range of 98°F to 102°F (36°C to 38°C).

This low volume of hot water can be the perfect breeding ground for dangerous bacteria such as Legionella—the cause of Legionnaire’s Disease—if you don’t maintain proper water chemistry. But bacteria growth is just one of several things that can cause cloudy spa water.

Algae and Helicopters Landing in Your Hot Tub

No, the local traffic report isn’t being conducted in your hot tub. We’re referring to the tree seed pods commonly known as helicopters. Also dead leaves, grass clippings, and all the other natural matter that blows around your backyard can land in your hot tub during use or when left uncovered.

As your sanitizer tries to break down the invaders, however large or small, it’s quickly used up. This means the chlorine (or bromine, or whatever sanitizer you’re using) may not be able to keep up with killing bacteria and other contaminants because it’s trying to destroy whirligigs instead.

Our Top Pick

SpaGuard Chlorinating Concentrate

Easy to add chlorine to your hot tub with granules (powder) and a cap that's perfect for measuring the amounts you add.

Buy Now On Amazon

If you click this link and make a purchase, we earn a commission at no additional cost to you.

Allowing nature to invade your spa can also clog up your circulation system and filter, preventing it from working effectively. As the debris deteriorates, you wind up with cloudy spa water.

Another living water contaminant is algae. The main cause of algae growth in spas is poor water chemistry. Both algae itself and lackadaisical water maintenance can make your water cloudy.

Finally, if you use shock, the dead algae floating around in your water and circulation system may cause gross-looking water until you get all the little algae skeletons out of there. OK, algae doesn’t really have skeletons. But you get our meaning.

SpaGuard Enhanced Dichlor Shock

Buy Now

If you click this link and make a purchase, we earn a commission at no additional cost to you.

Metal in Your Water Isn’t Shiny—It’s Cloudy

When you fill your hot tub, you probably hook a hose up to an outdoor spigot or indoor tap and let it run until your spa is full. Do you know whether your household water source has high concentrations of metal?

Metals in water don’t usually cause any major problems with things like laundry or cooking, but they can wreak havoc on your hot tub. Over the long term, filling your spa with water that contains metal can alter your water chemistry, and can stain your spa’s shell and components.

If you’re not using a hose filter when you fill your hot tub, metal contaminants in your hard water could be contributing to cloudiness.

Our Top Pick

Hose Filter with Flexible Hose Protector

Fill your pool or hot tub with this hose filter that'll filter your water so you can have a fresh start with water chemistry.

Buy Now On Amazon

If you click this link and make a purchase, we earn a commission at no additional cost to you.

Low Sanitizer With a High Chance of Cloudiness

Has your spa recently had a high bather load? If you’ve had more guests using your spa than usual, you may not be adding enough sanitizer to keep up with the amount of foreign matter (read: body oils, shampoo residue, and other icky stuff humans slough off everywhere they go) being introduced to the water.

When you notice cloudiness after an increase in hot tub use, insufficient sanitizer levels might be the culprit. When you don’t have enough chlorine or bromine to effectively sanitize your spa water, bacteria, algae, sunscreen, and even—yes, we’re sorry to say—fecal matter is able to linger in the water causing a cloudy appearance. Your fellow bathers could even pass illnesses to each other and you.

Spa Choice Bromine Tablets for Hot Tubs - 5 lbs.

Buy Now

If you click this link and make a purchase, we earn a commission at no additional cost to you.

Poor Water Chemistry

Like most things in life, achieving balanced hot tub chemistry isn’t impossible, but maintaining balanced water all the time takes work and dedication.

If you’ve let your water care routine slip, your cloudy spa water could be the result. Not all chemistry problems necessarily cause cloudiness, though. So what should you look for?

• High pH: Your spa water is too basic if the pH is higher than 7.6. When this happens, you’ll wind up with two problems that cause cloudiness: scale formation and ineffective sanitizing. You may need to use a pH decreaser to get things back to normal.
• High alkalinity: Another way to say water is basic is to call it alkaline. When your hot tub water has alkalinity higher than 150 ppm, it begins to form scale. It also cannot keep pH stable, compounding all the issues that may cause cloudy water. An alkalinity decreaser may help.
• High calcium hardness: Ideally, your spa’s calcium hardness will be between 175 to 250 ppm. If your levels are too high, you’ll see scale build up and cloudiness.

pH and Alkalinity Decreaser - 3 lbs.

$14.99 ($0.31 / Ounce)

Buy Now

If you click this link and make a purchase, we earn a commission at no additional cost to you.

01/27/2023 09:09 pm GMT

Humans: The Worst Offenders

Of course you want other people to enjoy your hot tub, but wouldn’t it be nice if they didn’t bring contaminants with them? Let’s face it: humans are kinda gross. Just a short list of residual yuckiness your friends may leave to cloud your hot tub water includes: makeup, lotion, sunscreen, hair products, sweat, body oil, and the two you don’t even want to think about, urine residue and fecal matter. Hey, it’s not pleasant for us to talk about it either, but you need to know what you’re up against.

Even if every person who uses your hot tub takes a shower before getting in, you’ll still wind up with some human-introduced contaminants. And if your sanitizer or filtration system can’t keep up for any reason, you’ll wind up with cloudy hot tub water. And maybe a little paranoia about what’s actually floating in your spa water.

Hot Tub All-In-One Chlorine Sanitizer & Shock

$44.86

This chlorine shock helps reduce bacteria growth of bacteria and treat algae problems in your hot tub. It's best used in chlorine or salt water spas.

Buy Now

If you click this link and make a purchase, we earn a commission at no additional cost to you.

01/27/2023 09:00 pm GMT

Biofilm: Not the Kind of Film You Want to See

This slimy, sticky film can cover your hot tub surfaces and set up camp in your spa’s plumbing. For comparison, the plaque that forms on your teeth between cleanings from your dentist is a form of biofilm, and we know how that can end if not treated.

Just like plaque can lead to cavities, biofilm is bacteria residue that can propagate and eat away at your hot tub’s surfaces, becoming a major problem if it’s not addressed. Not only will it make your water look gross, it also allows dangerous bacteria to proliferate, such as Legionella and E. coli. The problem is, the film the bacteria coats itself with protects it from disinfectants, so your sanitizer isn’t enough to combat it.

Tired of trying to keep your hot tub clean all the time and dealing with chemicals?

You'll save $100 right away with this easy-to-follow digital ebook and video course. This is the ultimate maintenance guide that hot tub manufacturer doesn’t provide you.

Click Here to Learn More

Filter Problems

A slightly more obvious potential cause of your cloudy spa is a dirty or misaligned filter. Dirty water is sucked into your filtration system so the filter can get rid of larger particles your sanitizing chemicals would take too long to break down.

But if your filter is gunked up or not properly seated, those particles wind up suspended in your spa water, slowly decomposing, leaving your water cloudy and dirty.

Clear That Cloudy Hot Tub

Once you’ve established the cause of your cloudy spa water, you’ll need to address it immediately to avoid damage to your spa, such as staining and scale buildup, or worse.

While you could pour in a little clarifier if you’re in a time crunch, that only fixes the symptom, not the cause of the cloudiness. The problem will return if you don’t take steps to eradicate the source of it.

Clean The Filter

At the first sign of cloudy spa water, check your filter. Pull it out, give it a deep cleaning or replace it Whether it’s gunked up with sunscreen, choked by flakes of scale, or full of algae, if your filter can’t do its job well, it will show up in your water.

Leisure Time Spa Filter Soak - 1 qt. - 2 Pack

Buy Now

If you click this link and make a purchase, we earn a commission at no additional cost to you.

Run The Filter

Your spa water needs to go through filtration for at least one hour, twice a day. Whether you run it manually or program automatic filter cycles, be sure you’re doing so often enough to clear contaminants so your sanitizer can work.

Remember, more hot tub use requires more filtering and more sanitizer.

Get Those Chemical Levels Just Right

If you determined a specific chemical needs to be adjusted in your spa due to cloudy hot tub water, fix that first. Once you’ve done that, test your water to make sure all your chemical levels are still where they need to be. If they’re not, adjust accordingly.

To make troubleshooting chemical levels even easier, make—and stick to—a hot tub maintenance schedule that includes water care.

Our Top Pick

Test Strips for Pools and Hot Tubs

Tests for 7 important chemistries in seconds: Total Hardness, Total Chlorine, Total Bromine, Free Chlorine, pH, Total Alkalinity, and Cyanuric Acid.

Buy Now on Amazon Buy on InTheSwim.com

If you click this link and make a purchase, we earn a commission at no additional cost to you.

Give it a Good Shock

Algae blooms and all sorts of contaminants can be stopped in their tracks with a good, ol’ shock. In fact, when you follow recommended water care for your hot tub, you’ll be adding spa shock weekly (or even more often) depending on the capacity of your hot tub and how much use it gets.

SpaGuard Non-Chlorine Hot Tub Shock

Buy Now

If you click this link and make a purchase, we earn a commission at no additional cost to you.

Metal Sequestrant

Unlike the other solutions, which are part of maintaining an overall healthy spa, you won’t need to add a sequestrant unless you’ve determined that your water source contains metals, and that they’re the cause of your cloudy hot tub water.

If metal is indeed the culprit, you can add a metal sequestrant which will bind with the metal, preventing it from oxidizing and discoloring your spa and water. You’ll need to add it when refill your hot tub (using filtered water), as well as adding a weekly maintenance dose.

Hot Tub Metal Remover

$15.33 ($0.96 / Fl Oz)

Quickly remove metals like iron and copper from your hot tub water.

Buy Now on Amazon

If you click this link and make a purchase, we earn a commission at no additional cost to you.

01/27/2023 10:54 pm GMT

Flush the Circulation System

To address a biofilm problem, and just as a general best practice, flush your spa lines whenever you change your water. Before draining your hot tub, add a line flush product to your cloudy spa water. Allow it to circulate for at least 30 minutes, but check the product you choose for the recommended circulation time just to be sure.

You’ll most likely see some foaming while the flush circulates. This is normal. It’s just all the biofilm and other gunk coming out of the plumbing. This is why you use line flush before you drain the hot tub. Otherwise, you’ll be draining and refilling twice.

Our Top Pick

Hot Tub Detox: Hot Tub Cleaner & Purge

Don't let your hot tub fill with hard-to-remove gunk. Clear out the gunk and keep your hot tub water fresh. It removes gunk in your pipes caused by lotions, sunscreens, cosmetics, etc.

Kills bacteria inside the pipes for maximum effect.

Buy Now On Swim University

If you click this link and make a purchase, we earn a commission at no additional cost to you.

Drain and Refill Your Hot Tub

You change your hot tub water every three months or so anyway, right? (Please say yes. If you’re not already doing that, start now.) But if you’re experiencing cloudiness that just won’t go away despite your best efforts, it’s time to break out the big guns and drain and clean your hot tub.

Start with a line flush product and a new filter, drain your spa, thoroughly clean the shell, then fill it up using a hose filter.

Remember to add a metal sequestrant if necessary, then shock and balance the fresh water, so you’re starting up with with a clean slate.

Keep a Cloudy Hot Tub from Coming Back

What’s the best way to fix cloudy spa water? Keep it from happening in the first place! You fill your hot tub up with clear water, not cloudy. Keeping it that way is much easier than trying to get it back from that body oil stew condition. Ew.

Follow some simple best practices to keep cloudy spa water at bay.

• Fill your clean hot tub with filtered water. This is super easy to do with a hose filter.
• Create and follow a regular maintenance schedule to keep your water chemistry balanced, and everything clean and sanitary.
• Keep your filter clean, and replace it as needed.
• Maintain an appropriate level of sanitizer, being sure to take bather load into account.
• Use a line flush product with every water change to clear your spa’s plumbing and keep biofilm in check.
• Test your water before adding chemicals. Then test it after adding chemicals. And then test it one more time before you get into the water. Always be testing!
• Change water every three to four months, and more often if problems arise.

Our Top Pick

Hot Tub Weekly Cleanse: Water Conditioner & Clarifier

Keep it always feeling like new between Detoxes with our one-time-a-week treatment that combines hot tub cleaner, conditioner, and clarifier to give your hot tub water a soft & silky feel plus sparkling clean water!

Buy Now On Swim University

If you click this link and make a purchase, we earn a commission at no additional cost to you.

The Work is Worth the Clear Water

You know what they say: “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” Or in this particular case, about 400 gallons of fresh water and a whole bunch of chemicals.

Don’t let all that go to waste. Keep up with your maintenance, and that cloudy spa water will become but a distant memory.

Happy Soaking!

The post How to Fix Cloudy Spa Water appeared first on Swim University®.

Don’t worry, it’s a common problem, but one you need to solve as quickly as possible. First, let’s talk about what white mold in your hot tub and what causes it. Then, we will move on to treatment and prevention.

What Is White Mold in a Hot Tub?

It always helps to understand what you are dealing with, so first I want to discuss what it is and how it ended up in your hot tub. White water mold in a hot tub is not algae, although some may tell you otherwise. It’s actually a naturally occurring fungus. While it causes some of the same problems in your tub, water mold is more animal than vegetable.

Because it’s naturally occurring, it is a problem that all hot tub owners must be aware of. If let your hot tub go without thorough cleanings and regular water checks, this mold could begin to grow and flourish in your hot tub. Once you get it, it can be tough to get rid of it. However, if you do things right, you should be able to get rid of it once and for all.

Getting Rid of White Water Mold

If you find yourself with a white water mold problem, you are going to have a little work ahead of you. Whatever you do, don’t wait. The longer you let the mold grow the harder it will be to get rid of it for good.

1. Drain your hot tub.
2. Use a hot tub cleaner to clean all the surfaces of your hot tub and focus on areas where you can see the mold.
3. Remove the filter and chemically clean it, don’t just rinse it. If it is more than a year old, throw it out and replace it with a new one.
4. Refill the hot tub with fresh water using a hose filter.
5. Shock the hot tub with a triple or quadruple dose of shock.
6. After the shock has done its job, drain the hot tub again and refill it.
7. Repeat the shocking process with a normal amount of shock.
8. Test the water and balance it.

Oh Yuk Healthy Hot Tub Cleaner - 1 gal.

Buy Now

If you click this link and make a purchase, we earn a commission at no additional cost to you.

Once you have finished this process, regularly test your water and watch for anymore growth of this fungus. If you see any at all, repeat the process above.

Our Top Pick

Test Strips for Pools and Hot Tubs

Tests for 7 important chemistries in seconds: Total Hardness, Total Chlorine, Total Bromine, Free Chlorine, pH, Total Alkalinity, and Cyanuric Acid.

Buy Now on Amazon Buy on InTheSwim.com

If you click this link and make a purchase, we earn a commission at no additional cost to you.

Prevention Is Key

As I said, once you get white water mold, it is a pain to get rid of. If you took the time to read the steps to get rid of it you know what I mean. The key to white water mold is prevention. If you properly maintain your hot tub and regularly test the water, then you shouldn’t have any problem. Here’s what you need to do:

1. Once a week, clean all the surfaces of your hot tub with a scrub brush.
2. Check your water quality and regularly add chemicals to oxidize any contaminants present in your hot tub’s water.
3. If possible, expose your hot tub to the sun. The sunlight will help kill mold as UV light acts as a natural oxidizer.
4. Every month, remove your filter and chemically clean it. If it is getting old, make sure you go ahead and replace it with a new one.
5. Clean anything you put in your hot tub regularly such as hot tub toys or floats.
6. After heavy bathing loads make sure you shock your hot tub to clean the water.
7. Add spa shock on a regular basis to maintain optimum water quality and regularly test the pH, Total Alkalinity and Calcium Hardness in your hot tub.
8. Run the hot tub at least six hours a day in order to ensure that all the water is properly filtered and cleaned each day.
9. Periodically drain your hot tub and clean all the surfaces of your hot tub.

SpaGuard Enhanced Dichlor Shock

Buy Now

If you click this link and make a purchase, we earn a commission at no additional cost to you.

If you make these maintenance tasks regular parts of your days and weeks, you probably won’t ever have to worry about white water mold again. White water mold doesn’t fair to well against a hot tub that is properly maintained. So remember, prevention is the key to stopping white water mold in its tracks.

Final Thoughts

Let’s be honest, white water mold is gross, and no one wants to have to deal with it in their hot tubs. Still, it is a common problem and one that is growing as more and more people bring hot tubs home to enjoy. If you are a new hot tub owner, I cannot stress enough how important proper maintenance is to a healthy hot tub.

If you don’t maintain your water, white water mold and other contaminants can flourish in your hot tub. Over time, this can lead to a nasty contamination that is hard to get rid of without a lot of hard work on your part. However, if you properly maintain your hot tub, you shouldn’t have anything to worry about.

If you do end up with white water mold, don’t worry. You will be able to get rid of it, but it will take work. Once you do clean out your hot tub, remember to keep the water properly maintained and clean so you won’t have to worry about it ever again.

Happy Soaking!

The post How to Get Rid of White Mold in a Hot Tub appeared first on Swim University®.

But what exactly are they and how do you get rid of them? Let’s take a look at the most likely causes of these white flakes and what you need to do to get rid of them once and for all.

What Are Those Pesky White Flakes?

Once you spot those white flakes floating in the water or hovering by your drain, you need to act fast before the problem gets even worse. Of course, the problem is, what are those things anyway?

There are two possible causes for white flakes in your hot tub, and knowing which one you are dealing with will help you treat your hot tub properly.

The two possible causes are:

• Calcium Scale Deposits
• Biofilm Growth from White Water Mold

Calcium Scale

Calcium scale is the most likely culprit behind those little white flakes you are seeing in the water. They occur when there is too much calcium in your water, otherwise known as hard water. Over time, the calcium accumulates and begins to form white flakes in your spa.

Hot Tub Metal Remover

$15.33 ($0.96 / Fl Oz)

Quickly remove metals like iron and copper from your hot tub water.

Buy Now on Amazon

If you click this link and make a purchase, we earn a commission at no additional cost to you.

01/27/2023 10:54 pm GMT

Biofilm Growth

I am going to be brutally honest here. Your hot tub and the area around it is a warm and moist environment, making it the perfect breeding ground for mold if you aren’t careful. Of course, if you take care of your hot tub, this more than likely won’t be an issue.

However, if your hot tub has sat for an extended period of time unused or you do not clean it properly, this type of mold could grow inside it resulting in those little floaty flakes.

Our Top Pick

Hot Tub Detox: Hot Tub Cleaner & Purge

Don't let your hot tub fill with hard-to-remove gunk. Clear out the gunk and keep your hot tub water fresh. It removes gunk in your pipes caused by lotions, sunscreens, cosmetics, etc.

Kills bacteria inside the pipes for maximum effect.

Buy Now On Swim University

If you click this link and make a purchase, we earn a commission at no additional cost to you.

Test What Type of Flakes You Have

It is very easy to determine what type of white flakes you are dealing with in your hot tub. To find out, collect some of the flakes and spa water in an 8-ounce cup or bowl. Once you have it collected, place 20 drops of bleach or liquid chlorine into the water. Gently stir the water and sanitizer solution and then wait for 30 minutes.

If the flakes are still in the water after 30 minutes, then they are most likely calcium scale deposits. If the white flakes have disappeared, then they are more than likely a biofilm buildup from mold.

Remove the White Flakes and Prevent Their Return

Once you get your hot tub back into shape, you don’t want to have to deal with this problem ever again because, well, who would want to soak in a hot tub with white flakes floating around in it? I certainly wouldn’t.

What preventative measures you need to take depend on the source of your white flake fiasco.

Calcium Deposits

Getting rid of excess calcium all comes down to your water balance. Hard water is a problem in many areas, meaning that this problem can be quite common for hot tub owners. In order to get rid of this problem once and for all, you will need to follow a couple of steps.

1. Balance your water properly – First, make sure that the pH alkalinity is properly balanced. Calcium scale will begin to form if your pH is too high so bring those levels down to reduce the hardness of the water.
2. Try a scale preventer – Hot tub manufacturers and suppliers all make different scale preventers that you can add to your water on a regular basis to reduce the buildup in calcium. This can be especially important if the water in your area is particularly hard. These treatments often have to be added on a regular basis such as every week. While the treatments vary, a good rule of thumb is to add 4 ounces per 100 gallons of water when you fill it and then every week at 2 ounces per 100 gallons if you have a high mineral content in your water. If the mineral content is low, try adding 2 ounces per 100 gallons when you first fill your tub and then 1 ounce every week per 100 gallons.

White Water Mold

This is probably the easiest to prevent, as it all comes down to how you clean it. White water mold occurs most often in hot tubs that haven’t been used for a while or hot tubs that have not been cleaned in some time.

To prevent this excess biofilm, all you need to do is give your hot tub a proper cleaning both inside and out with full water and filter changes.

As long as you regularly take care of your hot tub by testing and balancing the water and properly cleaning it on a regular basis, your excess biofilm problem should never be an issue again.

Final Thoughts

Remember, it all comes down to hot tub care. If you own a hot tub, it is important that you regularly test the water and clean the hot tub to make sure that your water is clear, clean and safe to use. If you don’t, you could end up seeing these nasty little flakes appear in your water, and nobody wants that!

Happy Soaking!

The post How to Remove and Prevent White Flakes in a Hot Tub appeared first on Swim University®.