Had four people in the tub twice this week and my water turned cloudy by day two. I shocked it after each use like I normally do but it doesn't seem to be keeping up. Not sure if I need to bump up my bromine baseline or if this is more of a filter issue since I haven't cleaned the cartridge in maybe three weeks. Anyone else dealing with this during summer when the bather load goes way up?
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Hot tub getting cloudy fast with all the summer guests
- Thread starter soaklife
- Start date
Same thing happened to me last summer when my brother-in-law's family visited for a week. Four or five people every evening and I could not keep the water clear no matter how much I shocked it.
Turned out my filter was the main culprit. I pulled the cartridge out and it looked fine to the eye, but once I did a proper chemical soak overnight it was incredible how much gunk came off it. After that the water held up way better even with the extra bather load. Three weeks between cleanings during heavy use is probably pushing it, I try to do mine every ten days or so when people are using it regularly.
That said, you might also want to bump your bromine tabs up a notch just to keep that residual higher going into each use rather than relying so heavily on the shock after. The shock handles the immediate stuff but if your baseline is low to begin with you're starting from behind every time.
Turned out my filter was the main culprit. I pulled the cartridge out and it looked fine to the eye, but once I did a proper chemical soak overnight it was incredible how much gunk came off it. After that the water held up way better even with the extra bather load. Three weeks between cleanings during heavy use is probably pushing it, I try to do mine every ten days or so when people are using it regularly.
That said, you might also want to bump your bromine tabs up a notch just to keep that residual higher going into each use rather than relying so heavily on the shock after. The shock handles the immediate stuff but if your baseline is low to begin with you're starting from behind every time.
Pretty much in the same boat as you right now. I have maybe three or four people in my tub on weekends and the water starts looking off after day two no matter what I do. From what I've been reading, the filter is usually the first place to check because when it gets clogged up it can't pull out all the stuff that extra bathers are introducing. Three weeks without a cleaning during heavy use is probably already past due. I haven't tried the overnight chemical soak that jdawg mentioned yet but I'm going to try it this weekend. Do you just use a regular cartridge cleaner for that or is there a specific kind of soak that works better?
poolmom_sarah
New member
Both honestly - when bather load goes up that much you need to address the filter and the sanitizer at the same time. Three weeks on the cartridge with four people using it regularly is probably your main issue, but even a clean filter wont keep up if your bromine baseline is too low heading into a heavy use weekend.
I'm pretty new to owning a hot tub so take this for what it's worth, but I went through almost this exact same thing a few months ago when we had family over. My filter looked totally fine to me but the water just would not clear up. Ended up doing the chemical soak overnight like someone mentioned above and it made a huge difference, I could not believe what came off of it.
The other thing that helped me was getting my bromine baseline more consistent before a heavy use weekend instead of just reacting after the fact. I started using the aquadoc bromine tablets for hot tubs and it got way easier to keep a steady level without having to guess as much. Found them through mavaquadoc.com actually, which also had some decent info on adjusting for higher bather loads.
At this point I'd say do both, rinse and soak the cartridge and bump your bromine baseline up a bit going into the weekend rather than just shocking after. That combo seems to be what finally worked for me at least.
The other thing that helped me was getting my bromine baseline more consistent before a heavy use weekend instead of just reacting after the fact. I started using the aquadoc bromine tablets for hot tubs and it got way easier to keep a steady level without having to guess as much. Found them through mavaquadoc.com actually, which also had some decent info on adjusting for higher bather loads.
At this point I'd say do both, rinse and soak the cartridge and bump your bromine baseline up a bit going into the weekend rather than just shocking after. That combo seems to be what finally worked for me at least.