No matter how many chemicals I put in, I can’t clean my Spa water

We sometimes get calls from clients complaining that their spa water is green, cloudy, dirty or any combination of the three.  They’ve tried shocking, adding extra bromine, maybe even changing the water, yet it still remains dirty.
The most common cause of water problems, aside from lack of proper maintenance, is a bad filter.  You can try cleaning the filter with a hose, but sometimes no matter what you do the filter won’t come clean.  The good news is that a hot tub filter is relatively inexpensive to replace.
If you’ve let the problem go on too long, the interior surface of your tub may be stained as well.  The best way to remove the stains are to drain the tub and wash it down with the mildest bleach solution you can make that will take care of the problem.  We start with a cup of bleach in a 4 gallon bucket.  Make sure you wear gloves to protect your skin, wear goggles to protect your eyes and wear a mask to avoid breathing in the fumes. There’s no need to rinse the tub out afterwards, just fill it up.  The bleach is very similar to the chlorine shock that you use in the tub, and it will dissipate fairly quickly.  (Even the smallest tubs hold 300 gallons of water, so a cup of bleach in 300 gallons of water is less concentrated than the chlorine shock you put in).  Still, it would be a smart idea to use your test strips to check the pH of the water before going in.