Creative Water Solutions

Natural Water Treatment for Pools, Spas, and more

Sunrise to sunset…the hum of the city…the twinkling of the city lights…Life’s better…sitting on your very own high-rise deck atop the Park in your very own SpaBerry. Soak away the day’s stresses…enjoy some time with a loved one…enjoy the view…and truly…Live on the Park!
For more information go to http://www.liveonthepark.com or www.thespaberry.com

The Park has just taken “Urban Living” a major step forward and have done what no other high-rise in North America has ever done before. A first for Calgary…a first for Canada…and first for the world…The Park is raising the bar for the urban lifestyle by offering personal luxury spas from SpaBerry to over 100 decks.
“We wanted to give our customers who have been asking us for spas what they wanted. The SpaBerry fits perfectly into our clients’ lifestyles and is designed specifically with downtown condo living in mind” says Richard Lobsinger…VP of Sales & Marketing for the Park
“We are very excited to partner with Lake Placid Developments Inc (LPDI) on their upscale Urban Development, the Park” says Jeff Knight…President of SpaBerry Personal Luxury Spas. LPDI is setting the bar for other high-rise developments throughout the world with this project!

Watch movie online The Transporter Refueled (2015)

We have all walked into a swimming pool facility, health club, or small motel and immediately recognized that “chlorine” smell emanating from the pool. We have grown to accept the odor and the other side effects of chlorine disinfection as the price paid to have a sanitary swimming pool. The odor and many of these side effects are not actually caused by the chlorine, but are the by-products of chlorine disinfection. Chlorine and bromine are common aquatic system disinfectants and are very effective at killing bacteria. They, and their halogen brothers fluorine and iodine, are all effective sanitizers because they are strong oxidizers (oxidation is the way bacteria is killed). Halogens, like chlorine, are all one electron short of filling their outer electron shell. They are always looking for another compound from which to steal an electron (oxidize). However, their oxidative power is not limited to just attacking bacteria.
Disinfection by-products (DBP) are formed when chlorine oxidizes organic compounds. These organic compounds are found in bacteria and many are critical for the bacteria to live and thrive. However, a lot of organic compounds are naturally present in our water, and putting people into the water introduces even more of these materials (dead skin cells, sweat, urine, etc). When chlorine interacts and oxidizes these organic compounds, it results in a tremendous amount of newly created compounds…but, these now contain chlorine (DBP). We generally classify some of these as combined chlorine or chloramines. It has now been established that many of these DBP are toxic, and while most remain in the water, some are quite volatile and released from the water into the air (i.e. chloroform). These DBP are what we recognize as that “chlorine” smell.
In short, chlorine is going to cause a reaction with anything in its path, and some of these reactions are going be toxic. So, that funky “pool smell” isn’t the chlorine. It’s the dark side of chlorine’s work.
Research at Embro Corporation (Creative Water Solutions’ sister company) is actively investigating the process by which DBP are formed, and the levels of DBP in swimming pools and spas. Our early results have demonstrated that Sphagnum moss leads to a reduction in DBP levels within the first few months of use in a swimming pool. Pointing to the importance of this research are the increasing numbers of scientific articles documenting production of toxic DBP in aquatic systems. They illustrate increased health problems for those experiencing high exposure to these compounds, including competitive and avid recreational swimmers. Stay tuned to our newsletter and website for the newest results of our research in this area.

If you are a new or returning PoolNaturally® user, here are our suggestions for a more natural pool opening:

Spring Start Up/Opening

Install the PoolNaturally® system at the beginning of the pool season for best results, but better late than never! Returning PoolNaturally users report much easier pool start up the following summer. Excellent opening results are seen even if users installed PoolNaturally as late as August of the last pool season.

Start with a fresh filter

Remove filter media (sand, DE) and replace with fresh media if you are just starting the PoolNaturally system. If you have a cartridge filter, for best results replace it or please ensure the cartridge is well cleaned. Why? If you are new to PoolNaturally, your pool has years of accumulation of organic contamination and the filter will contain a large amount of it. The easiest way to get rid of much of it fast is to change out the media or replace the cartridge filter.
If you used PoolNaturally last season, be sure to backwash the sand filter after filling your pool with water. Place cleaned or new cartridge filters back in the system.
Less is more!
When starting/opening your pool, know what you are putting in it! If you used PoolNaturally last summer, don’t start by adding shock, algaecides and cyanuric acid. Expect that your pool will start up with a minimum amount of additives.
-Add chlorine to get desired free chlorine.
-Adjust pH, alkalinity, hardness , and CYA to recommended levels below:
• Free chlorine 1-2 ppm
• pH 7.2-7.6
• Alkalinity 40-120
• Hardness 200-300
• CYA *less than 20 ppm
-Once water has been balanced, add PoolNaturally® PoolRefills to PoolNaturally® contact chamber according to the dosage chart below. It is important that once there is enough water in your pool to start the pumps, get it balanced and add PoolRefills as soon as possible, to begin experiencing the conditioning effects of moss.

How Your Pool Will Change With PoolNaturally®
Depending on the age and how much your pool is used, there could be a lot of material (including scale) that is shed from the pipes, pumps, heater, and pool surfaces – this is evidence that the PoolNaturally system is working! Use a pool vacuum to get rid of the larger particles that settle out in the pool and clean or backwash filters to get rid of the smaller particles.
Maintain 1-2 ppm of chlorine – you won’t need anything higher. With PoolNaturally®, your pool is no longer precariously on the edge of ‘going bad.’ It will take less chlorine to maintain this 1-2 ppm free available chlorine, so turn down your automatic chlorinator or salt generator to the lowest settings.

In my last blog we discussed organic contamination and how it affects your pool, spa, home, really anywhere water, bacteria and a surface come in contact. It is an important new discovery that is helping us understand how to keep water clean, safe, crisp, clear and provide a pleasant experience. You can see a newly posted, short video about organic contamination and Sphagnum moss on our website.

How do I get my spa, or pool to be organic contamination free and keep it that way?

So the question remains, how do I get my spa, or pool to be organic contamination free and keep it that way? First, if you haven’t done anything to remove the organic contamination or keep it from forming, then be assured you have organic contamination on every surface. It is very difficult to remove organic contamination once it has formed.
The best example of how difficult it is to remove organic contamination is the tartar on you teeth. That is organic contamination and all the brushing, flossing, and mouthwash use will not remove the tartar. Your dental hygenist has to scrape it off with sharp (an often painful) tools. It would take toxic acid to remove the organic contamination. That would destroy your teeth and gums along with the organic contamination. Scrubbing the surface of your pool or spa might remove some of the organic contamination, but not all of it. If it isn’t totally removed, any remaining will re-infect all the surfaces and restore the organic contamination in hours. All the interior surfaces of your spa or pool are impossible to clean.

Spa System Flush
I know of one chemical that is EPA certified to remove organic contamination. We tested it. It did remove some of the organic contamination, but it off gassed a chemical or chemicals that were very toxic to my lungs and all those in the same room. We found a spa flush that claims to have an effect on organic contamination and it does break organic contamination free from the spa and doesn’t cause any severe side effects. This is supplied in our SpaNaturally® kit (Spa System Flush).
Soon we will be releasing a new solution that is even better at removing organic contamination with no side effects. We test these products in our laboratory on organic contamination grown in cultures and then also test them in the field.

The bad news for spa owners is that they need to flush the spa to remove organic contamination whether it is new or old.

Here’s the problem: When spas are made at the factory they are tested for leaks by filling them with water from tanks in the factory. organic contamination grows in these tanks so the water transfers bacteria and organic contamination to the new spa. It is impossible to remove all the water from the spa. It is then shrink wrapped and stored. Everywhere there is water there is organic contamination that dries and hardens as the spa is stored.

brand new spa being flushed!
When you refill your new spa the dried organic contamination comes back to life and spreads throughout your spa water. Another fact is that the more jets in your spa, the more organic contamination there is also. Each jet is fed by a tube made of plastic that comes from a manifold. The more jets, the more pipe, the more places where water collects and forms organic contamination.
I proved this by using a long scope like those I used to use for colonoscopy. In a new spa, the tubes leading to the jets were clean until they curved. Along the bottom arc of the curve the organic contamination started and continued until the tube curved back either up or down.
Another place where organic contamination forms is in the housing of pumps. These are wet tested in the factory and have the same problem as the spa jets. In fact, I recently had to replace my circulation pump in my own spa that is organic contamination free. Three days later the water became cloudy and started to foam. I flushed the spa and black organic contamination came out with the flush. After flushing the spa returned to crystal clear water, with no foaming. I then checked other pumps and found black organic contamination in the pump housings.
Heat also affects organic contamination formation. Bacteria and organic contamination are very temperature sensitive. The closer the temperature of the water gets to 100°F the higher the bacteria growth rate and therefore the more organic contamination forms. Lower temperatures inhibit (but don’t stop) bacterial growth.

How much flushing is needed?

Depending on the amount of organic contamination in the spa, more than one flush may be needed to completely remove all the dried biofilm. I needed to flush my new spa seven times (using our current flush) before it stayed clean and clear.
You are probably asking the same question I did while this problem was being understood and researched. Could the spa manufacturers make a organic contamination free spa? I know they can. We have been working with spa manufacturers to flush their water tanks and treat the water with moss so they don’t transfer organic contamination to the spa when it is wet tested. So far, the results are very encouraging. When we flush the new spas, very little organic contamination is removed even after months of storage.
In review. organic contamination coats all spa and pool surfaces in contact with water. It is very difficult to remove. Using the right chemicals and system can remove organic contamination. All spas, new and old must be flushed. On the horizon, biofilm free new spas are possible.
Next, I’ll talk about pools and preventing organic contamination from forming.
David Knighton, MD