Foam in pool after cleaning filter

[melbalbaldwin]

I removed phosphates with a remover recommended by pool store.After the pool ran for 48 hours I cleaned my cartridge filter with Kleen It and rinsed thoroughly. (I had intentions of treating some metal stains and removing metals from the water and this was the first part of the process but the SWG was never turned off so the chlorine was at 8 after those 48 hours so I aborted the metals intervention). Obviously we did not rinse the cartridges well enough because since I turned the fountains on we could have a foam party in my pool. The store said it will be ok but then again, they recommended the product so I really want to ask you all.
PH 7.4
Ch 7 (its high but will come down as the sun starts to shine eventually)
CC .5
TA 120
CH 225
CYA 65
The sides and bottom seem slippery but the water is clear.
I have not shocked the pool since opening. I added Algaeside 60(from wall mart) non foaming and no metal ingredients.
The temperature is a wonderful 58 degrees.
I don't want to do anything else until I get some direction.

 

[JVTrain]

The phosphate remover is unnecessary if you're maintaining proper CYA/FC levels. Yes, phosphates are food for algae, but it if you maintain proper sanitation, who cares? What phosphate remover did you use exactly?

Likely the foaming is from residual filter cleaning agent. Foaming should go away over time as you maintain proper sanitation. Next time, I'd just clean your carts by soaking in either automatic dishwasher detergent or TSP (trisodium phosphate).

 

[duraleigh]

Welcome to the forum. ,

I agree!! Just emphasizing what jvtrain suggests in his very informative post.

 

[melbalbaldwin]

I normally don't worry about the phosphates but the chlorine was going to be at 0 for a while because we were going to try to remove the metals and stains... so the thought was to get rid of the food to help keep the algae outbreak to a minimum.
Thanks for your reply!
The remover was Pool Tonic by Bioguard
Are there any clarifiers or water cleaners that are good? I always feel like even though my numbers are good the bottom and sides are slippery. There is never any more than .5 CC and once in a while the floor will be perfect but then get slippery again. Its weird I know and I thought maybe there was a sweet spot of FC and PH that I needed to maintain but I can never find it.
I appreciate all your help and this is the greatest website. Every time I stray from your advice I have problems.

- - - Updated - - -

One more thing. I was going to soak in Auto dish detergent but I couldn't find any with phosphates in them. I thought that's what I needed to really clean the filter. In Maryland they must have made them obsolete and all were phosphate free.

- - - Updated - - -

 

[JVTrain]

Understandable to use a phosphate remover and/or an algaecide (Polyquat 60 only!) when you know you may be dropping your FC for a metals treatment. Sorry, I read too quickly and didn't consider that.

Clarifiers, etc. won't help with occasional slippery walls. More frequent brushing, robot or cleaner operation and better circulation will help with that as long as you're maintaining proper FC/CYA balance.

As an aside, how is your pH rise at that TA? Are you working on getting it lower or is your pH fairly stable?

EDIT for detergent comments:

They eliminated phosphates from nearly all dishwasher detergents quite a while back. You can still purchase TSP directly from a hardware store or perhaps even online.

 

[melbalbaldwin]

Is that TA too high for salt water? I fight my PH all the time. The TA was much lower initially but the pool store made me have it in a certain range for the stain remover. Its so cold here though I am not sure if the cold water temp affects anything. Am I too far off?
I was initially trying to lower a high PH

 

[JVTrain]

Our recommended levels here for an SWG pool would be 60-80 ppm TA. Users have seen lesser problems with pH rise at those levels but still maintain adequate pH buffering capacity. Pool School - Recommended Levels SWG systems themselves inherently create more aeration in the pool by the way they produce chlorine and aeration is what drives pH upward (carbon dioxide outgassing). At lower TA levels, this outgassing rate is reduced.

See here if you actively want to reduce TA: Pool School - Lower Total Alkalinity Otherwise just lower your pH to 7.2 whenever it climbs above 7.8 and it will come down over time. Then you can find the sweet spot TA level for your pool.