White Foam and Cloudy Water

[Poupoune]

Above ground pool SIMA Liberty (yr 2005) 27' by 52" - 18 800 gallons
Sand filter Jacuzzi Aquamax225 (yr 2004)
Sta-Rite pump 3/4 hp (yr 1995)

I just tested the water with a 6way-HTH test kit

CL 1.2
PH 7.2
TA 50
TH 260
CYA goes up to 30 and I could barely see the black dot

Since we opened on June 7th, here is the total of everything we put in the water:

5 pouches of HTH shock- calcium hypochlorite 75%
8 cups of granular chlorine- calcium hypochlorite 65%
For the first 3 days the chlorine was evaporating very fast and we kept it high around 20-25ppm until it was holding overnight.
Then we switched for bleach because one pool guy said that it would help with the foam.
So far we put in about 3 gallons of No name bleach-sodium hypochlorite 5.25%
Following the pool place advise, we put in 2LBS of S.W.A.T (clarifier oxydizing accelerator) according to the packaging it contains sodium dichloro-s-triazine-trione. They also said after 4 hours to add 2 Klear-Sok in the skimmer and backwashed after 12 hrs
Our pressure gauge goes from 0-30 psi. When the filter is clean the pressure is at about 12psi and it never goes higher than 18psi.
The water return is very strong. Even when the filter should be dirty, we find the return still pretty strong. The filter has been running 24hrs/day since Saturday.
The pool has a white foam (like the head on a beer) floating on top and is cloudy (not green).
We are at a loss with our pool and none of our local pool stores seem to be able to help.
Thks

 

[mbar]

I don't see it on the list, but have you put in any algaecide? I can cause foam. I am not sure of all of the other stuff that went into the water. With a cya of 30 you should have your chlorine at a minimum of 3. I would shock again, don't let the ph go above 7.2 for now. Do you see any bubbles coming out of the return? These are just a few suggestions. I wouldn't add anything else for now. Just keep the bleach at about 10 - 15 for a couple of days and see if it helps - remember every time you add any chemicals to the pool, it effects something. That's why the least amount of chems you add, the better off you are.

 

[Poupoune]

No algaecide yet. We were affraid of adding any more chemicals as other than the foam and haziness, everything else seems fine. It does appear that there is some air in the return line. The pressure is fine and I don't see any water leaks anywhere...

 

[Guest]

sounds like you have a lot of organics in the water. Get the pool to shock level (about 15 ppm) and KEEP IT THERE by tesing your chlorine every few hours and adding more bleach or cal hypo to keep the level at 15 ppm (it will drop) until the foam stops and the water clears. This means testing and adding chlorine at least 3 times a day!

 

[Poupoune]

Still have the white foam this morning. As advised, have raised the chlorine to 20ppm.
Is it possible that our 3/4hp pump is not strong enough for 27' pool?

 

[mbar]

No - a 3/4hp pump should be fine - what is the size of your filter? If you see some air bubbles in the return line, check all of your o rings and make sure they are clean and lubricated. Waterbear is right, it is probably organics that need to be shocked out of existence :grrrr:

 

[JasonLion]

Foaming is almost always organics which chlorine can take care of. If you had a FAS-DPD chlorine test there is a way sure one way or the other. In addition, do you have a CH level? If CH is either very low or very high it might have some bearing on your issues.

 

[Poupoune]

I guest we will need a good test kit...
Just went to the pool place to have water tested
CH 200
PH 7.3
TA 60
TH 150
FC 5++
Again, they were ready to sell me all kinds of products but no more!!! Nothing works!
Even after all the chlorine today, absolutely no change. Still foamy and cloudy.
I will check the filter head again. It is a 250lbs sand filter and the sand was change last year because we had that cloudiness problem.
Should we be worried about the vinyl liner with all that shocking?

 

[JasonLion]

The key to defeating algae is to maintain a uniform and appropriately high FC level with frequent additions of chlorine. That is nearly impossible to do without a good test kit. Without a good test kit your only real recourse is to use way too much chlorine and hope it is enough.

You CH level is very reasonable, no problems there.

 

[mbar]

I see the pool store didn't give you a cya level, and the chlorine level is 5+++? This in not acceptable when trying to maintain a pool. The correlation between cya and chlorine is very important. Cya sets the amount of chlorine you need in your water to keep your pool sanitized. There is a good test kit that is sold on this web site. It will save you a bunch of money in the long run because you will be able to take care of your pool without having to go to the pool store. Also the fact that you are testing your water yourself will give you a basic read, so that you can tell when your water is changing and needs help It is very difficult for anyone to give you the right information on your pool when we don't have the proper water chemistry breakdown.

 

[Poupoune]

Thank you for all your help and suggestions. I have ordered a good test kit and anxiously await its arrival so I can post my own results. My wife spent the day going through the filtration system and found a cracked O-ring between the skimmer and pump. Since it has been replaced, no more white foam on top :-D . The water is still hazy but we are keeping the chlorine up and hoping that the filter will handle the problem now that it is not sucking air!
Thanks again and we will update with new numbers if it does not clear up.