Foamy Water

[nupoolsoon]

First off, I did a search on TFP and see that foamy water can be related to low CH or contaminants in the water. Neither of these apply to our pool though. My observation of foamy water is that when someone kicks or when I am mixing in the chems with my pool brush and skimming the top of the pool water, the water gets foam/bubbles on top and then they disappear after 10 seconds or so. We also had foamy water last year and I thought it might have been from the lower CH since we have a vinyl pool, but I raised the CH level last week to 200. Can metals in the water cause foaming. This is the one thing I have never tested for and we do have well water.

We only added algaecide back in November and when we opened the pool two weeks ago, the poolguy let the antifreeze go into the pool and said it will dissipate after a few days.

I am baffled.

My readings this am were
FC...6.0
CC...0.0
TC...6.0
pH....7.8 (added 17oz MA to lower)
TA....80
CH....200
CYA...40 (we do not have our SWG operating yet. Plan to add the salt this w/e and will add more stabilizer to adjust between 60-80)

Thx.

 

[JohnT]

What kind of algaecide?

 

[nupoolsoon]

We used polyquat 60 in November, none since then.

 

[JasonLion]

The foam is probably from organic oils from pollen and blown in debris. If you bump the FC level up a little extra that should take care of it in a couple of days.

 

[nupoolsoon]

We have had alot of pollen and little white flowery things over the last week. I did bump the FC up to 8 on Saturday, but I will bump it up to 10-12 tonight. I will keep you posted. Thx

 

[mskovrinskie]

I'm seeing the exact same issue with foam and also believe it is due to high pollen levels and organic debris. We opened early and had a great warm spell in April, but then it sat idle for 3 weeks with the solar cover on it collecting pollen (the cover turned from blue to green!). All of that fell in and immediately I noticed that any kicking action yesterday (first nice swim day in 3 weeks) made foam, though it disappeared in 10 seconds. I checked my levels and everything was spot on (except pH, a little low at 7.1 and not going up like it normally does with my SWCG for some reason).

I did also notice a lot of air bubbles seeming to dissolve out of the water around returns and collecting on the side of the pool. Could this be related? Why would so much air suddenly come out? I can only assume a rapid temperature change with the recent sun plus particles in suspension would cause this, and also contributing to the foam.