Never had this happen before

[rmclain73]

Going to have a very nice and warm weekend here in New England so yesterday I turned on the heat pump. This morning the water rose to a warm enough temp where I could now make the switch over from liquid chlorine to my SWG for the season. Pool math said I needed to add 120lbs of salt. Thats about what I need to add at the start of each season. However today when I added the 3 bags the pool instantly got very cloudy and got a foam like layer on the top. I would describe it like when you first add water to a packet of hot cocoa and you get that white sugary swirl on top. Thats exactly what my pool looked like, foamy swirls. I used my brush to help mix things up, and the water actually cleared within a few minutes. However some of the foamy substance still remains in a few areas from time to time. Looks like shampoo in the water. If I move the brush on the surface it breaks apart instantly, but only to return a couple hours later some place else. I have never seen this happen any time in the past when I have added salt. What do you think caused this to happen today? I assume it will eventually all go away as the salt continues to mix in?

Numbers prior to adding salt:
FC: 5
CC: 0
PH: 7.4
TA: 60
CH: 150
CYA: 40 (going to increase now that I have switched to SWG)

 

[mknauss]

Odd if just the salt. What you see does happen when using the SWCG in cold water and certain pool chemistry conditions.

Plain salt, right?

 

[rmclain73]

Yes, plain salt. It was the Omega 40lb bag. Water at the time of adding was 65 degrees. Water temp is now 82.

 

[rmclain73]

UPDATE: I am pretty sure I have found out what the cause of everything that has been going on the last few days. This morning I figured the salt added yesterday had been mixed around enough so I plugged in my SWG and let it roll. Five mins after it kicked on and started generating chlorine my pool was very cloudy and foamy. Looked more like a hot tub than a pool. I also noticed that my middle return was putting out way more water than usual. I could clearly see it as the water coming from all the returns looked milky. My middle return is where my Polaris connects, its not an eye return. That got me thinking. I was also wondering why my Polaris was not working so well this season. After inspection of the Polaris connection I realized that the restrictor plate that sits behind the connect was missing. Way too much flow was hitting my returns. My pool is pretty small. I usually have 3 returns, but without the restrictor I had 4. It was not cloudy milky water I was seeing, it was bubbles, lot of bubbles being generated by the SWG. I will admit that I like to keep my salt on the high side of the acceptable range. I think with the recent addition of a 120lbs, and the flow issue it was all just hydrogen gas coming from the SWG. Makes sense that the higher I ran the pump, the more foam and bubbles I was getting. Once I put the restrictor plate back on the Polaris connection everything seems to have settled down. I am still able to see bubbles coming from the returns when the SWG kicks on under certain lighting, but its nothing like before. Does not leave the water all foamy. Water looks very clear.