New foam in swim spa

[Paul.]

Hi everyone,

I have been using my swim spa since about September/October. Spa was purged with AquaclClarity purge dose before opening.

With my work schedule, i usually use it about once a week with 2 bathers.

For about a month now, I have noticed new foaming when I use the spa.

Nothing has changed in my water chemistry routine.
I use Bleach to supplement the SWG and Dry Acid for pH.
Water is clear

I use once weekly AquaClarity at Slam Level.
I also use Scum Rays that i clean weekly.

Current values are
FC 8ppm
Cc 0.5ppm
pH 7.6
TA 40
CH 150ppm
CYA 30
Salt 2400ppm

Only change I can think of is that I had people over about a month ago. We were 6 bathers.

Any tips for the foam?

Thanks,
Paul

 

[JoyfulNoise]

What kind of bleach are you using? Please list the brand name.

Also, you should Ahhsome spa purge on your spa. All spas, new or used, need an initial deep purge to get rid of biofilms. Even new spas will contaminated from the water left behind when they are factory tested.

You are also at 4 months … time to change the water. Others will swear you can get more time but it’s reply hit or miss.

 

[Methuselah]

Did you clean the filter(s) after your 6 bather party? How often is filter cleaning and how are you doing it? How many hours a day for filter cycles?

1000% second the advice given by @JoyfulNoise...

Foaming can be sweat, soap/lotion residuals, and definitely yes, bio-film related.

Your chemistry looks spot on but as for me, if I see .5 cc I slam-level it or dose it with MPS.

I'm babbling, Matt's not the expert, he's THE expert...

 

[Newdude]

I had lots of foam in my tub and started reusing suits and having the girls keep their heads above water. (The kids were little and would swim under like a small pool). The foaming all but stopped immediately.

That's when I realized what I thought was 'clean' was saturated with leftover laundry sauces and hair products.

Also, just for future reference, I'll +3 on the water change. No two rounds are the same and it will tell you when it's time to replace the water. As soon as it's getting away from you, it's time. It doesn't matter if it's from use, or you got busy for a couple weeks and didn't maintain it as often as would be preferred. When it's done, it's done. You have to listen to the tub the same way you listen to a pool. It won't listen to you, and believe me, thousands of thousands have tried to tell their pools/spas what to do with no success.

 

[JoeSelf]

Are you running the jets for a full cycle after adding the AQ? I get some foaming when dosing and running the jets to mix with air on. I run the full 20 minutes.

Right now I have the air turned off to the jets with light usage. This helps with ph rise. Before I get in I run the jets and will see slight foaming on the first run. Then while we are in after that I do not see foaming.

 

[Jay G]

I had lots of foam in my tub and started reusing suits and having the girls keep their heads above water. (The kids were little and would swim under like a small pool). The foaming all but stopped immediately.

That's when I realized what I thought was 'clean' was saturated with leftover laundry sauces and hair products.

I know it sounds totally gross but, I can't remember the last time I actually washed my bathing suits..... if ever.

 

[Newdude]

I can't remember the last time I actually washed my bathing suits..... if ever.

Well then maybe it's telling you it's time for THAT.

 

[Jay G]

Well then maybe it's telling you it's time for THAT.

It goes in a chlorinated tub and right on the hook to dry..... repeat. That suit only goes in our pool/tub. I have others for the real world.

 

[phonedave]

It goes in a chlorinated tub and right on the hook to dry..... repeat. That suit only goes in our pool/tub. I have others for the real world.

Ours go for about 6 months between washings, at least. We do the same thing - we have dedicated hot tub suits.

 

[phonedave]

Hi everyone,

I have been using my swim spa since about September/October. Spa was purged with AquaclClarity purge dose before opening.

With my work schedule, i usually use it about once a week with 2 bathers.

For about a month now, I have noticed new foaming when I use the spa.

Nothing has changed in my water chemistry routine.
I use Bleach to supplement the SWG and Dry Acid for pH.
Water is clear

I use once weekly AquaClarity at Slam Level.
I also use Scum Rays that i clean weekly.

Current values are
FC 8ppm
Cc 0.5ppm
pH 7.6
TA 40
CH 150ppm
CYA 30
Salt 2400ppm

Only change I can think of is that I had people over about a month ago. We were 6 bathers.

Any tips for the foam?

Thanks,
Paul

You can also try kicking your CH up a bit. I keep mine around 350 ppm.

I use Aqua Clarity as well, and I find it foams a bit (it does have a surfactant in it). Keeping the CH higher and dialing in the dosage really mitigated the foaming that occurred.

Last time I checked I had about the same numbers as you, but with higher CH

FC 5.0
CC 0
pH 7.8
TA 60
CYA 40
CH 360

 

[Mdragger88]

What kind of bleach are you using? Please list the brand name.

Also, you should Ahhsome spa purge on your spa. All spas, new or used, need an initial deep purge to get rid of biofilms. Even new spas will contaminated from the water left behind when they are factory tested.

You are also at 4 months … time to change the water. Others will swear you can get more time but it’s reply hit or miss.

You can use the aqua clarity to purge as it’s basically a liquid form of Ahhsome (there’s instructions on there for how to do it)

 

[Mdragger88]

It may be coming up on time to purge again but aside from that & being sure your bleach isn’t splashless/flavored/or has fabric conditioners, you may want to try using a dab less of the aqua clarity especially if you’re not using the spa much. I find that I only need about 1/2 or 3/4 of the amount it calls for or I get some foaming especially if there’s not been much bather load.

 

[5tan]

Foam is often caused by:
* Washing machine detergent residue on bathing suits
* Residue from shampoo, body wash, deodorants, lotions, moisturizers, sunscreen, other such personal care products

Foam is reduced by:
* Manually scooping out the foam.
* Ensure all bathing suits that enter the water have been very thoroughly rinsed and free of detergent residues.
* Decomposition/destruction of above residues. Solution: Non-foaming enzymes followed by superchlorination. I like the 2L jug of Spa Perfect. You could also try ORB-3 non-foaming spa enzymes (expensive to ship to Canada) or any other recreational water enzymes designed for high temperatures and aeration. Note that enzymes are destroyed by chlorine (esp above 5ppm), or on the flipside, FC is reduced by adding enzymes. What works for me is adding enzymes per label's dosage pre-soak, circulate for 20mins, then adding 3-4ppm FC via 10.X% liquid pool chlorine from Canadian Tire, circulate for 20mins, then post-soak, superchlorinating to shock target (10ppm for me), then ozonating overnight so there is 2ppm FC next night.
* Increasing calcium hardness. If you ever lived in a place with hard water, then you'll know how hard it is to intentionally make foam (lathering up shampoo/soap). Solution: Increase your CH to the 180-200 range.
* Surfactants aka breaking the surface tension. If your water is super clean and oil-free, but has a miniscule amount of soap/lotion/detergent residue, it will foam because your water is so clean and oil-free. Solution: The natural body oils from one bather in a hot tub, and maybe 2 people in a swim spa, should be enough to break normal amounts of detergent residue in the water. You may recall that in cases of aggressively-poured beer resulting in a lot foam, a trick to kill the foam quickly is to tap your nose then tap the foam. If boiling pasta is foaming, a drop of olive oil stops the foaming. Same principle.

When you do all of those foam reduction steps and still can't get it under control, it's time for a drain, Ahhsome purge, and refill.

 

[Methuselah]

Foam is often caused by:
* Washing machine detergent residue on bathing suits
* Residue from shampoo, body wash, deodorants, lotions, moisturizers, sunscreen, other such personal care products

Foam is reduced by:

* Decomposition/destruction of above residues. Solution: Non-foaming enzymes followed by superchlorination. I like the 2L jug of Spa Perfect. You could also try ORB-3 non-foaming spa enzymes (expensive to ship to Canada) or any other recreational water enzymes designed for high temperatures and aeration. Note that enzymes are destroyed by chlorine (esp above 5ppm), or on the flipside, FC is reduced by adding enzymes. What works for me is adding enzymes per label's dosage pre-soak, circulate for 20mins, then adding 3-4ppm FC via 10.X% liquid pool chlorine from Canadian Tire, circulate for 20mins, then post-soak, superchlorinating to shock target (10ppm for me), then ozonating overnight so there is 2ppm FC next night.

Most folk here would rather dump than fight a fight you might not be able to win by adding more unknowns to what I've heard referred to as people soup...

One expert here suggests, well, I'll provide the Link