Pool SLAM foaming

[RickAstley]

Hey everyone! At the end of last year I had other things going on and let the pool get away from me a little bit, then made the horrible decision to just let it sit and fester over the long winter.. fast forward to two weeks ago, I had this nasty green pool you couldn't see half an inch into, covered with nasty leaves all over the bottom of the pool. I've followed SLAM procedures and have gotten to this point. All the bleach I've used has been Kroger brand unscented (concentrated 6%) or HDX liquid chlorine - too my knowledge, my wife bought and put in bleach one time but that was at the start of the process 2 weeks ago. I don't know why the pool has this layer of foam is in so cloudy. The hottub doesn't show as much foam, but is still cloudy. All test results show normal ranges. Any tips on what to do?

FC 21
CC 1.5
CH 250
TA 140
CYA 40

 

[mknauss]

Can we assume you have your own test kit? Can you show what you are using in your Signature?

Foam like that can happen when you have ammonia build up in the water. But if you have CYA (have you added any) and your FC is not disappearing that should be gone. The next most likely cause is either the use of algaecides or bleach with additives.

 

[RickAstley]

Updated signature - TF100 test kit with speedstir

I added this to bring up the CYA before the SLAM: Natural Chemistry Instant Water Conditioner 1 Gal

I think I may have had ammonia, but never tested for it. I just know that I have put A LOT of bleach in here. Probably over 30 121oz jugs at this point.

Have not used algaecides or bleach with additives to my knowledge. If bleach with additives was used it would have been very early in the slam, and the foam didn't really start up until about halfway into it (1 week without, 1 week with).

 

[mknauss]

Maintain SLAM level FC (your test above is quite a bit above that) and things will clear.

Have you cleaned your filter lately?

 

[JoyfulNoise]

Most retail bleach is manufactured by a few chemical suppliers. KIK corp is probably the biggest. They all use the "ChloroMax" technology that Clorox patented and then licensed out. So even the store brands like Target or Walmart will say their bleach is regular unscented, etc and somewhere on the bottle will be the phrase "Fabric Protection Technology" (or some combination of words like that). So my guess is the Krogers had additives and the foaming is from that.

On the downside, you almost assuredly had ammonia in the water from letting the green pool sit all winter. So that forced you to use lots of liquid chlorine. Partially draining the pool and refilling with fresh water would have helped to reduce the ammonia load. Not much to do about it now just stop using the store bleach. Go find a pool store or Walmart that sells 10% liquid chlorine for pools, and use that. Eventually the foaming will subside but it may take a while.

 

[RickAstley]

I have cleaned the filter 3 or 4 times. Probably needs another cleaning and will tackle that tomorrow morning.

Thanks for the info on the retail bleach. Will stick to the HDX liquid chlorine from here on out.

Thanks everyone! I'll keep plugging away. Now to just remind myself to never let it get this bad again.. maintaining is so much easier than fixing..

 

[YippeeSkippy]

Now to just remind myself to never let it get this bad again.. maintaining is so much easier than fixing..

Tru'dat!