Please help...never had this problem before

[Mattcef]

Hey guys. I have a really weird issue wit my pool...white suds keep building on top of the pool. Looks like brown soap suds and they just won't go away. Anyone heard of this before?

[aylad]

HI, and welcome to the forum!!

Did you add any type of chemical just before the suds started? Have you added any algaecides other than polyquat, which commonly cause foaming? How about the use of tile/vinyl cleaners or any other cleaning product other than chlorine? Is it a chlorine or bacquacil pool?

If you'll give us more information about your pool, pump/filter, and chems you're using it will help us give you better answers to your question....

[Mattcef]

It's a chlorine pool, recently added algaecide on Monday. It's been like this for abou a week now.

[Mattcef]

It's a chlorine pool. I added algaecide on monday actually but it's the same algaecide I used all last year. It's been shocked and all other chemicals seem to be ok. The suds just keep coming back no matter what I try.

[aylad]

Algaecide usually is the culprit. Every year the formulations of lots of those chemicals changes, and they don't always point that out on the label. Your best bet is to chlorinate and filter it out. What method are you using to test your water? Can you post a set of test results taken with a drop-based kit for us to look at? (No strips!!).

Janet

[Mattcef]

I'll try to post test results tomorrow. Thanks for you're help. How long does this usually last? And is it worth it adding a defomer?

[Watermom]

There is no way to know how long it will take to break down that algaecide. I wouldn't suggest adding the defoamer. Sometimes you create a vicious cycle -- adding product #2 to fix the problems caused by adding product #1, adding product #3 to fix the problems caused by adding product #2, ........

Give the chlorine time to clear it and keep your filter running. What type and size of filter do you have and what size of pump?

[PoolDoc]

Running very high chlorine levels will break the algaecide down faster . . . and help eradicate the algae you were trying to deal with in the first place.

But . . . you need to read the "Best Guess" page linked in my signature, to understand what "really high levels of chlorine" means in practice . . . and then you'll need to read the test kit info page (also in my sig) so you can actually act on that knowledge.