Problems With Enzyme (Or Not)

[apostlej2015]

Like most of us that buy hottubs, I have a plethora of chemicals before I found the nitro method. I do find myself SLOWLY going through all the other chemicals when needed (MPS, Shock, Defender, clarifier, etc).

So....

I also have a huge bottle of Leisure Time Enzyme that simple smells great. Ive used this when I had issues pre-nitro method so didn't really pay attention...it did remove the scum line caused by the SmartChlor system the dealer had me on not working.

Yesterday I simply had an itching to use this up so I added 1oz in my tub and let the jets circulate for 15 minutes. I did not notice anything unusual. This morning I was showing the hot tub to a friend (not using) and turned the jets on and a ton of foam started. Some of the bubbles looked like what water clarifier does but there were no coagulate particulates. I scooped most of this foam out but didn't get all of it. 8 hrs later I used the tub and the water was superb. There was even LESS effervescent foam than before. I have 3 theories on what happened:

1. Leisure Time enzyme is a junk product that foams and I simply scooped most of it out and the FC ate the rest.

2. Since I always have 3-8PPM FC on hand and no one had used the tub after I put Enzyme, several hours later, the FC started oxidizing the enzyme.

3. The enzyme was decomposing the small soap residuals in the tub and when I aerated I got a water clarifier effect. The scooping removed whatever it was decomposing and the FC started oxidizing the enzyme leaving me with really nice water.

Any thoughts/ideas? I am tempted to combat soap foaming with enzyme+scooping from now on BUT I am not convinced this particular enzyme is not a foaming agent.

[chem geek]

Enzymes alone usually won't foam, but it's possible the product has some surfactants that may foam. You normally should not need to use enzymes if you are dosing with sufficient amounts of chlorine. To avoid foaming, avoid getting soap into the spa -- thoroughly rinse any swimsuits you wear in the spa.

If you do get foaming, skim it away from the surface. You can also use a scum ball which will remove surface organics including oils and soap film.

[dlleno]

+ 1 on the surfactants. when I was evaluating purge products (I didn't look at leisure time) I found that one in particular (natural chemistry) appeared to be a combination of enzymes and surfactants -- so much so that the wildly impressive amounts of foam overshadowed the actual effectiveness of the product.

So yea, I can vouch for the surfactant theory from personal experience.