Surging when using a ball valve?

I was doing a driveway and pool deck today using my 8 GPM machine, I have a K1 unloader. Using the surface cleaner and the wand everything worked normally. I had one small section to rinse so I unhooked from the SC and when to use the ball valve to rinse. I couldn’t develop any pressure to speak of and it was surging. I dragged my lazy butt back over to get the wand and everything worked normally again. I did notice some very small bubbles in my filter going from the tank to the pump. I have tightened my connections but didn’t get to to test because I had to be at a bid this evening and didn’t get home until after dark. Maybe the bubbles make to obvious but this has not happened in the past hence my questions, Thanks