“Just a couple of comments on a very thorough review of what’s currently available to existing and potential pool owners. Please note that all what follows is what I believe, and hopefully represents a good approximation to the truth…

Algae: Microscopic organisms that use nutrients in water, especially nitrogen and phosphorus. Unicellular, planktonic algae (’green-water’) forms when there’s sufficiently high nutrient and light levels and when the temperature is high enough. Pond and aquarium owners control (kill) it by passing the water through a tube that also contain a light tube/lamp that emits ultra-violet light.

Another way to keep the water clear is to pass the water through a container in which daphnia (water fleas) live and cannot escape from (there’s a gauze filter with a mesh size smaller than the fleas). They chomp away at the highly nutritious algae (principal food supply for plankton, the basic food of pelagic fish – i.e. the ones which use the upper layers of the seas/oceans) and thereby multiply and, if there’s enough of them in the container, clear the water. When there’s no more algae, they die – when algae start to multiply again, so do the daphnia. The container needs cleaning every so often. With regard to your comment that this form of algae grow on the structure of pools – maybe, but the real activity is going on in the water.

I’ve seen pond water with the opacity of pea soup. However, the classic demonstration to show kids that ‘ordinary’ (i.e. tap water) is full of nutrients and isn’t simple H2O is to put a glass bottle of it on a warm window sill in the daylight and wait. You’ll soon get a green deposit on the inside of the glass.

There are also filamentous algae which are a real problem (correctly described as blanket weed), but so is blue-green algae – you know, the primordial stuff. These are more likely to be in natural swimming pools, reservoirs and lakes, so not likely to be of any interest to you. Hope this helps. I’m tempted to ask what you are taking so much effort for, surely not simply to preserve yourself for a ripe old hedonistic age?!

Love, T

P.S. Sorry! I’ve copied and pasted this, and it seems you have a lot of unwanted indents with the message. Hope you can edit them out.”

Oxidizing agents include bromine, chlorine and saline (which is converted to cl), with chlorine as the most common and cheapest. Bromine, on the other hand, although low on odor, is extremely hard on hair and skin. Many other chemicals are added to this mix and they too may be damaging as well. These chemicals, in particular, coat the hair and skin, and is difficult to remove. Chlorine is harsh also, but by far the most gentle, that I have found is the saline pool.

I have heard the ionizing pools are great for sanitizing/cleansing however, the use of copper, while environmentally sound, will turn hair, particularly blonds, a rather neon shade of green. The use of ample amounts of chelators in shampoos and other products can help “green hair”.
dr. katharine