What causes algae?
If you own a pool, and you keep water in it, you most likely have had to deal
with algae at least once. It's pretty much a fact that if you have a pool,
you will also have algae. So what is it? Well, algae is a plant that grows
quickly in warm water with plenty of sun. As they are a plant, they use
photosynthesis like most plants to grow. Thus if they have sunlight, they can
grow.
Where does it come from?? Well, algae spores can end up in your pool from
many different sources, including but not limited to rainfall, the wind
blowing the spores in, or even by a swimmer from one pool that has algae
swimming in your pool without washing their suit. Your pool equipment can
even harbor algae.
So why is it that when you go to bed one night and get up the next morning, it
seems like algae has come out of nowhere and taken over your pool? How is
this possible? Well, if the conditions are just right for the algae, the
algae can grow very rapidly. As stated above, algae like sunlight, so it just
doesn't seem right that it can grow over night, but somehow it seems to. The
other conditions like are nitrates and/or plenty of carbon dioxide in the
water. As previously stated, algae uses photosynthesis to grow, so they can
use the carbon dioxide as food, and expel oxygen. Other things that help
algae get a grip on your pool are your chemicals being out of balance, the
water being warm, poor circulation and poor filtration/sanitation.
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