Is it safe to swim with a little algae?

[microscopes]

My pool is blue and clear and can easily see to the bottom.

However, I just noticed there is a little bit of algae on a section of wide wall and also on one step of the stairs.

I put 2 gallons of 8% bleach into the pool which raised FC to 25 and CC to 0.

Is it safe for my kids to swim with the algae in there?

 

[atttech-2]

Generally we say it is safe to swim if the water is clear up to SLAM level so a small amount of algae is not a problem however if your CYA level is at 60 or lower the FC concentration would be higher than I would be comfortable with.

 

[microscopes]

Generally we say it is safe to swim if the water is clear up to SLAM level so a small amount of algae is not a problem however if your CYA level is at 60 or lower the FC concentration would be higher than I would be comfortable with.

Yeah I'm OK with the FC because CYA is at 100.

I'm just concerned about the algae.

 

[jeffchap]

Algae by itself isn't really harmful, AFAIK. People swim in rivers and lakes all the time, and they are full of algae. The problem is that if your chlorine is low enough to allow algae to grow, it's too low to kill off the other pathogens (bacteria, viruses, and amoebae) that might also be growing in your water.

 

[pooldv]

It is fine to swim with a little algae, as long as FC is above minimum for your CYA to kill pathogens that can lead to person to person disease transmission.