About three years ago, I added copper algecide to my pool. I had the same problems with recurring algae spots that kept coming back no matter what I did (I wasn't pool schooled then). I did know about the possibility of staining from the copper but decided staining would be worth it to put up with instead of constantly fighting the algae that had not 9, but 99 lives. At that time I didn't know what else to do.
After adding the dose, the water had a tint of a beautiful blue . . Great! No problem there. By the end of the season, there was no staining and the algae had not come back since adding the copper. When we pulled out the ladders to put them away for winter, we saw that the white plastic steps had tinted to a light blue, which was no problem to us either. A closer exam of all the white plastics in the pool (skimmer plate, light housing) showed they all had taken on a light tint of blue. Still not a problem, especially since that darned algae was gone.
But - (you knew this coming, right?! -or did you think I was here to "sell" copper algecide haha) One evening I went to color my hair to refresh it from the fading I get from all the swimming I do (no, my hair never turned green) - and after I put the color on, all of a sudden I could feel heat coming from the top of my head. I had to pull up on the sections to expose it to air to get it to dissipate - which it did, but every time I added more color cream it would heat up again. My heart was pounding . . I quickly opened the instruction sheet and found a section that said don't use this product if you've used a metal product (or something like that, can't remember the exact wording) in your hair. I've been coloring for lots of years and this is the first time I've ever had a reaction like that. BTW, my hair was fine afterward, but I sure was scared. And for the next several colorings, my hair heated up for each one, then it gradually lessened and went away.
The story doesn't end here: the following season when swimming began again, I developed an odor of rust in my hair that I couldn't remove no matter what I did. Every time I moved my head I got a whiff of it and figured since I could smell it then everyone around me must have been able to. It was horrible - I tried shampooing over and over - used Ultra Swim shampoo and nothing worked . .
I blame it on the copper algecide. I just hope that any guests who swam in our pool didn't end up with an issue with their hair, either.
So, in order to control any algae issues in my pool I'm sold on chlorine and chlorine only.
Best,
Jan
