Question about algae

[Dave31410]

Algae is a photosynthetic organism. How can it exist in a light niche? Just wondering.

 

[Texas Splash]

Dave, it's a common and understandable question that could also apply to wedding cake steps, ladder rungs/rails, etc. @JoyfulNoise might like to elaborate, but I suspect it all boils down to the amount of indirect light omitted into these tiny areas and the species of algae. The links below discuss this a bit more.

Does algae need sunlight

Random question here. I've read on this forum conflicting statements. I've seen people say algae needs sunlight to grow. However, based on reading some posts I'm not sure if that's true. Here are some examples. 1) I've read people saying they just bought a house and the pool has been...

www.troublefreepool.com

Does Algae like sun or not?

I know algae thrives in warmer weather, but I heard algae likes shade better than sunlight. What's the truth?

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[JoyfulNoise]

Algae is photosynthetic and, in low light conditions, their growth rates will slow. Light niches allow plenty of light in and algae have various photosynthetic pigments to allow for the efficient capture of light, even in low light conditions. Typically one will find bacterial colonies in darker regions of pools such as inside stairs and ladders. Those areas tend to grow bacteria which need little or no light at all and their biofilms can be a major source of chlorine loss.