Copper sounds like the perfect pool hack: add a “mineral system,” fight algae, and use less chlorine. The reality is more complicated, and that gap between marketing and chemistry is where stains, green hair, and unsafe water conditions show up. We’re joined by industry legend Bob Lowry, whose voice and teaching still carry weight across the pool industry, to give a clear-eyed answer to the question pool owners ask every year: is copper safe to use in a swimming pool?

We talk through how copper ionizers and mineral technology products work, what copper actually does well (algae control, some bacteria suppression), and why the “copper replaces chlorine” idea breaks down. A big theme is oxidation: copper doesn’t burn off sunscreen, sweat, and other bather waste, so the pool still needs an oxidizer, and chlorine remains the most practical tool for that job. We also dig into real-world safety, including bather-to-bather disease transmission and why copper is too slow to be your primary sanitizer, plus what the EPA requires when ionizers are used.

Then we get hands-on with the problems people see most: copper staining on plaster and the green-hair myth. We explain how copper gets into the water (including trichlor tabs in skimmers attacking copper equipment), how sequestrants degrade over time, and a smarter “one-two punch” for stain treatment using ascorbic or citric acid alongside products that actually remove metals from the water. If you want fewer surprises and better pool water chemistry, subscribe, share this with a pool owner who loves shortcuts, and leave a review telling us what copper problem you’ve run into most.

We sit down with industry legend Bob Lowry and get honest about copper in pool water, from mineral systems to copper algaecides, and why the chemistry can turn on you fast. We break down what copper is good at, what it cannot do, and how to fix copper staining without draining the pool.  
• copper mineral systems and how they add copper to the water  
• copper’s algae control benefits and why the effective level is close to the staining level  
• why copper does not oxidize bather waste like sunscreen, sweat, and urine  
• bather-to-bather disease transmission and why copper is not fast enough  
• the EPA position on ionizers requiring chlorine alongside them  
• the real cause of green hair and why chlorine is not to blame  
• copper algaecides, built-in sequestrants, and how chlorine and sunlight degrade them  
• a chlorine-first approach to killing algae and why it is cheaper and simpler  
• stain removal without draining using ascorbic or citric acid plus metal removal bags  
• tracking the metal source including tabs in skimmers, incoming water, equipment, water velocity, and new surfaces with iron  
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