If you have been fortunate enough to witness a good display of bioluminescence in the ocean, [link] you will appreciate the ethereal beauty of the effect. Now you can bring the ephemeral loveliness home for you and your guests to enjoy on those warm summer nights.

Simply purchase our concentrated 5 litre bucket of specially selected mixture of dinoflagellates and algae then pour into your pool at dusk before your guests arrive.

The organisms will last for a few hours before the chlorine does them in and every swimmer will look positively elfin as they swim through the water. Another party planned next week? Buy another 5 litres of glowing happiness.
-- AusCan531, Dec 20 2013

Bioluminescent Surfing Video http://www.youtube....watch?v=uUbIWqiynBY
One of those things that cameras can't really capture as well as real life. [AusCan531, Dec 20 2013]

No UV Swim_20and_20Tan_20at_20the_20Same_20Time
See my comments to see why the UV version wouldn't work. [MechE, Dec 22 2013]

I've stood and swum in a bioluminescent sea during a spectacular thunderstorm, and it is indeed awesome.

Not sure that they'd survive more than a few minutes in a pool - the osmotic shock would probably kill them before the chlorine - but perhaps I'm wrong, or maybe there are freshwater bioluminescent beasts.

We could engineer a freshwater organism to be bioluminescent, but making it respond to shear/turbulence would be difficult.
-- MaxwellBuchanan, Dec 20 2013


You will almost certainly need a heated pool, what with those organisms being tropical and all.
-- Vernon, Dec 20 2013


You might have better luck with the "sea walnut" a comb jelly (non-stinging), which can survive at least somewhat in fresh water, and as a larger animal might survive the chlorine a little longer.

It wouldn't produce the same sort of halo, but each swimmer would be followed by a trail of sparkles.

And as far as temperature, bioluminescent tides have been reported off Cape Cod (midsummer, admittedly), and Sea Walnuts are year round in the Chesapeake.
-- MechE, Dec 20 2013


Are these organisms deadly-poisonous or is that just the red-tide Dinoflagellates?
-- Cuit_au_Four, Dec 20 2013


Putting aside this mini-genocide of living things, how about some small white plastic spheres and some uv lights?

Or phosphorous? Just remember to rinse the guests off after they get out of the pool.
-- not_morrison_rm, Dec 21 2013


No no no. The point of the dinoflagellates is that they only produce light when sheared (ie, in areas where the water is being agitated). So the swimmer is surrounded by, and leaves behind, a luminous halo.
-- MaxwellBuchanan, Dec 21 2013


Look all you need is pattern recognition and tracking UV lights...

<Cranks out miniature Sea-Shepard to get protect the plankton>
-- not_morrison_rm, Dec 21 2013


//to protect the plankton//

Ummm, aren't the Japanese protecting the plankton and the Sea Shepherd bunch protecting the whales?
-- AusCan531, Dec 22 2013


I'm bunning with the stipulation that whatever you use doesn't mess with your naughty bits.

When I was a kid there was this stuff called "Mr Bubble" you'd pour in the bath that would make it feel like you were peeing fire afterwords. I think they've since changed it but I'm pretty sure they used plutonium in the first formula.
-- doctorremulac3, Dec 22 2013


A good budget version would be to fill a pool with fluorescein and light it with blue lamps from the side, would be pretty cool to swim in a big green-glowing pool.
-- bs0u0155, Dec 23 2013



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