By: Ayeshah “Ice” Somani

Chlorine has long been the standard choice when it comes to pool care. It’s familiar, inexpensive, and widely used. But for many pool owners, that reliability now comes with questions: Is it healthy to soak in? What happens to the runoff? Does clean water really need to come at an environmental and personal cost?

Card On Guard, an Indiana-based company led by Darren Hickman, is offering a different answer. It has developed a light-based solution that cleans water without chemicals, machines, or electricity. Using its BioPhotonX™ UV Light Conversion Film, Card On Guard has introduced a natural way to maintain safe, clear water by turning sunlight into sanitation.

This isn’t an accessory or a tech gadget. It’s a shift in how we think about water treatment. And it works without changing a single step in a pool owner’s routine.

A Simpler Way to Clean

The company’s flagship products, TUBE and FIN, are simple by design. You drop them into your pool or hot tub and let the sun do the work. One TUBE covers up to 10,000 gallons of water, while each FIN is for 15,000 gallons. It requires no setup, no connection, and no maintenance. Once placed in water, it works silently using ambient light.

That simplicity matters. In the early days of Card On Guard, Hickman learned that leading with technical details didn’t resonate. “I focused too much on the technical details, which alienated people,” he said. Instead of trying to replace chlorine, he designed a product that works with it. By keeping chlorine in its most effective form, Card On Guard allows users to test their water just as they always have and get the same safe readings, using less of the chemical.

Rethinking What “Clean” Feels Like

For generations, the strong scent of chlorine has been linked with cleanliness. But many pool owners are beginning to question what’s in their water and what that means for their skin, their families, and the planet.

Card On Guard doesn’t scare consumers into changing their habits. It simply offers a better option that fits into what they already do. The process is natural, the results are visible, and there’s no steep learning curve. As people look to reduce chemical exposure in other areas of life, like food, skincare, and home cleaning, it makes sense to look at pools and hot tubs through the same lens.

Hickman believes this shift isn’t limited to residential backyards. Commercial cooling towers, municipal water treatment systems, and even vegetable and fruit produce sanitation all rely heavily on chlorine to manage bacteria. That dependence carries costs, financial, environmental, and personal benefits. Card On Guard offers a scalable approach that could reduce chlorine use in these broader systems without disrupting how they operate.

Still, the pool care market has been slow to embrace change. Chlorine is easy to test, cheap to buy, and widely accepted. That’s part of what makes Card On Guard’s strategy effective. Instead of competing with chlorine, it extends its usefulness. It offers cooperation rather than asking pool owners to take sides.

Innovation Without the Learning Curve

Darren Hickman knew the roadblocks facing eco-friendly innovation. After working across industries from agriculture to skincare, he found that good ideas often didn’t fail for lack of effectiveness. Instead, they stumbled because consumers couldn’t adopt them easily, weighed down by high costs or unnecessary complexity.

Card On Guard beat those challenges. There’s no installation. No subscription. No maintenance. Just a drop-in product that works quietly and effectively. That’s what makes it appealing not only to early adopters but also to the average homeowner looking for fewer chemicals, lower costs, and less hassle.

Affordability was always part of the plan. Hickman points out that while companies love to talk about sustainability, many still choose cheap, harmful options because they’re easier to scale. “Eco-friendliness needs to be as high a priority for companies and investors as fair trade and DEI practices,” he said. For small companies like his, the focus must remain on reducing costs while improving impact. That’s the only way change becomes part of the mainstream.

There’s also value in not overcomplicating the message. “There is a large consumer base looking for products to improve personal health, and if there is an environmental benefit, the potential is enormous,” Hickman said. The key is making that benefit easy to adopt. That’s where Card On Guard thrives.

A Quiet Revolution in Water

Card On Guard introduces change without disruption. It stands on what people are already confident with and what makes their lives better. It’s subtle by design, working behind the scenes to lessen chemical use, cut down maintenance, and move water care closer to where it should be: safe, sustainable, and accessible.

That’s what makes this more than a pool product. It’s a proof point that innovation doesn’t have to be flashy to be effective. In the hands of homeowners, it means cleaner water with less effort. In the hands of builders, it hints at a larger opportunity: rethinking how we work with natural resources instead of working around them.

The water looks the same. The pool feels the same. But behind that calm surface, something new is happening. Sunlight is doing the work, quietly and safely. And that’s exactly the kind of future we need.

Cleaner water doesn’t have to mean more chemicals or more complexity. With Card On Guard, you can make a quiet but powerful shift toward safer, simpler water care, starting with just one simple drop-in.