Does anyone have any tricks for keeping the algae from going crazy in the water troughs?
I’ve heard that adding a piece of copper pipe can help but does it actually work?
I dump and scrub them daily but every morning theres a green film again. If I only dump, but not scrub because I’m in a hurry, the next day I’ve got slime again.
I bleached them yesterday. Just a few green spots in the bottoms today. I’m not thrilled at the idea of regularly pouring bleach water on my pastures though. And, as I’m not so careful, I’ll quickly have white spots on all my clothes 
are these black Rubbermaid tanks?.. I have painted a few with aluminum paint to reduce heat build up
They’re no-name dark green heavy duty plastic.
Aluminum paint…hmm. Does one find that at Lowes or Home Depot?
yes either of those …if you have an Ace Hardware, check their pricing as I am finding Ace has decided they are going to attack these big box stores by offering common items at better pricing.
Where I am coming from is the difference between dark color and reflective colors …I used to work on industrail equipment that was exposed to the sun. The dark colored items would build up enough heat just from the sun to exceed the internal components tested/approved heat rating. I just painted those operators gray, reduced internal temps by 30 degrees
I have two small tanks that are out way away in the pasture that I pained which appears to help, at least for us.
Have you tried those burlap algae bags? They are inexpensive, and worth a try!
We use white barrels. They were for juice. We cut them down. To clean: dump them, pour a bit of bleach down the sides and roll it around on the bottom, let it sit for a couple of minutes, rinse well. It really minimizes algae… You’re using maybe a quarter cup of bleach. I don’t think it will hurt your pasture. Your clothes are a different matter.
Are you sure it’s algae? I find algae hard to believe since you’re cleaning the tubs every day:)
Depending where you live, that green stuff could very well be tree pollen. It shows up every year, at,this time, in my area but some years worse than others.
I have seen it so heavy that it looks like green fog at night and I have to dump my water tubs every day, like you’re doing. It will also leave a green film on our vehicles that have to sit outside – my car stays in the garage,mlollol
It showed up last weekend but seems on the lighter side this year ---- just leaving minor green rings above the water lines in the tubs. It will disappear in a few weeks.
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We have goldfish for our 300 gal tank…the algae isn’t totally gone but they keep it down to a manageable amount. Our tank only gets the morning sun. Been doing this for 25 years and I really prefer a biological control over using chemicals on my water tank.
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I either put my trough in the shade, or, if out in the sun and I can’t empty it every day (such as when I have someone do chores for me and they fill it to the top…I only fill it about 1/3 the way so I can empty and refill with cold water daily), I put a tiny bit of bleach in the water.
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What @walkinthewalk posted was my thought for spring time. Though you might be somewhere that it is well past pollen season.
I have a typical black water trough that has direct sun for a good chunk of the day and we wash with Listerine a couple of times per week and do not have a green slime issue at all.
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I had an aquarium bubbler/filter that was no longer in use. Popped it in the 100 gallon water trough last summer, and it does a decent job of keeping the algae diminished. Doesn’t prevent it altogether, but certainly increases the length of time between dumping and scrubbings.
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I’ve tried a number of remedies over the years on my farm. The one that worked best and consistently was an all natural packet that you put in a weighted container that sits on the bottom of the tank. Not cheap, but it really does work (well, the container contraption is the expensive part, the little packets that you periodically replace aren’t bad). I use 75 and 100 gallon Rubbermaid troughs. They are in semi-shade, so get sun part of the day. Right now with no leaves on the trees, they’re in sun most of the day and the algae has been bad this spring. If you have a “dunker” who washes their hay as they eat, the algae gets worse if you don’t fish out every last strand of hay several times a day. So large fish nets or a pool net come in handy too.
I have heard that using barley straw can help. There are places to order small amounts of barley straw in a little bag that you pop in the water bucket. I used them and saw a deminished algae growth.
I am a huge fan of a little bleach once a week. Scrub, rinse well, and it helps to keep nasties in check. I like to buy non chlorine bleach. You might also flush your hose with a little diluted bleach to make sure that your water is not carrying the algae to the bucket vis the hose.
Im not a huge fan of fish. I have done mosquito and goldfish but I don’t think they keep the trough clean enough.
I like the idea of the bubble filter!
If it is a huge problem that is abnormal and it sounds like it is, you might check that the water is not getting contaminated with nitrate based fertilizer which could cause the bloom issues.
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They don’t – fish excrete ammonia and nitrites into the water, which isn’t great for anyone. As water troughs are generally unfiltered, these build up. Tolerant fish species, like goldfish, can become acclimated to this degraded water & survive, but they aren’t doing any favours for you.
The excreted nutrients will also further feed any vegetative blooms. I doubt a copper pipe, being inert would do much, I suspect that rumour stems from the fact that copper is toxic to most aquatic organisms, which is why it is an ingredient in many aquatic herbicides. Unfortunately, this does not allow me to kill invasive aquatic weeds by simply dumping loads of piping into the river, otherwise my day job would be so much easier!
I have found that skimming my big troughs at feeding time with broken aquarium nets I salvage from work helps slow down the algae by removing organic material that would break down & further feed the nutrient cycle. It takes maybe a minute & costs nothing (still less than $5 if you have to buy a net). I’m big on not wasting water, since the day job is aquatic conservation biology, and it is indeed a very finite resource. I also only fill the 100-gal tanks about 1/2 way in summer unless I’m going to be gone on a work trip for a week, that way the horses drink them down more often & I can knock the worst of the scum back with a quick brush.
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Bleach works well for cleaning troughs, but I swear I can’t touch a bleach bottle without getting bleach spots on my clothes. I keep a spray bottle of 50/50 vinegar and water and a toilet scrub brush in my water trough cleaning bucket. I have also found that the galvanized troughs seem to be easier to clean and also stay cleaner longer than the black rubbermaid models. I sometimes use the Rubbermaid trough in the winter but always switch to galvanized in the summer.
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Yes, we’ve got the crazy pollen blooms but my troughs are slimy on the walls and bottoms. Its definitely algae. Pollen just makes the water a funny color and leaves a “ring around the tub”.
I’m interested in the barley straw and vinegar ideas. Thanks for the help!
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I use Apple Cider Vinegar and have no algae. I use about 2 cups to a 75 gallon trough. My horses love it. It also helps if you go away from home. You can just add a splash of ACV to their drinking water and it tastes like home so they are much more likely to drink.
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We used copper, pipe sleeves in the water bucket of a mare that had problems with her seasons. It worked great for that and did nothing for keeping the algae at bay.
We also use a house strainer with a handle for cleaning out any alfalfa residue. The water barrels are away from where they’re fed - so all that gets into the barrels is what is on their noses.
If you just pour a bit of bleach down the sides of the barrel and move it around the bottom… let it sit and rinse well - you really don’t have a splash effect that gets on your clothes. You don’t have scrub much when you use bleach.
imginique - I’ve heard of ACV for other reasons. Did you find that your horses had to acclimate to it?
Ok - Something else to try is bluing – the same bluing grandma (well, mine anyway) used when she washed the whites.
when I was moving cross- country in 2003, I had a layover at an old cowboy’s ranch outside Flagstaff. I commented on how sparkling clean the water in the horse tub was. He said he put “a few drops” of bluing in the water to keep it clean.
I bought a pump sprayer made for bleach (either HD or Lowes) and give the tank a spritz on the walls every time I dump it. I also use either a broom handled scrub brush (like you would use on a floor or boat) or a cheap plastic broom to scrub the sides… beats bending over with a hand brush and keeps me away from the bleach.
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