I have a 2 stall barn with a run/dry lot and that’s where my guys spend their nights. They each have a water bucket in their stall and I also have a 150 gallon black rubber trough outside in the dry lot. I have a big problem keeping it from growing green algae. I empty, power wash and refill (only half way, to make the emptying process easier) probably weekly. Any suggestions to keep it cleaner?
Thanks!
Is there anywhere you can put it that is out of the sun? I believe it is the sun that causes the algae growth.
I have recently tried putting copper pipes in my troughs, as several are in the bright hot Florida sun without a good shaded option, and it’s working fairly well. Can scrub about every other week instead of every week now.
in the summer I use smaller water tanks that I can clean more often, the larger tanks are just stored until the fall.
I am thinking about (have not done it yet) painting half of the large tank silver/Aluminium to see if that would reduce the growth… leaving one side black to absorb heat in the winter
Shade is your friend.
Has anyone tried barley straw balls? I remember reading about them several years ago.
I add probably 1/4 cup of Clorox each time after I empty, clean and fill my 100 gallon tank. It gets morning sun but is in the shade all afternoon. The Clorox seems to slow down the green growth.
I want to clean and scrub the tank at least once a week, so it doesn’t turn into a mosquito incubator.
We just power wash the tanks. Horses don’t drink if I use bleach to kill green stuff. Tanks are dumped at least weekly, refilled with clean water. Better to have horses drinking well, over no-green in the tanks. When they readily drink puddle water, I don’t get upset if tank is a little green now and again.
We have gold fish in our trough and only clean it out every fall. It is an aluminum tank that does get direct sunlight until the afternoon (faces east). The water isn’t crystal clear but not bad really - no algae is really growing in it - meaning I don’t have to scrub it in the fall only empty and rinse it out. The water can appear a little green at times but isn’t murky if that makes sense. The horses LOVE their fish water. When it is really hot we will overflow the tank a little bit to give the fish cooler water and freshen up the tank. There are 6 very large goldfish in our tank. They started out just small little gold fish from Petsmart 2 years ago. This was a new crop - as they do get old and die eventually. There have been goldfish in the tank for 20 years.
Apple Cider Vinegar. Maybe a cup and a half for the whole 150 gallons. (half a cup for 50, etc) That’s a guess. I just pour in what looks right and I have NO algae in a trough that sits in the sun–no shade available. The horses like the taste.
The easiest thing is to go to Walmart and buy HTH Algae guard. Put it in a spray bottle. Spray down the tank and let sit 30 min or so. Scrub and rinse. I can get between 9-12 days of water that looks as clean as a pool you swim in. I also take a strainer and strain out daily. Takes 2-3 minutes to strain. When its 90+ days I get 9 days and lower temps I get up to 12 days.
I board, and they don’t get the water as clean as I like. So I clean the water tanks for them. If it doesn’t look like pool water, it’s not clean enough.
We drop a ball of HGH pool chlorine in each trough when we fill it. Once it turns funny it’s not the algae I’m as worried about, it’s the broods of mosquitos I’ve already cultivated. The tabs don’t bother the horses a bit and keep the water sterile.
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