Water Trough Algae - Pool Shock?

[radios1]

algae can't grow without sunlight, so shading the troughs is the easiest maintenance free way. in my pool, I use chlorine tablets which has a chlorine stabilizer, and I never had a problem all summer with algae. in my pond, I use a UV sterilizer light, which gets fed by the waterfall pump. that works too, but then you have to have a pump system along with the sterilizer light, which gets plumbed into the pump..

 

[Bird]

When I was a kid, we had a concrete trough for the cow and horse and we put a catfish in there that Dad said would keep it clean. I know we never emptied or cleaned it.

 

[gunny0628]

The shade works. We have two troughs In the shade and one in direct sunlight. The one in the sunlight always has algae. When we head down to the barn we let the water run over. The horses have never had an issue drinking out of the water with algae in it. They usually shake their upper lip/muzzle around to move the water and get to the cleaner stuff below the surface. Adding a chemical to the water in my opinion is a vet bill waiting to happen.

 

[Diggin It]

Well, this is kind of conclusive or ... confusing ......

 

[tallyho8]

Am I the only person who uses vinegar? Cheap white vinegar. A little bit in my dog's water bucket, a little bit for the chickens, a little in the horse water trough. It changes the ph factor and helps keep algae from growing. I even drink a little vinegar in water often for health purposes. My horses actually seem to like the water better with vinegar in it. I keep a few goldfish in my water trough to eat the mosquito larvae and they all seem to be healthy also. Horses contaminate the trough so badly that it will need to be cleaned out on a regular basis anyway, but not quite as often, and it is easier to clean out any algae that does grow in there.

Also, to slow algae growth, limit the amount of light in the trough. Putting a roof over it to keep direct sunlight out helps a lot. One of my troughs is an old bathtub and I made a cover for it that covers about 2/3 of the tub keeping light (and leaves) out, but allowing enough room for an animal to drink from it.

 

[CADplans]

It was my job to treat the drinking water on a US Navy ship (in 1972)
The medical staff would sample the water, analyse it , and tell me how much chlorine to add to each of the 2,500 gallon tanks of water.

When we pulled into the Mediterranean Sea, the water that the ship made was so contaminated, I had to add 20X the usual amount of chlorine,,

All the guys would complain TO ME about the strong smell of the drinking water at the water fountains,,, :laughing:

So, in 1972, the correct answer to the question of what to use to treat the water was CHLORINE,,,:thumbsup:

 

[CADplans]

If chlorine is not the right answer, and 12 GPM is enough water, then, this could be used,,,

https://www.amazon.com/sterilizer-U...ocphy=9008756&hvtargid=pla-575158004065&psc=1

It only uses 55 watts of electricity,, which would cost less than $10 per year, if under 100,000 gallons of water a year is used,,,:thumbsup:

 

[kenmac]

don't know how horses would react. I use Clorox in my cattle trough

 

[robbyr]

We have two 100 gallon troughs in our pasture. Both have had goldfish and I probably only clean them out once per year. One is on a fence row under some trees so it does a little better than the other which is in full sun. Horses, cows, and donkeys drink from them so there is frequently water moving. Maybe get rid of the goats?

 

[EddieWalker]

Algae in stock tanks is a constant problem. It's not a huge time waster to clean, but it would sure be nice if it didn't form in the first place. I have researched treating the water with bleach, but that requires 2-3 oz of household bleach per 50 gal trough, and the transport/handling/measuring and long term expense seems like it would be worse than just cleaning the troughs twice a week. A concentrated powder based product, however, might solve those problems as long as it dissolved and dispersed quickly enough to not harm any livestock that used the trough shortly after treatment. I looked into copper sulfate, but there are some sheep that drink from these troughs, so that is a non starter. The other species that use the troughs are horses, goats, dogs, and donkeys.

Has anyone used pool shock or other pool products successfully for this purpose, or anything else for that matter?

Our tank is under a roof, so it never gets direct sunlight. We put a couple goldfish in it and they keep it clean. I don't know how well they would do if they tank was out in the sun because of how hot it gets here, but where they are at, they live for years and do well without any feed from us.