Green algae in water buckets

[winchestermodel50]

Say, what can a guy do to prevent that green algae from building up in my water buckets in warm weather?

[ezzy333]

Keep them out of the sun. Algae needs sunlight to grow.

[Grouse Dog Guy]

Wash them out with bleach once a week.

[highcotton]

I use a tire scrub brush and dishwashing liquid.....every Saturday.

[WildRose]

You can't prevent it really, it's just natural. You can clean out the waters at least weekly and sanitize them with chlorox.

we use an old horse brush or toilet brush to scrub them out. CR

[AHGSP]

Wysiwash

Spray them out daily and refill with fresh water. No problems EVER.

[gonehuntin']

Use smooth stainess steel too, no galvanized so the algae has no crevaces to hide in.

[Kiki's Mom]

Spray them out daily and refill with fresh water. No problems EVER.

Bingo!

[wannabe]

I empty and replace the water for all three of my dogs everyday, but my male dog's water pail always grows algae and neither of the females pails do. At first, I thought it was because he was peeing in the water pail, but I started hanging it on the fence a couple of years ago and his pail still grows algae. All three kennels receive the same amount of sun light, and I clean all of the water pails on a regular basis. Why would one water pail grow algae and the two in the next kennel not?

[BigShooter]

On the subject of algae, some algae contain toxins, e.g. Blue-Green algae and Red algae. FYI - here's one site with some info: http://www.glerl.noaa.gov/res/Centers/H ... s/habs.pdf

P.S. I use stainless, rinse it out and refill daily.

[Coveyrise64]

Use smooth stainess steel too, no galvanized so the algae has no crevaces to hide in.

Same here, didn't completely eliminate the problem but makes it a lot easier to control. Problem is finding sturdy stainless buckets. Seems all the gundog supply co. have gone to a cheaper model than what I had bought before. I recently purchased from two different suppliers based on pictures from their on-line catalog and returned the items. The last one I even called and asked if the buckets were like the ones advertised and assured they were, sent them back also.

Coveyrise64

[markj]

I use the large horsey water buckets cause I have sooo many after Dad passed and we sold off the horses. Clean it out and new water daily. Would you want t odrink day old water? Yech, but then they do some things I would never do.

Roll in deer innards a week old etc......

[Idaho Outlaw]

I use a tire scrub brush and dishwashing liquid.....every Saturday.

I use the same process....I just don't do it as often as I probably should.

[WildRose]

The blue green algae that causes toxicity problems are not what you are likely to find in your dogs water bucket. They exist in shallow, stagnate pools that have very low oxygen content.

The green algae you are likely to see in your dog's buckets poses no health risk at all.

The more frequently the water is changed the less problem you have with it at all.

The more frequently the pail is scrubbed out and bleached the less likelihood of having it at all.

Mostly with basic hygene being observed it's a non issue. CR

[winchestermodel50]

I rinse and change water daily, but that doesn't do it. I use well water and I think nitrate levels have a lot to do with algae development. Treated city water probably doesn't have the same levels due to chlorination. It sounds like elbow grease and chlorox are the best solution. Are there any down sides to using chlorox or another bleach to clean the drinking containers? Are there any health concerns if I merely rinse out a bucket after cleaning with chlorox or another bleach?

[gotblika]

does anybody use the nipple that the dog has to lick for water?

[WildRose]

I have in the past and they work well. You have to be awful careful though to be sure and put them where neither the nipple, nor the line feeding it is in the sun during the summer however. CR

[WildRose]

I rinse and change water daily, but that doesn't do it. I use well water and I think nitrate levels have a lot to do with algae development. Treated city water probably doesn't have the same levels due to chlorination. It sounds like elbow grease and chlorox are the best solution. Are there any down sides to using chlorox or another bleach to clean the drinking containers? Are there any health concerns if I merely rinse out a bucket after cleaning with chlorox or another bleach?

No health concerns at all as long as you are rinsing afterwards. Remember a bleach/water mix of 1pt chlorox to 10pts water will sanitize anything. CR

[BigShooter]

The blue green algae that causes toxicity problems are not what you are likely to find in your dogs water bucket.

CR, Thanks for pointing that out. I could have added that statement as well for you or anyone else that didn't go to the website or do some other web browsing.

Just didn't want any newer owners to miss that fact that some algae contains toxins harmful to dogs so they could keep their dogs from drinking potentially toxic water.

They exist in shallow, stagnate pools that have very low oxygen content.

Yes, however that statement is missleading as blue-green algae do not exist solely in that environment.

As a matter of fact: "The most common species of toxic cyanobacteria (blue-green algae) in the Great Lakes
are:
Microcystis aeruginosa
Anabaena circinalis
Anabaena flos-aquae
Aphanizomenon flos-aquae
Cylindrospermopsis raciborskii

When certain conditions are
present, such as high nutrient or light levels, these organisms can
reproduce rapidly." Lots of large bodies of water with high nutrient loads have algae blooms and some of those blooms are toxic.

[WildRose]

BS tha'ts correct, they exist in all sorts of bodies of water, though in larger bodies of water is is extremely rare for such a bloom to produce toxicity levels high enough to cause any ill effects; so I should have made it a little clearer.

Toxic algal blooms occur primarily in the hottest months of the year and rarely cause toxicity problems except in small, stagnate bodies of water with high tempreatures and low oxygen content.

The point is it's not likely to occur in a dogs water dish, pail, or bucket if even modest hygene is observed and fresh water added daily. CR

[BigShooter]

CR,

FYI - Lake Sallie shown in the web site is: Lake Area (acres): 1,246.00
Maximum Depth (ft): 50.00
Water Clarity (ft): 8.00

Suggest you might want to do a little more research before you use the terms "larger bodies of water" and "extrememly rare". The DNR in states like Minnesota with significantly larger numbers of bodies of water than TX. would be a good place to start.

However to avoid getting too far off post:

The point is it's not likely to occur in a dogs water dish, pail, or bucket if even modest hygene is observed and fresh water added daily. CR

I believe this last point is exactly correct.

[WildRose]

BS what website?

How often do these algal blooms occur producing a high enough level of toxicity to pose a threat to health?

If you think Minnesota has more bodies of water than Texas you've never been to Texas, or at least spent any significant time here. We don't have the great lakes here but we have over a 1,000 lakes exceeding 200 ac, and hundreds of thousands of small lakes/ponds/tanks (pick your word) all over the state.

We also deal much more frequently with the conditions here that produce algal blooms because of the longer warm period of the year, and frequent droughts. As water levels drop, levels of nutrients rise because they are concentrated, and the warm temperatures then combine to cause frequent algal blooms.

Toxic algae blooms may be big news up north but they are much more common in this part of the country and seen with greater frequency than in the north.

Again, and to be done with this. Toxic algae are not what we're dealing with in our dogs dishes. Most algae are non toxic, and outbreaks of toxic algal blooms sever enough to cause illness are in fact "rare". CR

PS Edit: Here is a link to the site I believe you were referring to. I'll let everyone just read the facts for themselves rather than having us try to prove how smart we are.

http://www.glerl.noaa.gov/res/Centers/H ... s/habs.pdf

[ezzy333]

I made the post early about getting the water out of the sunlight and I just wanted to pointit out again. I moved our water pail to the inside kennel area and do not have a problem even with well water. I had the same problem with the pigeon waters when I moved them up by a south facing window. That waterer developed algae while the others have shown no sign of it.

I will admit you need to start with a clean container since once you get it started it is hard to clean thourgh enough to get rid of it. Bleach works the best I have found.

Ezzy

[BigShooter]

I'll let everyone just read the facts for themselves

CR, You could've done that five posts ago.

[WildRose]

I'll let everyone just read the facts for themselves

CR, You could've done that five posts ago.

And you could have stuck to the topic at hand. CR

[BigShooter]

I need a breath of fresh air. Have a nice evening all ..... changing to daylight savings time this weekend .. ah ... spring is in the air !

[phillipsgsp]

use stainless or galvonized buckets, it does not develope as fast. plastic buckets will grow it in one day when the temp is right. I scrub and clean buckets at least 2 times a week in warm weather. I dump out water and fill with fresh every day. a toilet cleaning brush works just fine to get in all the seams ect. Dog pee definitly grows more green stuff. My 3 male dogs water buckets are always worse than the girls. If I had the money i would install the licks it waterers and never scrub a bucket again! Oh that's right, a wife, 3 kids and a acerage payment, It will never happen!!!!!!!!!!!!