Keeping troughs clean

[Lucky788]

Any tips? Despite regularly cleaning out the field trough it turns a murky green within a few days?

 

[fabbydo]

Milton fluid

 

[Tyssandi]

Goldfish for one.

I don't bother now as the horses seem to prefer green water and the sun turns it a different colour too.

 

[ycbm]

Copper sulphate. We are currently on our emergency water supply which comes through a stone trough in our yard. We keep it clear of algae with a tiny box with copper sulphate in, with a wick through a tiny hole in the lid. It adds a miniscule amount of copper sulphate to the water supply and the algae at bay completely. I've tried it in the horse trough now and they haven't noticed, the copper really is a tiny, tiny amount.

 

[Esmae]

Scrub mine out twice a week.

 

[ycbm]

I don't bother now as the horses seem to prefer green water and the sun turns it a different colour too.

Are you sure you haven't got blue/green algae? It's dangerous stuff.

 

[Ladyinred]

We are currently sharing a trough with cows and they make a revolting mess of the water. We find the best solution is to uses a fine mesh sieve from Poundsaver or similar and dredge it all out each day. The horses don't seem to mind but I certainly do!

 

[lamlyn2012]

I use the steralising tablets you use for the water tank in caravans, horseboxes etc.

 

[Goldenstar]

Empty them daily in warm weather I keep a small bucket behind each trough and do each day when it's hot .

 

[poiuytrewq]

Goldfish??
I've never understood this one. Goldfish are dirty, they poo a lot and surely make the water dirtier?

I just empty and scrub regularly in summer. Not daily but a few times a week. Mine are not automatic so easy to empty and clean.

 

[ester]

Copper sulphate. We are currently on our emergency water supply which comes through a stone trough in our yard. We keep it clear of algae with a tiny box with copper sulphate in, with a wick through a tiny hole in the lid. It adds a miniscule amount of copper sulphate to the water supply and the algae at bay completely. I've tried it in the horse trough now and they haven't noticed, the copper really is a tiny, tiny amount.

Regularly used in lab waterbaths

 

[turnbuckle]

This is going to make me sound an appalling owner but I haven't cleaned mine out in 4 years! It does have straw blown in every day from the cattle sheds which makes it an evil soupy colour but does seem to stop algae as such!

Actually that is (from memory) a trick for keeping ponds clean, a bale of oat straw...

 

[ycbm]

Regularly used in lab waterbaths

It's like magic! We have such trouble with filamentous algae bloom as soon as the sun shines. You can pull it out I fistfuls of slime. It's used about a gram of copper sulphate every twenty four hours, and this is in running water, and the trough is algae free.

We've had so little rain one of our main springs is dry, so this is our water source for about 100 gallons a day, drinking included.