water in trough going green quickly - suggestions?

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they eat mostly algaes, and grasses and aquatic plants in the wild. So, we have to be careful how much 'high protein' food they consume in our aquarium. The other inherent problem is overfeeding.

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But they dont hoover it up like an algae eater... or sucking loach would.

The reason you cant have nice plants in a goldfish tank is coz they eat them
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aaarrrh! Milton - knew i recognised it but thinking in the context of horses could not place it! As a mum of a 6 year old boy i obviously should know all about it...but mine was always happier to drink the mouldy green milk rather than the fresh! i found putting a goldfish in his bottle often helped!!!

sorry!couldn't resist!
 
if you have automatic refilling systems turn them down, if its the same thing as a loo has i.e a float/ball cock whatsit, turning the screw will make the fill up stop quicker, that way there will be less water standing and they should drink it and replace it before it goes to yuk.

as to fish - in warm weather the water can't hold enough oxygen for them, the rule is 1square foot of water surface per 1 inch of fish so don't put a lot in,
since goldies are not the best as algie eaters avoid them but some other species of fish are,
you can buy pond fish which are sold as good algie eaters from decent garden places.

i can't remember what (may have been perch?) but my uncle used to get these native fish as tiddlers and leave them in his spare fish tank till they got bigger then into a small pond, eventually he returned them to the wild,
he was very eccological (rare 25 years ago)and had a lot of exams about zoology, etc so i asume he knew what he was doing.
so we could all go eco and have nice water troughs too maybe?
 
QR: Have heard the goldfish one before but am bemused by it as having kept goldfish their tanks used to go green with algae??

Anyway, a completely different and much cheaper/easier/more worry free method is to put some barley straw in the trough. Weight it down with a brick in some netting. That should solve the problem. Either source your own, or buy some little bales from here: http://www.wigglywigglers.co.uk/shop/pro...203C9RhFF6A05BD
 
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spotted cat - have you actually tried the barley straw? and does it work in an automatic trough?

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Yes, in that I am an ecologist and I use it to keep ponds/waterfeatures etc free of algae, so I know it works - there is a lot of scientific evidence to back up why as well but it is pretty dull!

As for an automatic trough - I can't see why it wouldn't work - it works on ponds with pumps etc - just make sure it is well weighted down so the neds cannot get it out to play with/eat!!

For the sake of a few quid (you'd only need the smallest bale from the link above) it has to be worth a try, surely....
 
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