How to keep water fresh??

[burntmuch]

Ive got my pigs water supply in a 50 gallon plastic drum. Its connected to a nipple that they drink from. So far its working great. It seems to last about a week or so. So every 3 or 4 days I top it off. I noticed today that the inside of the drum was a bit slimmy. I drained it & scrubbed down the sides & rinsed it out. I add apple cider viniger to try & keep the water fresh. Is there something else I could use. Or do I just need to rinse it out every couple weeks. Jay

 

[goodhors]

I use a bit of bleach to kill my slime in water tanks. Scrub things well and rinse completely. Then refill. I do the bleaching
weekly, to keep the green and slime at bay. Try keeping the tanks out of the sun, heat increases the speed of slime and
alge growth.

You may want to let the bleach water run thru the nipple to clean it from the inside, alge and slime grow there as well.

 

[burntmuch]

So how much bleach per 50 gallons? Will The pigs have any problem with bleach in their water. The tanks in the barn & it stays fairly cool. Thanks for the input.

 

[goodhors]

I just use a couple big splashes of bleach in the tank water, use a brush to scrub the inside of tank where the alge and slime collect. Then I empty the water out, my tank is outside under a tree, so I can let the water just run off into the drainage ditch. Never seems to kill any weeds though!

I do rinse by spraying the inside walls of tank well, dump that water again, then filling the tank itself. Might be a little chlorine smell from bleach, but horses and cattle drink the water with no issues. Same amount gone daily with alge water and after bleaching the tanks. Have not done pigs. I wouldn't think the little bleach quantity used, well rinsed out, would be an issue for them. Kind of like getting a mouthful of treated swimming pool water won't hurt you. You could call the Vet and ask about possible problems.

 

[burntmuch]

Ok Thanks for the replys. How often do you clean the tank. Jay

 

[goodhors]

I do the bleach about weekly during warmer weather. However my tanks are out in the sun, so alge grows fast with so much light and warm water. Inside, shaded tank might be able to go a bit longer. However with such warm temps as recently, that could keep the slime growing quickly

Can you get your hand inside, to feel the tank walls for being slippery? You could time from starting with fresh cleaned tank, to when slime starts again. Then put yourself on a regular schedule for cleaning.

 

[Goatmasta]

Here is what we use to clean water tanks, it seems to work a lot better than the bleach. We have been using it for about a month and a half and have been very pleased. It seems to keep the "slim" at bay a week or so longer than bleaching.