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A lot of pet owners seem to struggle with keeping algae (either dark-green or red) out of their pet's water bowl.

We accept this problem with our dogs and cats, but the chickens' water is harder because, even though we have a hose back where they are, nosotros don't like to use any soap products on or around them. We also honestly don't become to make clean information technology as much equally nosotros do the dog and cat bowl. Sad chickens! But it's non easy to get to the trough and it's harder now that we commonly don't get home from work till afterwards dark when information technology's too late to clean so we can only get information technology on the weekends (we do alter their water every twenty-four hour period though).

Anyway, although nosotros haven't come up beyond annihilation that gets rid of it all together, we have plant a couple of ways to assistance with getting rid of algae quicker.

Tip i: Scrub brushes that aid yous become that algae at all angles will help keep the algae growth down because any missed algae will start to multiply again very quickly.

We have been using a regular size toilet brush to clean out the water trough for our horse. Information technology works well for scrubbing the algae out, is piece of cake to clean, and is like shooting fish in a barrel to hang upwards and notice rapidly at the barn. (We desire to stress that the toilet brush was bought new and has NEVER been used in the toilet — merely the h2o trough.)

We bought a miniature scrub castor. Information technology'due south a bully niggling device nosotros got for $1 at Ollie's. small scrubber scrubbing deviceIt works really well for getting the inside of their water container (which is made out of a thick plastic, although we have also found that, in general, metallic bowls tend to grow algae less quickly).

There is even a fiddling "scraper" on the back at the top, as you can see from the showtime photo. When we finish, nosotros usually bring the scrubber inside and clean information technology with lather so information technology's fix to become for side by side fourth dimension. Sometimes, though, we rinse it outside with some vinegar and so some water if we have merely washed a light scrubbing.

Nosotros definitely recommend the scrub brush since it does a neat task of getting the algae on the edges and sides and lesser of the trough, and the more algae nosotros can get rid of, the less we have to deal with growing dorsum rapidly.

Tip #2: Blistering soda.

We love using blistering soda to aid with the scrubbing because it really works well for removing the algae.

green algae build up

This was the water trough for the chickens after a week of not being cleaned (although the water was changed daily). We used the small box of baking soda y'all can encounter next to it to clean information technology out.

When we are done cleaning out the chicken's water trough, we so fill up information technology with clean water and mix in a tiny fleck (about a teaspoonful of blistering soda) to aid keep the water make clean. Nosotros have noticed a big difference in how much longer the bowl stays clean and the h2o looks fresh, and it is not harmful to the chickens.

water trough after being cleaned

This is the water trough later we cleaned it with our castor, some paper towels, h2o and the small box of blistering soda.

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