clorox???

[nrly]

here is my question: Is it safe to use a bit of clorox to clean my horse's drinking water buckets. Flashy is pregnant. Tonight I cleaned out her's and Stormy's with just cloths and water, but man it smells like stinky black pond mud. these are automatic waterer's. If I want them clean I have to do it not the owner of the stables, but that is fine with me. the algae and slime is bad no matter how often i do clean it it keeps coming back. Everyone else says clorox, but I want to be sure it won't hurt any of my horses, and I would just put enough on my rag which will also be wet from clean water to begin, or should I put it in the cleaning water and go from there, maybe a cap full. it is so nasty I almost puked, cause it is getting so hot here. HELP ME PLEASE....

[angelsdream]

Nola, yes it fine to clean with clorox. I have always cleaned out there buckets, water troughs, etc with it. I'll take a spray bottle with clorox and water in it and clean away. It also helps from stuff growing in the water and is great to kill germs, in case you have the cold going around the barn or something like that. When the cold was running thru my barn, my 2 got it at seperate times, so when I road one, I would dip my bit in a clorox/water mixture to disenfect for my next boy before I road him.

[kigerfan]

Here in the desert, now is the time that the water troughs really start turning green. Firefly also has an automatic waterer that is hooked to an old castiron bathtub that is off the ground between two stalls so two horses use it. Not my favorite way of handling things for sure. I empty the trough completely and soak it with clorox. I leave it for about half an hour (the horses are move of course) and then I scrub the whole trough out. I wash it down real well with clean fresh water and then fill it back up. The trough will still grow greenery but not as fast that way. I read about a product called Krystal Trough, I asked if anyone had tried it and nobody had. I might end up giving it a try.

[lindad]

Nola, Your horse is in great danger of dehydration as they will not drink adequately if the water is that contaminated. Bleach becomes inert ( of no use after hours in heat and sunlight) and will not hurt your horse if you RINSE VERY WELL after cleaning. Use lots of bleach and it must be in contact and wet for at least 5 minutes to disinfect, so soaking is good, but you must also scrub off the crud. For bleach to be effective it cannot be diluted less than 10 parts water to 1 part bleach or it will not disinfect.
I did respond to the Krystal trough thread but much later as I could not remember the name of the product I use which is Stock Tank Water Cleaner by Bioverse. It was on the Kiger board under health section. It works great! It is completely safe using healthy bacteria and enzymes, is very easy to use, and keeps the water from growing algae. You need to start with a clean tank. I like to use our power washer to clean the tanks. It blows off all of the stuff, refill adding the stock tank water cleaner. The cleaner packet is placed in a weighted dispenser that drops to the bottom and is effective for 30 days, at 500 gallons a day. Great product! Clean water is mandatory for a healthy horse, especially a pregnant mare! www.bioverse.com/tank.htm or google stock tank cleaner.
Linda D

[nrly]

thank you so much for all your information and help, today I will be cleaning drinkers. Also I prefer a water trough so I know how much they are drinking, I will convert to those. I also am going to look into Krystal Trough, and bioverse, and use one of them from this point on.

[cakiger]

I use clorine tablets and have for years and never had a problem.
Never any algae. One per 55 gal

Ralf

[fantasykiger]

I figure if they add it to town drinking tap water, scrubbing the water troughs out with it or giving them a good soak with it and leaving a little behind is no worries, unless you keep fish in your water trough to control bugs. Fish do not care for chlorine/clorox/bleach. I clean everything with bleach it is one of my favorites...but I keep to much away from the fish.

[lindad]

With Bioverse stock tank cleaner you can even add fish! Chlorine will ruin bioverse!
Linda D

[fantasykiger]

That is good to know about Bioverse lindad..thanks

[nrly]

well I cleaned out Stormy's and Flashy's water trough, tomorrow I will do Nova's and Shooter's. amd will keep it up. Once a week for sure if not more I will do it. Scared me to think that they were drinking that nasty water, and since I did clean it I watched Flashy drinking allot more, and stormy too.