# Cleaning Water Buckets/Trough



## poundinghooves (Aug 5, 2010)

I'm curious to find out what everyone uses to clean buckets and troughs with? My trough gets a layer of orange slime in it that I scrape off with a paint scraper and rinse thoroughly. But that's just not cutting it. I need to use something more than water. I've read bleach, but I don't know if that's a good idea? Baking soda is another thing I've read about.


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## smrobs (Jul 30, 2008)

Bleach is fine. Many folks who are on well water add bleach to their troughs to keep the gunk from growing in it. My horses are on city water, which is treated with chlorine, without issue.

I usually use an old ice scraper to get the worst of the gunk out, then I scrub it with a wire brush to get it as clean as possible. Hard work and I end up with goop from my hair to my boots but that doesn't bother me much LOL.


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## squirrelfood (Mar 29, 2014)

Bleach is good to clean with. It dissipates into the air in a very short time. I do like apple cider vinegar in the tanks to keep the stuff from growing. Keeps mosquito larvae out too, and is good for the horse.


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## cakemom (Jul 4, 2010)

I dump and bleach(scrub with brush) every 2-3 days, dump and rinse on the other days.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## waresbear (Jun 18, 2011)

I use a pot scrapper thingy with a long handle and bleach once in awhile. But if you keep the water trough out of the sun, that scum doesn't form, unfortunately I don't have a choice, it's where my hydrant is located. When I had water troughs in the lower pastures and hauled water, I kept them in the shade, rarely did scum grow.


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## smrobs (Jul 30, 2008)

That's where I run into trouble too, Ware. The closest tree(s) to my barn is longer than my water hose will reach (and longer than I want to _make_ a hose reach, I'm not too fond of the idea of dragging 300 feet of hose to fill the tanks every day) and it's really skimpy and small so it doesn't even really qualify as a "shade tree" LOL. Best pic I could find, the trees are in the background.


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## waresbear (Jun 18, 2011)

Yes, sometimes it's just easier to scrub the tank out, then have miles of hose to fiddle with. Besides you do have scrub it out eventually, we just do it more often, right?


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## bsms (Dec 31, 2010)

I guess I'm lucky. I switch my buckets between food duty and water duty. When they start to look nasty, I dump the water and replace the water bucket with a food bucket. I then let the Arizona sun bake any scuzzy stuff in the former water bucket. If I rotate them thru about 1/week, maybe 2 weeks, the gunk doesn't build up before the sun destroys it.

If it does get too nasty, I turn it into Cowboy's food bucket. He's a BLM mustang who may have been crossed with a goat. That would explain both his size and his eating habits...and the fortitude of his tummy!


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## Dreamcatcher Arabians (Nov 14, 2010)

Blue Wave Products 1'' Chlorine Tablets 10 lbs: Outdoor Play : Walmart.com

One of these tabs in the stock tank will keep the algae down for close to a month. they dissolve real slow, so they don't ever get too much chlorine or enough to make them not like the water.


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## kiltsrhott (Mar 11, 2012)

We scrub our water troughs and buckets once per week. Most of the year, we just use Dawn dish soap and a scrub brush like this:

https://www.omlet.co.uk/images/cache/600/308/bucket_brush_108310b3.jpg

We then rinse the soap out and refill. During the summer, when we get algae growth, we scrub with bleach instead of dish soap because that's more effective at killing the algae. We do not, however, leave bleach in the trough. We rinse and refill with just water. This method has always worked fine for us.


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## waresbear (Jun 18, 2011)

^^^Pretty much what I use, except has a longer, thinner plastic handle.


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## Atomicodyssey (Apr 13, 2014)

Now I'm not saying don't clean your buckets, but algae isn't as bad as you think. Yes, it's unsightly I won't argue. But it actually is a natural filter and purifier for the water. That being said it doesn't guard against other scum of types, so scrubbing buckets I will continue to do.


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## MHFoundation Quarters (Feb 23, 2011)

Buckets, I just give a quick scrub every few days. Tanks never get scrubbed, I cheat and use the power washer.


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