bleach treatment to kill algae?

[chloroplast]

Hello,

I have stored rainwater for my plants in plastic jugs so that I don't run out during the winter. I just opened a jug and noticed some algae growing in the water.

How can I rid myself of the algae? Would adding a small amount of bleach be useful? If so, how much per gallon or liter, and how long should the water sit before I use it to water my plants?

Any other suggestions?

Thank you and have a great New Year,

Ken

 

[BigCarnivourKid]

I discovered algae in some of my one gallon jugs last month. It didn't seem to matter to my plants. I just waited 'till they were empty and swished some bleach around in them and let them set for a bit, then rinsed a couple times with tap water.

 

[chloroplast]

I agree that the algae probably won't cause a problem. I just wanted to see whether anyone has added bleach to the water they use on their plants.

I've believe that bleach (sodium hypochlorite) will eventually become sodium, free Cl-, and water (when mixed with water). The Cl- should evaporate and the sodium will stay in solution, but the amount will be negligable.

Of course, I've never tried using bleach for plant water before, so I wanted to ask first before trying it.

 

[Est]

Bleach + plants (or any life for that matter) = Bad.

(alternatively, of course bleach + plants +

= profit!)

If possible, I'd use up the water in the containers, then use a bleach solution to clean them out. If you water with the spiked water, make sure that the chlorine has dissipated out (you should be able to tell by smell.)
If you can't wait for it to dissipate out, then you'll need to water with the spiked water and then flush it out (at which point, the flushing water could have been used to water the plants in the first place.)
Very brief contact with a chlorine solution wont kill plants, and can in fact be very useful when making some cuttings. However, extended contact, or even a brief contact without rinsing thereafter is bad.

Hope that helps.

 

[chloroplast]

Hi,

Thanks for the reply. I'm in no hurry to use the spiked water. I can wait for the Cl- to dissipate. It sounds like so long as I wait, things should be fine. I'll grab my trusty TDS meter to find out how much I increased the TDS in the water after adding the bleach.

Thanks again,

Ken

 

[Not a Number]

Even though adding bleach would be cheaper, you could always get an ozone or UV water sterilizer. Either of these would leave the dead algae and oxygen in the case of ozone (when the ozone dissipates).

Your TDS readings would be off because of the dead/disintigrated algae and you'd have to use more sophisticated methods to determine the amount sodium chloride in solution.

 

[chloroplast]

<div></div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">Your TDS readings would be off because of the dead/disintigrated algae and you'd have to use more sophisticated methods to determine the amount sodium chloride in solution.</div>

Good point. I'll just have to go with the educated guess that 1tsp bleach/gallon H2O won't cause the [Na+] to go up too much.

Anyhow, someone on CPUK recommended covering the jugs with dark plastic trash bags. Seems like an simple, inexpensive, safe, and effective method. I'm giving it a try.

 

[Not a Number]

Hydrogen Peroxide might work. It will eventually break down to water and oxygen. Try it out on a small sample.