Bleach in a fountain?

Oops, challenge should have gone to ratgirl. ~ jan

joe wrote Please, let's let the salt people go to sleep for a bit.

LOL! They sleep? ;o)

But what if we turn to pillars of sodium chloride in the interim?
k30a

A little tap water will take care of that, course you'll most like leave a
dead spot in the grass.
~ jan who filters her water, at the tap, frig & hot water
dispensers, because who likes the taste of chlorine?

PS Wait! Now Joe, a challenge. What's worst, drinking tap water w/chlorine
or all that soda pop Americans are known to drink, diet or otherwise? )

See my ponds and filter design:
http://users.owt.com/jjspond/

~Keep 'em Wet!~
Tri-Cities WA Zone 7a
To e-mail see website


See my ponds and filter design:
http://users.owt.com/jjspond/

~Keep 'em Wet!~
Tri-Cities WA Zone 7a
To e-mail see website

K30a wrote:
paghat wrote a whole bunch of stuff
about chlorine. Holy bottled water, batman!
Anyone care to add to the discussion?
k30a


Scared th pants of of me rreading that
--
I maintain that water causes cancer and it should be run thru a filter
of ground coffee before drinking




John Rutz
Z5 New Mexico

never miss a good oportunity to shut up

see my pond at:

http://www.fuerjefe.com

John wrote I maintain that water causes cancer and it should be run thru a
filter
of ground coffee before drinking

I'll drink to that!


k30a

(paghat) wrote in
m:

When chlorine has evaporated it leaves salts behind. To repeatedly add
chlorine to one's soils does leave a residue that increases with time,
until eventually the soil could be harmed.

It's not the chlorine evaporating that's the problem. The problem is
whatever crap that is already in the water becomes chlorinated crap, which
is probably the residue you are talking about. Any excess free chlorine
escapes into the air eventually. Don't know how chloramines (if your city
uses them) differs.

Here are some of the health risks to chlorinated water -- the reason
so many either filter their water with EPA approved filters, or buy
purer water in five gallon containers for the water cooler:

Personally, I filter my water because of any heavy metal or other not
necessarily chlorine crap in it.

1) Chlorine kills soil microbes without which plants cannot access
nutrients in the soil.

2) Binds with other chemicals in the soil creating toxins with unknown
risk factors. Some of the risk factors that ARE known are pretty
extreme. Bonded chemicals ir Chlorination Byproducts in tapwater are
associated with birth defects from drinking it while pregnant, & with
miscarriages. Infant neural tube defects DOUBLE from drinking
chlorinated water. Miscarriages rise to 15.7% in women who drink
tapwater with chlorinatation byproduct, from the 9.5% for women who do
not drink tapwater.

The city of Chesapeake Virginia was sued due to something in the water that
allegedly caused a lot of miscarriages. I believe it was excess chlorine
that reacted with organic crud already in the water to form
trihalomethanes. It's not something you want in your kool-aid.

5) As tropical fish hobbyists have long known, chlorine in tap water
kills fish. It kills amphibians much more readily, even in amounts
that would seem inconsequential, though consequential enough to kill
you if you're a frog or salamander.

It's been a long time since I've had fish, but if you leave the water out
in the open for a like a day or so, the chlorine dissipates enough for the
fish to tolerate it. That might be for regular fish, not necessarily
tropical. It's bad for fish and amphibians because they use the dissolved
oxygen in water for respiration. When there is chlorine in the water,
that's tantamount to forcing them to breath chlorine.

12) some of the specific CPBs (alternatively called DPBs, Disinfectant
Byproducts) are chloroform, bromodichloromethane,
dibromochloromethane, bromoform, dichloroacetic acid & trichloroacetic
acid -- there are many other possible CPB contaminants.

The first four, going by name, are trihalomethanes (THMs).

But even if we decide to trust our municipalities are getting it
right, & monitoring even the CBPs correctly, we'll be undoing their
good work by any additional home chlorination.

I don't think it's too bad to clean out the algae in a fountain with the
ocassional bleaching, but to systematically home chlorinate the drinking
water, that's not something I would do. If algae are a problem, there's
probably organic matter in contact with water somewhere. Find out where
they are getting their nitrogen and stop it. (of course if they've
developed a symbiotic relationship with nitrogen fixing bacteria, then you
are screwed, sorry).

Even if the water is not for drinking, the chlorinated by-products are
going to end up some where.

Whether "Garden Water Filters" such as AquaMate are all that helpful,
I don't know, but many people knowing the risks are real for human,
wildlife, & plantlife, are using such products. I just water my lawn
from the tap & hope for the best, but I sure wouldn't ADD chlorine to
the brew myself.

It is also puzzling to me that people can take such a strong dislike
to algae. Floating algae maybe, it ruins visibility, but algae is not
the devil that chemicals can be.

Because algae is wet and slimy, like mucal nasal discharges, only more
green, whereas chemicals are 'pure', 'refined' and quite sanitary in their
nice clean delivery containers.

Halogenically yours,

-- Salty

John Rutz wrote:

K30a wrote:
paghat wrote a whole bunch of stuff
about chlorine. Holy bottled water, batman!
Anyone care to add to the discussion?
k30a

Scared th pants of of me rreading that
--
I maintain that water causes cancer and it should
be run thru a filter of ground coffee before drinking


Ahhhh, yes!! I knew there was a reason we agree on so many subjects!!
My DH is still hunting for an IV source of coffee so he can stop
bringing me my first cup of the day as soon as my eyes open. He learned
the penalty long ago for talking to me before I'd finished the first cup ;-)
And now I'm training our teenage sons to brew and deliver coffee asap.
(Just finished my second cup next to the pond -- air temp is currently
76* -- quite temperate compared to the 90* we're expecting later today).
--
Kathy B

sorry, I killfiled her a long time ago. Ingrid

ESPMER (K30a) wrote:


paghat wrote a whole bunch of stuff
about chlorine. Holy bottled water, batman!
Anyone care to add to the discussion?
k30a



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List
http://puregold.aquaria.net/
www.drsolo.com
Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Unfortunately, I receive no money, gifts, discounts or other
compensation for all the damn work I do, nor for any of the
endorsements or recommendations I make.

I have regularly used either bleach or pool chlorine in my fountain - it
holds about 5 - 10 gals of water and I add ~ 1 capful per week or as needed
and fountain water stays clear - birds still drink from it and haven't seen
any dead ones yet :
Gale :~)


" I have read that I can use bleach in an outdoor fountain (no plants or
fish) to remove algae. Does anyone know the amount of bleach? Also,
I have a dog and want it to be safe for him as well as wildlife.

Finally, would I just add the bleach and wait for the tons of algae to
go away or do I need to clean it out first. Cleaning first is a
little difficult because the fountain is a natural one we made with
lots of rocks (as opposed to the concrete store-bought type).

Thanks.