Nasty job

[vineyridge]

Yesterday was beautiful--bright and up into the 70's, so barn work was necessary. The roof needed some repair so I WAS going to do that, but since I had bought a new stock tank water controller, it needed installing. After it was installed, I decided to clean the tank, more or less. The tank had sunk so the drain plug at the bottom couldn't be used; so it was bucket and scoop to get the sediment out of the tank. Took all afternoon and was a filthy job.

There was a huge amount of nasty black goop--maybe six inches deep down there. Since four large goldfish live in the tank, the work was ticklish. Got several large buckets out and will check today to see how much has settled. But I did manage to get enough water and goop out to lighten the tank enough to raise it to the point that the drain plug is now free for use. Since it's at the bottom, I figure the nasties will be the first things drained--I hope.

I spread the nasty goop on a large patch of bermuda grass in the paddock and am thinking that it should be very good fertilizer. :)

Any tips on how to clean 150 gallon stock tanks more efficiently? IS stock tank sediment good fertilizer?

[Evalee Hunter]

Well, I clean them more often - once or twice a week or when I can see any messiness about them. I don't use goldfish due to goldfish being not too esthetic in a stock tank.

I would suppose the muck would be good fertilizer but I don't let my tanks get mucky so I've never tried it.

Personally, rather than dip with a bucket, I would siphon the water out. A 10 or so foot length of old hose works well as a siphon. Put under water until all the air is out of the hose (shake & reposition under water as necessary), leave one end under water, cover the other end tightly with your thumb, pull the thumb-covered end out of the water & quickly lower it to the ground, remove thumb. Water should run freely & keep running until the tank is nearly empty. Doesn't require any attention from you. Remove the goldfish first, I suppose.

If the tank is so awful that you don't want to put your hands & arms in to get the hose-siphon going, then it was way too awful to expect animals to drink out of it.

Once the tank is empty, scrub with a stiff dish brush & a few drops of dish detergent and/or a few drops of chlorine bleach. Rinse thoroughly. Refill. I keep a dish brush (buy one in the housewares aisle of the grocery) near each tank for convenient scrubbing. If you scrub frequently, you might not need detergent or bleach.

We use the Rubbermaid (brand) stock tanks & we have a variety of sizes - 50 gallon, 70 gallon, 100 gallon, & 150 gallon - for different uses. I think we have at least 11 stock tanks at the moment - 2 50s, 4 70s, 3 100s, 2 150s. Hmmm ... guess I spend a lot of time scrubbing stock tanks.

[goodhors]

I also siphon out excess water in tanks. I would take my fish out first, put in another tank. That lets the water run out and no danger to fish. Siphon may clog when you get down to goop. That would mean you need to tip tank up on one side, hose goop out or scoop it to move where you want it.

I would second Evalee Hunter, my tanks never get that dirty. Green alge on the walls, means I need to dump and scrub it.
I would not like drinking out of that goopy bottom, kind of tank, so the horses don't either. I have a fishpond for the fish. I know folks say the fish keep water tanks very clean, but thinking of fish poop water is not appetizing. I put my tanks on bricks or treated lumber pieces so they won't sink into the dirt.

The hose siphon saves MUCH work, empties the tank while you do other things, then come back to finish. Saves my shoulders and arms from heavy wear and tear, which can really add up over the years.

[equusvilla]

and..put you tank up on cinder blocks so it can't 'sink' again. It will be so much easier to drain - you will not think twice about doing it...(or not wanting to do it!!)

[Nancy!]

We use stock tanks in the paddocks in the spring through fall seasons. I dump once a week at a minimum. I also like to pressure spray them to get them clean.

Nancy!

[Cielo Azure]

I wouldn't post that I have six inches of crap, (uuh sludge) in my stock tank...ever.

and I wouldn't have six inches of sludge in there...ever.

EPM, bacterial infections, WNV, other infectious diseases are way too much of a risk. Not to mention horses not wanting to drink nasty water during winter and colicing. NOT WORTH THE RISK!

Once a week minimum for me on all tanks and auto waterers. Good horse hygiene saves lots of money.

If I wanted gold fish, I would get a pond. I certainly don't see them as an alternative to cleaning out the stock tanks before mosquitos infest the drinking supplies.

I am not a clean freak but good, clean water is critically important to horses and all animals.

[Liberty]

Oy! on the sludge thing. :eek:

Now, I may be a bit too particular, but my rule of thumb for my stock tanks is that if I expect my horses to drink from it, I'd best be willing to as well. :)

I keep my 100-gal Rubbermaid tank on a wooden pallet. Been using the same pallet for almost 12 years, and it's just now about needing to be replaced.

I could use the bottom drain plug, but I never do. At cleaning time, I just bail it out with a bucket enough so I can tip it over. It would take forever to drain using the bottom plug, plus I know it would start leaking there eventually if I were constantly pulling the plug to drain it.

Clean water is a MUST, and I'm in the camp that won't go the goldfish route. After having aquarium goldfish, I'd never want them in a water supply that was for drinking. Too gross for me.

[Xanthoria]

If you are the guys at our barn, you just yank the plug out weekly and spend 10 minutes chasing the fish around as they flop through the runoff. :rolleyes:

Never understood fish in the tank.

For them to survive they need a lot of algae to eat. Which they then turn into fish poo. (Goldfish are some of the dirtiest fish out there.) Which you then have to clean out. About weekly. Which totally negates the supposed time savings of having fish.

Mosquitos? They take 7 days to hatch. So you don't need fish for them either - your weekly dump and scrub will kill the larvae.

Most of the fish around here get eaten by raccoons anyway. What a waste, on so many levels!

[aiken4horses]

Down South the summers are so humid I end up dumping and scrubbing the water tubs at least twice a week.

I agree, if I can't drink out of the water tub, I wouldn't expect my horses to.

I keep a fish tank net and scrub brush near each couple of tanks. Use the net every day to scoop out any "floaters" and the brush when I empty.

Water needs to be checked EVERY day! You never know what may find its way into the tank and not be able to get out!

[PNWjumper]

I wish my horses had gotten the memo about only drinking out of water that I would drink out of :lol: I guess that would put an end to a couple of my lazier horses drinking water out of mud puddles when they don't feel like making a trek closer to the barn. Oh, and maybe that would transfer over to eating and my boys would quit peeing on their hay and then eating it.

Most of mine have two large stock tanks available (I have at least 2 150+ gallon troughs in each pasture). One is close to the barn and is cleaned out regularly. The other is, in most cases, further out in the field and much more difficult to get water too. Those get left alone until they're mostly empty, and then often just get topped off, generally resulting in muck in the bottoms (they all have goldfish). Yet my horses seem to prefer drinking from the dirtier troughs over the clean troughs (though they regularly drink from both). Go figure!

[fordtraktor]

We clean ours weekly, but check it daily and top off as necessary.

Once in the space of a week we found TWO DROWNED SQUIRRELS in the stock tank (on different days). We have never had one before, and never since (in over 15 years). It had to have been some sort of bizarre squirrel suicide pact.

[Chardavej]

I wish my horses had gotten the memo about only drinking out of water that I would drink out of :lol: I guess that would put an end to a couple of my lazier horses drinking water out of mud puddles when they don't feel like making a trek closer to the barn. Oh, and maybe that would transfer over to eating and my boys would quit peeing on their hay and then eating it.

my horses seem to prefer drinking from the dirtier troughs over the clean troughs (though they regularly drink from both). Go figure!

Amen I got your back on that!

What do the poor horses in the wild do? Not drink? Goodness, not all water holes are clear and clean and fish and bug free. My aren't nasty but they aren't spotless and in the winter time they might get dumped and scrubbed maybe three times, I have a skimmer I scoop big stuff out with, they really just don't get nasty in the winter, the water is clear, no fish or bugs, and everything settles to the bottom. Now the summer time I do regualarly clean them, but still maybe only every two to three weeks. It just isn't that nasty to waste all that water...

[fordtraktor]

There shouldn't be much water to waste -- we let the horses drink down the water before we do the weekly clean. A couple inches in the bottom is all that gets "wasted."

[Cielo Azure]

Amen I got your back on that!

What do the poor horses in the wild do? Not drink? Goodness, not all water holes are clear and clean and fish and bug free. My aren't nasty but they aren't spotless and in the winter time they might get dumped and scrubbed maybe three times, I have a skimmer I scoop big stuff out with, they really just don't get nasty in the winter, the water is clear, no fish or bugs, and everything settles to the bottom. Now the summer time I do regualarly clean them, but still maybe only every two to three weeks. It just isn't that nasty to waste all that water...

Actually, water issues are considered one of the primary reasons for the high rates of death in wild horse populations. They die in quite high numbers from lack of water and disease from water sources. For instance, the mortality rate of weanlings and yearlings is estimated to be 40-50%. Water is a source of territorial competition and horses routinely dig down 2-3 feet into the ground to find clean water sources. The BLM in some areas have created large water reservours as well as water pumps for wild horses because it is that big of an issue.

Wild horses do not live long lives, although statistics of average age of mortality vary greatly from region to region.

[vineyridge]

Here's something odd.

My personal horses are fairly high bred. I have three TBs, one 25 and 2 who are 4, and an Anglo-Arab. I also have an old Appaloosa mare--over 25. Knock wood, but my horses have never been sick, never colicked here, and never had diarrhea. I must take that last statement back, since my colt colicked last year, but it was from a broken jaw. My old man had constant health problems when I was boarding him out, but here he's been iron.

One guy who kept his horses here under the principle of benign neglect and cheap rations had constantly sick horses. Now that he's "out of horses" and has abandoned his last horse to my care, that horse is well at last.

I do believe in the old Scottish proverb, "The mair the dirt, the less the hurt." Immune systems need to be both strong AND challenged to operate.

The sludge is all down in the bottom of the tank, so the water on top is clear. If any of you have ever been wilderness camping, you'll know that even people can drink water after it's been allowed to settle and treated for protozans, like giardia. My tanks are a closed system with automatic refilling from a private well, and are not likely to be infested with wild water disease organisms.

As to mosquitoes, my barn overlooks a bayou, so mosquito control is impossible. It's also in an area where I have to fight possums out of my tack room. So far--again, knock wood--no EPM or WNV YET. :)

[JoZ]

I only go as high as 100 gallons. Together, my friend and I can tip a FULL 100-gallon tank. Usually that's not necessary -- we dump and scrub when the level gets low. But it has happened -- fill the water trough THEN decide to rest that pasture (d'oh). When it's time to put the horses back in the pasture, the water needs dumping but the trough is still full.

We dump and scrub about once a week. They need the scrubbing by then, but there is no sediment or build-up, just mosquito larvae and dribbled grass and bird poop and other facts of life. The horses NEVER cease drinking.

I am more careful with the pasture water troughs than I am with stall water buckets. We have a herd of hay dunkers, and they PREFER their water to be an infusion of dunkage. In the winter it doesn't start to ferment or smell so they just get filled up for several days (unless of course they get pooped in). In the summer in the pastures, there's so much more that could happen to it. We have found FISH PARTS in a tank, presumably dropped by a bird of prey or lost while being washed by a raccoon.