Wading pool in run? Flies??

[Sally PB]

Are you on city water, or well? That would determine whether the water is chlorinated or not.

Tea is only mildly acidic, typically. Kombucha tea is MUCH more acidic than the typical - but adding it to lots of water would have reduced that considerably. OTOH, Kombucha is a ferment process, meaning alcohol - and we all know alcohol is a rather effective generic antibiotic, antimicrobial, antiseptic type product.

I use reverse osmosis (RO) water when I make kombucha. We're on a well (so no chlorine), have an iron filter in addition to the water softener.

I think the alcohol in my kombucha is negligible. I made the SCOBY from a bottle of GT's "for everyone" line, ie, trace amounts of alcohol, and you don't need to be 21 to buy it. I can say that in all the years I've been making and drinking it, I've never gotten a buzz of any kind from it.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

I use reverse osmosis (RO) water when I make kombucha. We're on a well (so no chlorine), have an iron filter in addition to the water softener.

I think the alcohol in my kombucha is negligible. I made the SCOBY from a bottle of GT's "for everyone" line, ie, trace amounts of alcohol, and you don't need to be 21 to buy it. I can say that in all the years I've been making and drinking it, I've never gotten a buzz of any kind from it.

Kombucha ranges between 2.5 and 3.5 pH, and typically is 0.5% ABV (Alcohol by volume). You'd be pissing like a race horse, and likely suffering water poisoning before you could get a buzz off the stuff. Reverse osmosis means the water is essentially "pure", negligible trace minerals, nitrogen, or other things for algae to feed on.

Home made kombucha has live yeast cultures, live bacteria cultures, and is mildly alcoholic, in addition to being quite acidic. Culturally, it served the same purpose as "table beer" - it made biologically questionable water "safe"(r) to drink. For algae to take hold, it has to overcome very low pH, survive a mild alcohol solution (table beers were generally under 2% abv), and displace existing live cultures of both yeast and bacteria.

I'm not saying it can't happen (the old saying in beer brewing was that "nothing growing in there can kill you, but it can still make you plenty sick"), but that's one hell of a gauntlet to run - and placing it in a bucket, depriving it of UV - is one further small measure in retarding algae growth (unlike an open top shallow wading pool).

 

[U_Stormcrow]

I can provide links to back my claims, it you let me know what claim you want support for. There's a crazy amount of very shallow knowledge on a host of subjects bouncing around inside my skull, but I'm always happy to provide sources (or apologize for my error) if someone calls "bullshit". At present, I'm eating, and relying on things I learned when I used to brew beer, most of two decades ago. Thus the lack of my usual links. I'm being lazy.

 

[aart]

I was going to put a frozen gallon milk jug of water in the pool. I’m looking into how to create a large block of ice. I’ve never needed one before

Look in the link I posted, there are pics of how I do it.
Got the idea from someone who used cake pans,
the tote I used make thicker blocks,
with less chance of spills between sink and freezer.

 

[Luv Ducks]

This week we will be in the 90s but I expect triple digits soon. We tried adding a pink plastic pool in the run, but the birds wouldn’t go in it. We are thinking about adding pebbles to it, a small amount of water, and a frozen milk jug of water. We might even add a box fan on the outside of the run.
I don’t want algae or flies to grow in the water. With the pebbles added, I doubt I change the water much. Suggestions???
pic is just if some of the babies having watermelon.

I have algae problems in all of my ducks water bowls. I scrub them daily and have to use city water as that is my only supply so they wash off in very large pans of water which are actually large dish pans. I could never do a pool as it would fill up full of algae very soon after using it and my water bill would be out of this world filling it every day. Good luck with your plastic pool. Mine would also get too dirty to let it go more than a day. I have four ducks that have access to several dish pans. I am in Ohio and it has been very hot but so far everyone is fine.

 

[mgharris30]

I have algae problems in all of my ducks water bowls. I scrub them daily and have to use city water as that is my only supply so they wash off in very large pans of water which are actually large dish pans. I could never do a pool as it would fill up full of algae very soon after using it and my water bill would be out of this world filling it every day. Good luck with your plastic pool. Mine would also get too dirty to let it go more than a day. I have four ducks that have access to several dish pans. I am in Ohio and it has been very hot but so far everyone is fine.

So, this was already set up, so we went with it. I only added enough water to wet the rocks. I added some ACV. I put a waterer in the pool on legs and filled THAT with ice water and a little ACV. There is a box fan blowing on the whole set up. That was Monday, today is Thursday. The water is cool. There is no growth I can see or feel. Flies and mosquitoes have not been an issue. Not all my chickens like it, but most will sit around it. I put a frozen gallon jug in there this morning to make the air cooler.
If it starts growing or attracting things, I will get a feeding tub from TSC and not use rocks, only ice water so it’s easier for me to clean. (My chickens wouldn’t go in the pool with just water. )
From the advice here, I think the algae growth is a “not yet” thing.