I draw water from our creek and then transport it to tanks that utilize a drip irrigation system for my various tree plantings at the farm.
The running creek had a tiny bit of algae in it, but my tanks were always dry before an algal bloom formed in the tanks.
However, the creek has quit flowing and I now can only draw water from the deep pools. These pools have recently exhibited awesome algal blooms. There is no longer any place in the water column for me to draw clear water.
The water is a little green when I fill my hauling tanks, but the algae are continuing to bloom in the irrigation tanks - and becoming thick enough to plug my drip emitters.
Questions:
Will covering the irrigation tanks with tarps to cut off the sunlight be sufficient to kill the algae?
I may have to flush the empty tanks with a little bleach and dump it out before re-attaching my irrigation tubing. This should kill the algae that is in the 1" of water that remains in the bottoms of the tanks. However, is the dried algae on the sides of the tanks "dead", or will it once again begin actively growing when I fill the tank with water?
I actually pump water to an elevated tank by the creek, and then dump water from that tank into my truck hauling tanks. I was considering putting a little bleach in the elevated storage tank to kill the algae prior to loading the water. However, concentrated bleach is toxic to small trees. I don't know if there is a dilution level that would make it safe to trees. However, the diluted bleach water would probably still be harmful to the beneficial organisms in the root zone.
Is there a chemical I could add to the elevated holding tank that would eliminate the algae, but NOT be harmful to the trees or beneficial soil organisms? (I am imagining a chemical that breaks down after x hours into non-toxic components.)
Thanks for the help,
FishinRod
