Smelly water feature

Bleach.

Many garden centres do a 'clear feature' additive for water features. Bleach would do as a temporary measure, but it degrades in a matter of hours in strong sunlight. Only add a very small amount, as it might harm any rubber pipework, couplings etc. That presumes, of course, that it is just a water feature and doesn't have any fish.

Aspirin?

I'd try Milton. Rather less damaging and toxic than bleach (if it's OK for babies....). Get at the chemist.

Milton *is* bleach.

Milton contains Sodium Hypochlorite, same key ingredient as most household bleach. If you get a thin unperfumed bleach with no extraneous additives (eg Tesco's Value Bleach) I'm pretty sure it's the same stuff for less money...

Here's a useful reference:

purification - to reduce toxicity - as your reference says. Perhaps I should have said "Milton is not just bleach". As for the money, it depends on what value you place on safety - given the relatively small amount required, cost is not really an issue.

Hi Bob,

Milton *would* say that, wouldn't they...

Personally I wouldn't worry about it for a water feature in the slightest.

To put this in perspective, my late mother told me once that she couldn't afford Milton for my baby-bottles and she came to a similar conclusion concerning the fact that many products were based on the same key ingredient as Milton. Not wanting to poison me, she rang up Domestos's technical people and asked if such-and-such a Domestos (non-perfumed, non thickened etc) product was safe to sterilise baby bottles. She was assured that it was. I'm still alive 38 years or so later...

Perhaps Milton does use Sodium Hypo made to a higher standard, or maybe they don't. But I *really* don't think anyone's going to get poisoned by using regular bleach in suitable proportions in the context given here.

However, this is academic - if little is needed, the OP can use Milton if it makes him happier :)

Just my 2p's worth.

Cheers

Tim

Milton is bleach.

Milton is not less toxic.. you have to rinse it out. It will do the same damage as bleach does if you don't.

bleach /can/ have smelly stuff and detergent added and is usually stronger than Milton but that's about it.

All I'll say is...read the link....and leave it there.

I'll quickly add, before anyone else does, that I found the link just to confirm to myself that Milton was still primarily Sodium Hypo - and it does have some useful data concerning concentrations. I suppose my brain's marketing-bollocks-filter automatically blanked all the claims that it was somehow "special" and magically pure!

Cheers

Tim

I thought he was a poet..

In message , The Wanderer writes

If you wanted to go really technical you could add a UV steriliser in line with the water flow, or even an ozone bubbler that effectively acts as a continuous biodegradable bleaching effect. These are all things that could be sourced on ebay for Koi pond use.

NO! Milton is bleach *plus* salt in specific proportions

It had gone stagnate. The suggestions of bleach will kill things but once the bleach has dissipated the bugs'll come back. Running the feature to keep the water oxygenated will be a better long term solution, along with cleaning out any gunge from the bottom of the tank after leaf fall in the autumn so any bits don't sit there and rot.

But isn't decking and water features so last century?

Sigh....

Days of the Empire.... Paradise Lost... Tennis on the lawn... Tennyson the poet.... etc....

That would be the conversation that TMH would have with his GP when he telephones late at night to say that his bog is blocked up. TMH tells him to huck a couple of aspirins into it and to call in the morning.

It's just that they haven't reached t'pennines yet..... ;-)