I worked for the park service one summer while in college and we raised mosquito fish in the aquatic gardens over in Anacostia MD. We regularly would go out and net a bunch and put them in the various fountains and water features in Wash. DC to combat the mosquito population. Now I just buy mosquito dunks at Lowes and keep one floating in the rain barrel. They contain good old Bacillus thuringiensis.
These....these are awesome!!! Never knew they were a thing, that looks like it'd do more than just be a water-preserver but would actually help legitimately control them (I've got a ton of mosquitos out back once the sun starts setting..)Highly unlikely unless the water sits unused and uncovered in these parts for an extended hot spell, let's say 2 weeks of 85F plus... On a bright note there is a safe solution if needed sold at big box stores, etc... It is so safe you can and farmers do toss into water troughs when needed. I have used it in Fountains with great success and pretty simple. Wrap one in an old sock and tightly tie closed with a rock in it to hold it down in the water, cut off the excess sock and drop it in
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Grimmy
Will definitely need to get a regular air-pump & stones for the open-top containers!
That means one part per million is the same as one drop of a substance in a million drops, or 50 liters, of water. And because there are 3.78 liters in a gallon, one part per million is also the same as one drop of a substance in about 13.2 gallons of water. Now .4 is smaller then 1 so for safety I would use now more then a drop per 4 gallons - very little
For the record some growers actually treat soil with chlorinated water a few days before planting, but again in low amounts.
Grimmy
Even though you were replying to someone else- great post!! Am curious- how would these distributed goldfish eat? Or is it the type of thing where you just accepted that some will be put in areas where they'll starve, but enough won't so it's overall a positive (for mosquito control)?
Re peroxide, oxidation is the primary mechanism by which it works right? If you know much about it I'd be curious if you know how long it takes to break-down / 'gas-off' / become-inert? I know it's quick but unsure if it's half a day or multiple days....I was only considering its usage in a context wherein I'd use the water after that window (may need to post to my favorite chemistry board to get specifics on this...there's a user on this site who knows everything about the stuff I just can't remember who for the life of me!
(btw the pH lowering effect, I wonder two things here- firstly, whether it'd be of any practical relevance ie the amount of it used would be so small comparatively that I can't help feel it'd be very minor (like on the order of tenths of a pH point, if that), and secondly I wonder whether its break-down changes anything here (am doubting it does) and am still not sure whether or not pH-values can just be 'added up' ie whether things like buffering capacity make it so adding equal volumes of 4pH and 6pH does not equal 5.0pH....in any event, at the time (til rainy season in June!), I'll be using it mixed w/ my tap-water so even if it were a bit more acidic it'd be fine, plus I've got higher-4's pH rain, up in MA it's 4.1 or 4.2pH so wouldn't be worried about anything over >4 yknow?)
That said, you're right, bubblers are great!!!! I don't know exactly what I'll get yet, in fact I've been wondering whether an even better idea would be powerheads, they're used in aquariums to move the water in the tank (basically just submersible pumps), having one in the container that's aimed upward so as to perturb the surface (introducing plenty of oxygen as it stirs the water) but also keeps the entirety of the water moving, I can't help but picture a 6" air-stone in a 55gal as providing oxygen (that'd diffuse to the entirety of the water) but leaves many areas relatively/entirely motionless, I guess I'm thinking a powerhead on the bottom (aimed up toward the surface) would be even more efficient here! Would be even better for me since I've already got a powerful submersible pump from an old koi-fish pond
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Hearing you say you use stagnant water is incredibly reassuring tbh, guess my biggest worries can't really be so bad then! Just how stagnant are you talking? (am not planning to drop the pumps&air-stones, just curious ;D ) And when you say algae, do you mean in the tub or on your substrate/trees? Because I've already got a large algae issue on the latter, many of my trees have algae rings around their bases that I cannot rectify :/
I've gotta use hydrogen peroxide on my trunks due to my crap lol, I'd collected & propagated too many things in too-airy mediums (pure perlite even), and the commensurate watering-frequency led to lots of trees w/ bad algae rings
(another thing re airstones // air-pumps or powerheads....with airstones there's just not the same type of water movement, you can have spots that don't have any real motion especially when the stones become crappy which IME happens pretty quickly, feel like a single pump/powerhead placed on the center-bottom of the barrel, aimed upward, would be introduce the same (full) oxygen as well as being damn-sure everything's mixed/homogeneous!)
[ps I was hoping to get your thoughts / advice on something on my crape myrtle as we'd been discussing in the other thread, would you be ok w/ me messaging you? Or better yet just making a thread and tagging you? There are several branches on it that I just don't know WTH to do with lol!]
After all do you worry about your boiling water not boiling because it's partially not on every part of the stove? Nah. It all moves. Bubbles. Air stones crappy? Easy. Bigger pump. Do remember, you should clean them, say once every few months just by wiping them with a rag. That's also why you use ten, not two. Which, of course, it's profusely backbudding everywhere. I could pick branches as I carve the damn thing they pop so fast.
