It's starting to warm up where I am. I noticed that One of my new rain barrels is turning red. The water is used for irrigating a garden of edible fruits and vegetables. I am wondering why. Does this need to be dealt with? And how would it be dealt with?
by DungBeetle1983
12 Comments
Do you have tree leaves in the eavestroughs. If so, quite possibly tannins from those leaves. A good thing.
Or: red algae. A bad thing.
Regardless of what it is now, you will grow algae and other items in there with access to sunlight. You should spray paint and or cover the IBC totes to inhibit biological growth. Chuck a small piece of copper in there, as well
I’d dump it and clean it imo. You can paint or cover it to avoid agate growth. The cheap covers on Amazon work great also
Listeria maybe?
Water + sunlight = algae
Painting the barrel black will help eliminate or at the very least eliminate any algae.
It’s probably serratia. A bacteria that commonly grows on shower curtains and has a red hue to it.
I mean if you’re just watering plants with it it’s probably fine I wouldn’t drink it and I would wash my produce before consuming it even if the irrigation water didn’t look like that
Toss in some inexpensive gold fish.
Looks like red algae to me
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What’s your general location? Where I’m at, we’ve had rain storms that leave everyone’s car covered in a layer of fine reddish brown dust. The dust is coming from Texas, getting blown up into the atmosphere, mixing with rain, then falling back down to the east. So if you’re east of Texas, this could be why.
I’m sure it’s fine for irrigation uses. Might even be better somehow.