Green water in IBC

I have an IBC which i covered with black DPC membrain to keep out the light, however the water that has collected over the winter has turned green, any one got a solution (no pun intended) to making the water clear again? I would rather not want to empty the IBC but treat it in situ, I have read about using baby bottle steralising liqiud, but would the bleach affect plants, and would it be strong enough?

I've never heard of algae hurting surface watered plants, but it's not something you want to encourage within the containers. If the container is full, you can add about 2 tsp liquid bleach and leave it for a bit, well covered. In a few weeks it should have most of the water cleaned and no longer smelling of bleach (not that it really did in the first place). The sides should also be relatively free of algae. Whenever it shows up again, use about 1/2 to 1 tsp of bleach to sort it out since you don't wish to empty the containers.

Thanks for the replies, GayG

You are very welcome, although I do feel the need to point out that my real first name is actually 'Jon' (short for Jonathan) rather than 'Jay' or 'Gay', but that's probably my fault for not taking more care when choosing my username nearly 5 years ago! 

No need to be sorry Trills, although 5 rather than 10 laugh smileys would have been perfectly ample.     

<<cough cough splutter splutter>>  That has made my day  Sorry
 

Quote from: engineer on March 10, 2014, 18:47

Thanks for the replies, GayG

You are very welcome, although I do feel the need to point out that my real first name is actually 'Jon' (short for Jonathan) rather than 'Jay' or 'Gay', but that's probably my fault for not taking more care when choosing my username nearly 5 years ago! 

Thanks Jon, glad to see a fellow Yorkie can see the funny side  of an innocent mistake

Cheers Dave

A chap on our site had the same problem ,he painted it with black paint and it seemed to solve the problem.