We have a couple of water features in our garden and having to clean them every other day as it is the same water running through them and the sun causes a green algae...  Is there anything we could put in the water to make it not do this quite so quick but wouldn't be harmful to the dog if he drank out of them....

Hopefully someone has come across this before :)

Hi

Try Barley Straw, that will help to keep it clean if you don't want filters and pumps installed. Here's a link for more details http://www.bestfish.com/barlybal.html.

Try not to top them up with tap water as that makes the water react and turn cloudy too.

You may need to add more plants that produce oxygen or shade the water from direct sunlight by using shrubs but dirty water does not always mean poor quality in fact the Enviroment Agency never like to see clear lakes which indicate a possible poor quality.

There are many ways you can go but Barley is a natural way without adding chemicals which might not be good for your dog.

Regards
Stu

Glad I'm not the only one with this problem, mine is a pebble pool so adding plants or barley straw isn't and aoption as it has an underground reservoir.
I was told yesterday to try adding some salt to the water, it's a bit cloudy today but the the rock that the water comes up through does seem a bit cleaner, goodness only know if the pump willl survive though

I know Ingrid the ones I have is the Whiskey barrel waterfall effect and the 3 tubes that light up with an underground reservior will try the salt thing as cleaning them everyday to every other day is becoming a pain but it is soooo funny to watch him drink out of them as he prefers the waterfall one now to his water bowl... :rolleyes:

Just about every dog that comes here drinks from it., wild birds use it to so that is probably some of the problem.
Damn dogs, clean water put down in a bowl everyday and they still prefer the running water:rolleyes:

If you get pond snails in the base of your water feature they will scoff up your algae.  You can buy pond snails from garden centres which sell pond equipment or you could get some from friends with ponds - we're overrun with them.