It is a concrete fountain and I have a lot of birds that visit. I hesitate to use Clorox b/c of birds. Also concrete is porous. Anything I can do to treat permanently or is this meant to be a PITA daily chore?

https://www.bobvila.com/articl...

Not sure you can get rid of it permanently.

Thank you that's very useful. I have the bath in a sunny spot so algae comes back almost immediately but I've never tried the vinegar. Might do it right now😊

The problem is, it will take something acidic (like 'CLR') https://clrbrands.com/Products... which will surely take care of it, but it might (probably will) pit the concrete.

Those rust stains don't/won't bother/harm the birds one little bit .... in case you wondered about that.

Al

I was concerned about bird safety

I've used a mixture of vinegar and baking soda mixed with water, and also lemon juice with baking soda and water, and let it sit filled up with that each mixture about an hour. I covered the bowl with a one of those big black plastic garbage bags to make sure no bird tried to use it. Then scrub with a nylon brush, have even used metal brushes but be careful you don't overdo that, you could remove some of the finish.

Then I coated the inside with a sealer and that made it so much easier to keep clean. Before the sealer I'd have to scrub as much as the initial cleaning and never get it really clean unless I used vinegar solutions again. With the sealer on it, I just swish a nylon brush around, dump and rinse and fill it back up. The algae still grows but it doesn't stick like on the untreated concrete. I used Ghostshield Siloxa-Tek 8510 for the sealer according to their instructions and I love it. It didn't change the appearance at all but made it so much easier to clean. I ordered just the small 16 oz size, was just under $20 including taxes and if any shipping. I'm going to recoat 2 bowls this spring with it, it lasts a long time.

There's no way to eliminate the algae, it will keep growing back. There are some drops you can add (Fountec) and a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar per gallon, but it still won't eliminate algae, you will still need to keep after it.

Edit: I wouldn't recommend using anything like CLR. Not only might it pit the concrete but it might be absorbed into the concrete and leech out in the water which might poison the birds. I wouldn't worry about vinegar and lime juice as much.

I use bleach but I can't find an authoritative source to say that is safe. Here is something from Chewy that is for keeping bird bath clear. I have no idea if it works
https://www.chewy.com/microbe-...

The chlorine in bleach evaporates fairly fast so it's not a problem. Ditto with CLR. Personally, I just rinse on a daily basis to remove poop and feathers. Most ponds, lakes, streams and rivers don't get cleaned and birds do fine.

I wouldn't trust bleach or CLR in a bird bath. I remember having to toss a small aquarium when I was a kid because I cleaned it first with kitchen cleanser, tiny microscopic scratches retain the bleach that leeched out in the water. No matter how well you rinse it, it's impossible to remove it all. They're also both corrosive. Add that concrete is more porous to begin with and not as smooth as glass.

Maybe it's a small enough amount that it wouldn't hurt the birds since water is usually changed more often in a birdbath, but it's still bleach. Even if diluted I just wouldn't trust it since there are other ways to clean it up.

I don't think it's rust, but algae given you mentioned it stays in the sun. It's going to be a constant battle if it gets sunlight. But, I drain the water out of mine, squirt hydrogen peroxide in it, scrub with a hand brush, and rinse well. It gets rid of algae better than trying to just hand scrub with water. And hydrogen peroxide just breaks down to harmless ingredients.

A year or two back I had read to add a capful or a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar to the birdbath water. I did it that summer and it took care of this red algae. Of course I had cleaned it well to begin with. Mine is in the shade and it has the same algae growth. I am using well water so no added chemicals.

Y'all, very good info

Murky, about sealers, my spouse is a believer in sealer. Not familiar with this specific brand. He says next time he seals a pathway, he'll save me a little bit for my birdbath. Not crazy about dishing of $$ just for BB.

My BB is in full brutal sun and that's a contributor to that red algae. I have other glass baths that are not a problem as the slick surface is easy to clean. But this concrete one, which is porous, has sentimental value. I'll report later on my result with vinegar water. Thanks, all.

Pod, how often do you have to clean BB? How often to you add the acv?

There are quite a few sealers out there to pick from. Just make sure you do research and use one that's non-toxic. The water is going to sit in whatever you choose.

I've used apple cider vinegar but mine is a regular birdbath that I can empty several times a week and clean. So when there's fresh water, there's more apple cider vinegar put in. I wouldn't keep adding more vinegar without fresh water though, it could build up to something that might be harmful to birds. It's a teaspoon per gallon of water.

Using copper pennies helps a bit also (pennies before 1983) or left over copper piping or tubing if you have laying around. But even using all the tricks, it won't eliminate the algae though, nothing does.

Murky said:

Maybe it's a small enough amount that it wouldn't hurt the birds since water is usually changed more often in a birdbath, but it's still bleach. Even if diluted I just wouldn't trust it since there are other ways to clean it up.

What do think the municipalities put in the drinking water? It's bleach. The birds will be fine.

Rubi said: What do think the municipalities put in the drinking water? It's bleach. The birds will be fine.

Bleach had chlorine in it, but it has other stuff in it too. Some places use chloramine instead of chlorine since chlorine being a gas, evaporates off.

vossner said: Thank you that's very useful. I have the bath in a sunny spot so algae comes back almost immediately but I've never tried the vinegar. Might do it right now😊

2 of my bird baths are in full on shade, and they still have this same crusty reddish, peeling stuff on them, so not sure the sun situation really matters. It is a real pain to clean it, I cant' even lift one of the bowls, its too heavy. Very unsightly.

The sealer really makes it easier to clean the algae with just a quick light brushing. My concrete birdbath is really heavy and I hate having to lift it to dump it. So after brushing it out a bit, I use the highest pressure on the hose nozzle to sort of blow the dirty water out, then fill with fresh water. If you don't keep after it and let it go, the algae will stain the concrete, and then it takes a lot of time and elbow grease to clean it up. That's the one thing that makes me keep it clean. That and the birds eventually find it too disgusting to use.

I'm not fully convinced it's algae, but that's not too important. If it IS algae, an oxidizing bleach (H2O2. hydrogen peroxide) can be used to be rid of the stain. H2O2 is a powerful oxidase with O- free oxygen radicals which will oxidize the first organic molecule they come in contact with. It's also the oxidase that causes sunburn (photo-oxidation) by attacking the green pigment, chlorophyll. So if the source of the red coloration is algae, H2O2 will work by cleaving the chemical bonds of chromophores (part of organic molecules which give the molecule its coloration) such that it no longer reflects light in the visible portion of the spectrum. If it doesn't work, the stain is probably ferric oxide, aka rust.

Bleach is perfectly safe if you want to try it. Add the bleach, as strong as you like, let it do it's work, discard the solution. Set the bath in the sun (or use a hair dryer on high or a heat gun to heat it) which will break the active ingredient (sodium hypochlorite) into a harmless product we ingest every day - sodium chloride/table salt, which can be rinsed away in a few seconds. Household bleach also has other small amounts of additives which can also be rinsed away. No special precautions, other than a rinse, need be taken if you try H2O2.

If the deposits bother you, by all means, remove them, but they won't bother the birds. Birds drink from what I consider to be some pretty fowl water sources on a regular basis. My BBs get algae deposits which start out green and turn to black while in use. I regularly do what I can to spray them with a high pressure stream from the hose when I fill them, and occasionally I scrub them with a bit of dishsoap and a plastic scrub brush, which removes all of the algae. I tip my BBs over for the winter. In spring when I fill them again, I can easily spray all the algae away with hose pressure. I have 2 polished granite baths and a raw concrete bath - they all get the build-up.
Al

Link to the MSDS for the MICROBE-LIFT/SOY BASED BIRD BATH & STATUARY CLEANER. It appears to be soy based...

https://www.google.com/url?sa=...