Algae in your Tanks

How to figure it for those interested because not everyone relates to "use 3ppm copper in your water". The safe amount of liquid copper is 3 parts per million. That means you have to convert the amount of water from gallons to ounces or milliliters to get 7 digits or at least 6. For example our pool in Georgia held 20,000 gallons x 128 oz in a gallon = 2,560,000 oz. Divide that by 1,000,000 & you get 2.56. Now we have our water units in "parts millions". (In further examples the division by 1,000,000 will be implied.) So 3 (parts copper) x 2.56 (millions part water) = 7.68 oz of liquid copper.

For something smaller, use millimeters. 1 gallon of water = 3,785.41 ml. Use a syringe to measure the liquid copper sulfate because it has millimeter markings.

So for a 500 gallon (hot tub): x 3,785.41 ml = 1,892,705 ml. Therefore 3 x 1.893 = 5.679 ml of liquid copper.

A stock tank at 150 gallons x 3,785.41 ml = 567,811 ml. So 3 x .567,811 = 1.7 ml of liquid copper. If you have an auto filler aparatus (we do), replenish if you see algae forming on top of the water. We live with a little algae on the inside of the tub walls. For a galvanized tub this is all you need. Do NOT put chlorine in a galvanized tub; it will eventually eat holes in it! For a plastic/rubber tub, add a chlorine floater with 1-3 one inch tablets depending on size of tub..

For pools, put the liquid copper in when you open the pool after backwashing. You shouldn't need any other algeacide throughout the season. 2019 note: Atwood’s didn’t have it this summer so I had to order this granular version from Amazon. I use the palm of my hand to measure!