Dawn,

Get some bleach. It's not bad for the environment and it's the exact same chemical that's used to treat drinking water (sodium hypochlorite). Do not get the color safe one or the one that has a fresh lemony smell.  You want just straight old Clorox.  A gallon will last you a year.

At the beginning of the season, with your tank empty, pour in a cup of Clorox.  Fill the tank and let sit for a day or so.  Then empty the tank, fill it once again and empty, then fill it for use.  It is important in the tropics that you don't let water stand, but if you have to, put a tablespoon of Clorox in every time you fill it.

Now, if you're going to drink the water, and I assume you are, I suggest getting an undersink unit from Home Depot – I have the GE one that uses two narrowish cartridge filters.  It removes chlorine, lead, other stuff, most or all biologicals.  The filters last in household use for 6 months (longer on a boat) and you'll be amazed at how clean the water is.  It tastes like, well, water.

If after you do the cup of Clorox thing and you're still getting big flakes of algae, then just do it once more.  It doesn't hurt the tank or the piping or the environment, unless you count the amount of water you use.  Once the tank is clean, rapid turnover will keep it that way.  If you leave the boat for any period of time (a month or longer), empty the tanks. Open them to the air if possible, but emptying them is the best thing you can do.

That should keep your water clean enough to drink. 

Bob
 

On Thu, Jan 7, 2010 at 1:04 PM, Dawn Rodney < ([email][/email])> wrote:

Hi everyone,
Patrick and I have mold growing in our tanks and I was wondering how others cleaned their tanks and what anti-microbial solution you have used to prevent it from growing back.  We don’t use bleach on the boat or anything that is not healthy for the environment (or us for that matter).
Thanks,
Dawn
s/v Deep Playa

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Bob Fine
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Pearson 424 Hull #8
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Dawn
Bob’s advice is right on target. Beware if you have aluminim tanks however. Bleach will corrode the inside of the tank if you overdo it or leave it in there too long. You can tell if you’re overdoing it because white grit comes out of the faucet or cloggs the filters.

Regards
Rich

Try white vinnegar?

Adam Silverstein, iPhone

On Jan 7, 2010, at 3:51 PM, Dawn Rodney < ([email][/email])> wrote:

Hi Dawn,

Here's the thing:  Most of what's in salt water is NaCl, or sodium chloride.  Sodium hypochlorite is a sodium atom with an oxygen and chlorine atoms NaOCl (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_hypochlorite).

The reason you smell chlorine from bleach is because the solution is an oxidizer – in other words, the oxygen would rather be anywhere than with the NaOCl.  It creates a basic (think weak lye) solution which does the work.  Just as ozone is not good for living things (a small ozone generator will kill all the mold in a locker in a heartbeat and if left there too long, destroy your clothing).  When the oxygen is released, so is some of the chlorine.

It's really that base that does the cleaning (and why your skin feels slippery).  You're not pouring gallons (actually liters, since free chlorine is a gas) into the environment.  What's more, there are more than enough free metallic ions in seawater to absorb the chlorine.  Chlorine gas in the ionosphere is a different animal, though. 

You'll notice, though, that the article mentions household bleach (chlorox) if you don't use vinegar.  Vinegar will remove scale, but you are not putting enough in there to remove the algae that grows in our water tanks.  Take my word for it – been there and down that road.

You can purchase tablets for your tank that tell you they'll clean and freshen your water system.  They will.  They're expensive, you need a lot of them, and the procedure is essentially the same.  Moreover, they don't leave your tank water tasting sweet. It still tastes yucky.

You will, as we all do, do as you like.  But if you don't want to spend the rest of your life dealing with this, go with the two cups of chlorox.  It won't hurt a thing – least of all the environment.

Bob

On Thu, Jan 7, 2010 at 3:51 PM, Dawn Rodney < ([email][/email])> wrote:

I'm thinking here that no one who cleans water or cleans wells use vinegar.  They all use sodium hypochlorite.  I mean, why argue with success?

Bob

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Bob Fine
s/v Pelican
Pearson 424 Hull #8
http://thesailinglife.blogspot.com
Follow me at: http://www.tinyurl.com/WhereIsBobFine

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Err, from the link you sent.
[*] Step 8
[*] Fill the tank with 5 to 6 oz. (2/3 c. to 3/4 c.) bleach per 10 gallons of water. Let this sit in the system for a few hours, and then flush the entire water system with it.

This would have you putting in about a gallon of bleech. I don’t recommend that much bleech.
I fail to see how three cups of bleech dumped into Puget Sound could possbly be noticed. I don’t like the bleech solution either, but everything else I’ve tried doesn’t work. One friend recommends dumping in a gallon of vodka in each tank. I haven’t tried that yet. I have better things to do with three gallons of vodka. 😉 If you find another solution that works, please let us know.
Rich

Vodka is for winterizing.  For algae, it's food.  Cheap used to be nearly the same price as the winterizing stuff and was far better to drink or brush your teeth with than that red crap.

Bob

On Thu, Jan 7, 2010 at 4:47 PM, Dawn Rodney < ([email][/email])> wrote: