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Central Texas Zebra Mussels Have Arrived - Best Practices to Sanitize Your Boat?

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    Central Texas Zebra Mussels Have Arrived - Best Practices to Sanitize Your Boat?

    I read that Lake Georgetown now has zebra mussels. Concerning to me as we have a few lakes in the Austin area where I like to boat. It’s not uncommon for us to do a mid week run to Lake Georgetown and a weekend run on Lake Travis.

    I’m good about pulling my drain plug at the ramp but my ballast bags are never completely empty. What are you all doing to keep your ballast bags safe? What about the water in your engine block? Anchor lines?




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    #2
    Found this from the Utah wildlife Dept.

    ...There are also portable, collapsible ballast tank systems retrofitted on boats which do not have internal systems built in at the factory. These systems should also have the water drained and then have mussel- killing solution added and operated as described above. Otherwise, they too will grow mussels inside with the same consequences.
    An effective mussel-killing solution — for each ballast tank — is two gallons of a 200 parts per million (ppm) solution of potassium chloride (KCL). Despite the fact that it will kill mussels, this solution is harmless to humans and to the environment. It also has extremely low corrosion characteristics and has been used in the oil well drilling industry for decades due to these characteristics A chloride concentration of 250 ppm is allowable for drinking water and the solution is below that level. Potassium chloride salt crystals are used in water softener systems; people drink and bath in such water. Conservative estimates of potassium and chloride concentration in Lake Powell with usage as indicated above, indicate concentrations of 1 part per trillion. That is far below possible environmental harm. In fact, KCL solution was used in Virginia to completely kill all zebra mussels in a quarry. “In dramatic contrast, other aquatic wildlife including turtles, fishes, aquatic insects, and snails continue to thrive in the quarry.”
    Potassium chloride (KCL) solutions in concentrations of 200 ppm can be made by thoroughly mixing one teaspoon of dry KCL salt crystals in two gallons of water. KCL salt crystals are available at stores such as Home Depot and water softener suppliers. Morton Salt Company offers KCL in 40-pound bags. Do NOT use any other kind of salt or solution. Potassium chloride premixed solutions are available from suppliers to the oil well drilling industry; a Salt Lake City dealer has indicated willingness to do so. KCL is mined in Moab and is also available in the Uintah Basin. The solution can be provided in larger quantities, such as drums, that may be suitable for marinas and others providing boat maintenance services.


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      #3
      Originally posted by skiguy View Post
      Found this from the Utah wildlife Dept.

      ...There are also portable, collapsible ballast tank systems retrofitted on boats which do not have internal systems built in at the factory. These systems should also have the water drained and then have mussel- killing solution added and operated as described above. Otherwise, they too will grow mussels inside with the same consequences.
      An effective mussel-killing solution — for each ballast tank — is two gallons of a 200 parts per million (ppm) solution of potassium chloride (KCL). Despite the fact that it will kill mussels, this solution is harmless to humans and to the environment. It also has extremely low corrosion characteristics and has been used in the oil well drilling industry for decades due to these characteristics A chloride concentration of 250 ppm is allowable for drinking water and the solution is below that level. Potassium chloride salt crystals are used in water softener systems; people drink and bath in such water. Conservative estimates of potassium and chloride concentration in Lake Powell with usage as indicated above, indicate concentrations of 1 part per trillion. That is far below possible environmental harm. In fact, KCL solution was used in Virginia to completely kill all zebra mussels in a quarry. “In dramatic contrast, other aquatic wildlife including turtles, fishes, aquatic insects, and snails continue to thrive in the quarry.”
      Potassium chloride (KCL) solutions in concentrations of 200 ppm can be made by thoroughly mixing one teaspoon of dry KCL salt crystals in two gallons of water. KCL salt crystals are available at stores such as Home Depot and water softener suppliers. Morton Salt Company offers KCL in 40-pound bags. Do NOT use any other kind of salt or solution. Potassium chloride premixed solutions are available from suppliers to the oil well drilling industry; a Salt Lake City dealer has indicated willingness to do so. KCL is mined in Moab and is also available in the Uintah Basin. The solution can be provided in larger quantities, such as drums, that may be suitable for marinas and others providing boat maintenance services.


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      Are you worried about cross contaminating the lake or keeping them from clogging up your ballast system?


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      Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like bananas!

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        #4
        Originally posted by dakota4ce View Post
        Are you worried about cross contaminating the lake or keeping them from clogging up your ballast system?


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        Cross contamination. I want to be a good citizen.


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          #5
          Originally posted by skiguy View Post
          Cross contamination. I want to be a good citizen.


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          Good on you man! Too many people are trying to weasel out of having to recon, etc...which is why the problem exists and perpetuates. At the lakes I go to they pump hot water into your engine and the ballast bags to decon them. To tell you the truth I’m not sure how effective this is fo4 ballast if you don’t fill the whole bag, which they never do, but I’m sure it’s better than nothing.
          To me it’s a small price to pay to be an.e to go to a bunch of different lakes and I’m happy to do it. These poor park attendants and officers get so much crap from people over this it’s ridiculous.

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            #6
            But of a pricy option but maybe worth it
            https://wake-worx.com/shop/mussel-mastr/

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              #7
              ^thats a good idea! Too bad I’ve got three separate ballast intakes, dohhh!
              If you had a common manifold you could just get by with one. I wonder what it’d do to flow rate though.

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                #8
                That mussell master looks identical to what the CC boats have as an option. Think it was around $1200.00 if ordered with a G23 and comes with 4 of them or so that mount in the upper engine compartment.

                Pics of them installed on an 18 G23. When asking CC dealers if it were worth it they said no, and that they didn't have enough experience with them to recommend or not. I chose not to order them as I primarily boat on 2-3 lakes that already have mussels.


                IMG_7937 (1).jpg

                IMG_7938 (1).jpg
                Last edited by JLG; 05-08-2018, 02:10 PM.

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                  #9
                  Originally posted by bsreid View Post
                  But of a pricy option but maybe worth it
                  https://wake-worx.com/shop/mussel-mastr/
                  These have been in Centurions for a couple years. I say someone ahould develop UV light ballast hose so it irradiated the little spores in the hose

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                    #10
                    Central Texas Zebra Mussels Have Arrived - Best Practices to Sanitize Your Boat?

                    This was on of the reasons I put quick connects on all my bags. So I can pull them and completely drain. Although the quick connects do not work very well. But that is another story.

                    Unfortunately it is just a matter of time before they make their way here to Travis.


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                    BABz - babzusa.com
                    Austin, TX

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                      #11
                      Looks interesting but you would still have your hull and other gear that contact the water. Anchor, bumpers. lines etc.
                      Mike Allen, Tigé owner since 1997

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                        #12
                        Originally posted by BlackoutATX View Post
                        This was on of the reasons I put quick connects on all my bags. So I can pull them and completely drain. Although the quick connects do not work very well. But that is another story.

                        Unfortunately it is just a matter of time before they make their way here to Travis.


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                        Travis is already contaminated.
                        http://www.kxan.com/news/local/travi...ers/1163637643
                        Its going to destroy that lake in a few years.
                        Oh Yeah!

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                          #13
                          We just had one of our lakes declared mussel free *after a long battle to get rid of them, so that was good news for us. The work they are doing does help, to a degree. It takes responsible boat owners to make the difference. And that's where it gets tricky. I have had to do only one decontamination. Went straight from Lake Powell to a local lake. The felt the decontamination was a joke. I was 100% confident that they didn't do anything to kill the mussels that I had to assume were in my engine and bilge.

                          On the plus side, it only takes a week in the heat of summer to kill them off from inside your boat. We only boat on the weekends, so that helps us out.
                          Last edited by UNSTUCK; 05-09-2018, 05:06 PM.

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                            #14
                            Originally posted by KoolAid View Post
                            Travis is already contaminated.
                            http://www.kxan.com/news/local/travi...ers/1163637643
                            Its going to destroy that lake in a few years.
                            It doesn’t destroy lakes—it’s not great but life goes on. We have tons of them in the upper Midwest. Unfortunately!


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                            Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like bananas!

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                              #15
                              Well that sucks. I guess I hadn't heard that yet. Although I don't think it will "destroy" the lake. More like a PITA.
                              BABz - babzusa.com
                              Austin, TX

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