Our water is very hard also. I have an extra long handled barbecue pit wire
brush I keep just for the bird bath. I dump the water, add a little vinegar
and baking soda, and scrub and rinse until is is gone. Rinse well
afterwards. This will last about a month and then I do it all again, but
the bird bath really gets clean, and the birds love to splash in it when it
is so clean.
"susanwh" wrote in message
...

"Anonny Moose" wrote in message
...
This may not be the correct forum to ask about this, but I figure a
lot
of
people have concrete bird baths in their gardens. One of my bird
baths,
it
is concrete, grows some sort of red crud that discolors the water. It
actually cakes on the surface when there is water in it and can be
chipped
off when it dries. My other concrete bird bath doesn't do this. Any
idea
what it is and what's causing it? Is it harmful to birds? Any way to
get
rid
of it?

Thanks in advance.
Karen
Portland, OR

Sometimes the iron in hard water causes a red sludge in my concrete
bird
baths. swh