I just back from an 8 day cruise to find my backyard pool was a green squirming mess. I then went about killing the millions of mosquito larvae (and I really don't think I am exaggerating here) that were growing and came up with this idea and found it was not completely original (see link), but my method is a bit different.

Wikipedia mentions a minimum 5 day growing cycle, so all we need to do is kill them every 3 days.

So start with a nice sized (the bigger the better) double pan of water and algae. What I mean is a top pan which is exposed to air with a filtered connection to a lower pan. Mount a small solar cell that charges a battery or super cap which powers a small electric motor triggered by a clock chip. Every three days the electric motor slowly pulls a fine screen belt which generally lies across the bottom of the pool and also wraps around the bottom of the pan into the lower pan. The screen/belt has two paddles located at opposite “ends” of the belt which seal access to the lower pan of water. When the screen/belt moves, the screen is pulled off the bottom of the pan and the paddles cause all the water to flow thru the screen. The intermediate sized larvae will be pulled from the top pan and brought to the bottom pan where they will drown. The smallest of larvae will pass thru the screen to prove to other passing mosquitoes, what a fine place this is to lay their eggs. The rotting bodies of the larger larvae in the lower pan will feed the algae.
-- MisterQED, Aug 31 2009

Deadly Pond Deadly_20Pond
[MisterQED, Aug 31 2009]

In the foreclosed homes with pools such as yours, roving city employees will jump the gate and throw fish in to chow down on the mosquito larvae.

I found that 8 cent feeder goldfish do admirably well at controlling larvae. You might consider letting your chlorine go in advance of your next vacation then adding some goldfish before you leave.
-- bungston, Aug 31 2009


The Coke Bottle Flytrap is dumb. Fruit flies are probably hatching on the fruit and then live out their lives caught in the bottle. Fruit flies are one of those "spontaneous generation" "proofs".

I thought about the fish, but this is better. If you read the annos of the earlier idea, you will see that the mosquitoes would probably avoid using a pool with fish in it. I WANT them to use the pool so that she doesn't use another better one as stagnant pools are not that hard to find. On that note, there were also larvae in my daughters plastic sand box because the wind blew the cover off so the rain could fill it.
-- MisterQED, Aug 31 2009



random, halfbakery