PRODUCT TEST: Erva's Purification Disk

Besides our Sugar Shaker Nectar Maker (R) that we sell throughout the US, we also own a small wild bird retail store called Outdoor Bird Supplies. We are mainly a repeat bird seed store with about 20 different seed types and seed blends in stock. The Sugar Shaker Nectar Maker got its start from people asking me, "how do you make hummingbird nectar?"

A new product arrived on the market a few months ago called a purification disks. Basically, it is advertised as a way to keep your bird bath clean, and who wouldn't want that!

Lately a lot of customers have seen these types of purification disks advertised and have asked me if they work. Not just believing the hype from the manufacture, I've been testing Evra's copper disk since early spring. By now, late August, I have a pretty good idea of their limitations.

Do they work? ABSOLUTELY!

On the positive side, drop one of these into a CLEAN birdbath and you will get very little algae. The water will remain crystal clear. So yes, they work.

What can't they do?

1) Drop one into a birdbath like the one on the left picture and nothing will happen. The disk can't overcome algae that is already there. Take a little bleach and water and clean the birdbath before dropping in the disk.

2) It does not remove, leaves, dirt, bird poop or anything else your birds are putting in your bath. So yes, you do still have to dump the bath every couple of days to clean out everything that isn't algae.

3) The copper purification disk oxidizes quickly. I'm working on this now. The bath it is currently sitting in has some (but not a lot) of algae growing so that may be from the copper oxidizing. I'm going to put a copper cleaning on it, get it shiny again, and I'll let you know the results in the future.

Is it worth $12.99? ABSOLUTELY

With the disk you are not scrubbing out the birdbath. You are just tipping it and rinsing it out.