H2O2 Dosing?

[Aquattro]

Chatting with someone last night, he manages a client tank where he doses 20ml of 29% H2O2 daily. My first thought was "that's bad". But, he's been doing it a long time and everything is sparkly clean and nothing bad is happening. Anyone know anything about this??

[IanWR]

I haven't done it myself, but read about it when I was battling dinos last year. From what I could figure out it does a similar thing to ozone.

[Aquattro]

Ya, the ORP values are quite high in the tank, ~350mV or something like that

[riceboy]

i think dez also doses h2o2 as well maybe he will shine in on the topic.

[hillegom]

I haven't done it myself, but read about it when I was battling dinos last year. From what I could figure out it does a similar thing to ozone.

From what I remember, if ozone is bubbled through water, H202 is formed temporarily

[Aquattro]

Conceptually, I can see the benefit, although this would scare the crap out of me, and I worry less than most about adding stuff to the box.

[MKLKT]

Reading up on it I'm definitely going to try an out of tank spray/dip for some of my LR. Don't think I'd want to risk trying to dose though.

A few months ago my GSP spawned and it stunned/killed most of the snails and a few inverts in my tank which led to a bloom of algae that I haven't been able to get rid of, it was so nice before :(

[George]

I wouldn't dare to try H2O2 in DT. It can kill good things along with bad things.
To keep clean water, a UV can probably do better job than most.
There are also probably a dozen harmless ways to control algae anyway.

[Aquattro]

I wouldn't dare to try H2O2 in DT. It can kill good things along with bad things.


That was my train of thought too, but he's adding 20ml/day long term and it's a damn nice reef!

[freezetyle]

Huge thread on rc about dosing it to get rid of algae. A lot of stores will dose their ranks with in power outraged to keep o2 levels up.

[don.ald]

I have a 90g skimmerless, I run an oxydator. http://saltwater-conversion.com/products/sochting-oxydator

[mark]

How bad could the stuff be, little bit ago there was a post about gargling with it.

[reefwars]

I think the biggest issue is you can't predict how it will affect all organics in a system :)

[don.ald]

I think the biggest issue is you can't predict how it will affect all organics in a system :)

Can't predict how, but for sure u can predict it will affect organic so every system is different 😏

[reefwars]

Can't predict how, but for sure u can predict it will affect organic so every system is different 😏

Not in the sense that they all contain an abundance of organic life which all marine systems do , good and bad :)

[kien]

It's quite common in ponding products that are designed to control algae. I have a tub of this stuff for my pond. Unfortunately it is in a low concentration. Something like 10% H2O2. Dez uses something like 35% H2o2 on his pond and probably dilutes that for his reef tank.

I've never used it for my tank as I've never had any algae issues.

[hillegom]

I have a 90g skimmerless, I run an oxydator. http://saltwater-conversion.com/products/sochting-oxydator

Where did you get yours Don?

[Aquattro]

Where is Dez? Somebody tag him! Probably on a beach somewhere..

My thought is that this acts like ozone, and not just for algae issues. Water clarity, sand cleanliness, etc. Again, conceptually the idea is sound, just not sure what the risks are. I guess that's the issue, we don't know. Maybe I'll try it and see if anything implodes :)

[asylumdown]

At this point I can say with pretty high confidence that hydrogen peroxide is both one of the most useful and safest tools in a reefers toolkit.

It's not completely without risk, but you have to dose a massive amount to harm anything. I use both 3% and 29% depending on what I need it for. Stupidly, I've been storing my 29% in a 3% bottle from shoppers with a home made sharpie label on it. I messed up once and grabbed the wrong bottle and used 45mL of it my tank. A few of my acros browned out for a few days, but that was about it.

If you're spot treating cyano or Dino's with the pumps off, 3% works great. If you need to really clean off a section of more persistent algae, or are looking to broadcast dose to systemically inhibit cyano, 29% (or 30 if you can get it) is probably easier to use. You can also dilute 29% however you want. I'll sometimes make 7% solutions cuz they have a bit more kick when it comes to killing algae, and you can use more of it.

ETA: when I used the 45 mL of 29% by accident it was with the pumps off and about 50 gallons of water drained from the display. I don't think that amount would have caused a reaction of it was full and the return pump had been on

[Aquattro]

I know my LFS guy used it to spot kill algae, but I hadn't thought of regular use to just sparkle things up a bit. Sounds like it would work for that. Maybe?

[asylumdown]

I've never noticed the tank being any sparklier after using it. Peroxide Loooooooves organics, but theres ALOT of organic material in a tank, probably so much that to noticeably decrease it in the water column for more than a few minutes you'd need to be dosing enough peroxide to kill all your fish and corals. There's also a lot of complex organisms with cells filled with peroxidase whose sole purpose in life is to instantaneously break it down in to water and oxygen on contact.

What it does do at relatively low concentrations is inhibit the photosystems in cyanobacteria - Something about the structures they use to photosynthesize being particularly sensitive to reactive oxygen coupled with poor metabolic pathways to eliminate it, likely related to the fact that cyanobacteria evolved when the atmosphere had very little oxygen in it or something. There's lots of cyanobacteria in tanks all the time, just not necessarily in the nasty biofilm form that people post about when it gets out of control. If there is low levels of cyanobacteria in the tank staining the water or causing rocks and sand to have a darker colour or stick together, dosing peroxide might cause a noticeable change in the visual 'cleanliness' of the tank - but that's a wild guess based on a totally unsupported assumption.

[don.ald]

Where did you get yours Don?

Somewhere in the UK. Not sure if they are avail in North America? Can get them online from the UK.

[Aquattro]

Rick ,what is your overall impression of it's effectiveness?

[don.ald]

Rick ,what is your overall impression of it's effectiveness?

I use mostly 3% and the water is clearer when I use it less film on inside glass. Also helps with cyno.
I have used stronger % when fighting algae and saw some positive results (black spine urchins work just as good:mrgreen:)

[MKLKT]

Did a couple of small test rocks, took them out, scrubbed off whatever algae I could with a dish brush and then sprayed 3% H2O2 on it, rinsed it off after a few minutes with RODI. Looks a lot better already but we'll see if it really gets it.

I also torched the tiny aiptasia living on the rock that I had been lazy about dealing with.

[reefwars]

Did a couple of small test rocks, took them out, scrubbed off whatever algae I could with a dish brush and then sprayed 3% H2O2 on it, rinsed it off after a few minutes with RODI. Looks a lot better already but we'll see if it really gets it.

I also torched the tiny aiptasia living on the rock that I had been lazy about dealing with.

fwiw , algae doesn't die instantly with h202 , it dies within 24-48hrs afterwards:)


for dipping a 4:1 tank water to peroxide ratio is more than enough to kill algaes:)

[Aquattro]

I know target basting works, more wondering what dosing it full time does.

[Proteus]

I dosed peroxide for a while.. Do/should monitor orp. Never had negative affects but might say water was clearer.

I talked to dez a couple months ago.. He quit dosing his dt.
If I remember correctly it was good but he just didn't feel like doing it any more

[Reef Pilot]

Have heard Dietmar (Hillegom) and others talking about peroxide for some time, so decided to give it a try. Keep getting algae on my frag plug bases on the rack, where the tangs can't get at it very well.

So got some 3% at the drug store and mixed it 4:1 in a small container and dipped a frag just up to the base (not the whole frag) for 10 minutes. Just over a day later, the algae all turned white and the frag is none the worse for wear.

Will do a few more the next few days. If this works, sure beats trying to clean algae off the plugs every few weeks (or at least that's when I should).

Am not ready to try H202 in the whole tank, as am concerned about maybe killing too much other good algae (the kind that live inside corals).

[canadianbudz604]

Because I've had such good success with peroxide killing aptaisia/red turf algae/ and these bad ass bugs I'm going to start dosing my 36g. Gonna research the amounts I should be using, but I'm going to start with a drop or two. I'll keep my results posted.

[Aquattro]

The tank I referenced doing this is using 25ml daily of 29% H2O2. It's about 120g system.

[Proteus]

Because I've had such good success with peroxide killing aptaisia/red turf algae/ and these bad ass bugs I'm going to start dosing my 36g. Gonna research the amounts I should be using, but I'm going to start with a drop or two. I'll keep my results posted.

Drop or two is useless.. Try 3.6ml a day

[canadianbudz604]

Ya I put around 3

[GoFish]

So is 29% h2o2 nearly 10 times stronger than 3%? I've read that some people dose 1ml per 10g per day, don't recall if it was 3% or 29%, could be a huge difference if that's the case

[Aquattro]

So is 29% h2o2 nearly 10 times stronger than 3%? I've read that some people dose 1ml per 10g per day, don't recall if it was 3% or 29%, could be a huge difference if that's the case

Yes, 29 is that much stronger than 3. The only tank I know of doing this is using 25ml of 29% in about 100g volume daily.

[ClubReef]

I have some recent experience with peroxide (3%) to help fight Dino's at 10% of my net water volume for about 2.5 weeks and from what I can tell it had no affect on my tank (positive or negative). I even upped my dosage to 25-25% on a few occasion..and nadda. Imo peroxide is low risk.. Would I use it again, nah

[GoFish]

I have some recent experience with peroxide (3%) to help fight Dino's at 10% of my net water volume for about 2.5 weeks and from what I can tell it had no affect on my tank (positive or negative). I even upped my dosage to 25-25% on a few occasion..and nadda. Imo peroxide is low risk.. Would I use it again, nah

Just to clarify over the course of 2.5 weeks you added 1 gallon of peroxide to 10 gallons of tank water, into your tank directly? Or were you dipping stuff in that percent?

[Reef Pilot]

Have heard Dietmar (Hillegom) and others talking about peroxide for some time, so decided to give it a try. Keep getting algae on my frag plug bases on the rack, where the tangs can't get at it very well.

So got some 3% at the drug store and mixed it 4:1 in a small container and dipped a frag just up to the base (not the whole frag) for 10 minutes. Just over a day later, the algae all turned white and the frag is none the worse for wear.

Will do a few more the next few days. If this works, sure beats trying to clean algae off the plugs every few weeks (or at least that's when I should).

Am not ready to try H202 in the whole tank, as am concerned about maybe killing too much other good algae (the kind that live inside corals).
Treating the frag plugs worked. Only need to do it for 5 minutes, though. Algae on the plug turns white and rescinds in a day or two. Frag itself is none the worse for wear. Beats trying to manually scrape off the algae or move the frag to a new plug every few weeks.

But will not dose my entire tank with peroxide. No need for that... A little algae here and there gives it the "natural" look and keeps my tangs busy.

[ClubReef]

Just to clarify over the course of 2.5 weeks you added 1 gallon of peroxide to 10 gallons of tank water, into your tank directly? Or were you dipping stuff in that percent?

I apologize, my math is wrong and please don't use 1 gallon per 10 gallon of water :). I was dosing about 1ml per 10 gallons directly into the tank and then went as far as 5 ml per gallon and usually twice a day for 2.5 weeks. When I went 5ml/gallon I was desperate because the dinoflagellates started to attack my corals. I didn't see any affect at all with the dosing. I eventually beat the crap out out of the dino with an aggressive increase in pH using kalkwasser. So from my experience the H202 didn't do anything for me but other reefers might have different results.

[MKLKT]

The few rocks I hand sprayed 50/50 H2O2/RODI have stayed bare and no sign of the aiptasia that I torched.

I've been dosing a couple of caps of 3% every night in combination with upping my Mg and increased skimming and it's having a drastic effect on the hair algae that had taken hold after the GSP spawnicide. A couple more weeks and I suspect it'll all disappear. Haven't done a water change yet, just doing mechanical removal of the loose stuff.

[MKLKT]

Still dosing and having great results, I'd estimate probably a 75% reduction in algae, calciferous algaes are doing fine. Reduction is very obvious without any spot treatments.

No ill effects for livestock so far which includes some starfish, urchins and two lone snails that managed to survive the original GSP apocalypse. My rainbow monti that was getting snuffed out by algae and shade from a toadstool is coming back with a vengeance now.