Peroxide saves my Tank! With pics to Prove It!

[Lnm130]

I've developed a pretty large patch of algae on one of my rocks. It hasn't spread yet, but it is taking out my one sps. Maybe I'll give this a try during tonights water change....

[Reef Miser]

I've developed a pretty large patch of algae on one of my rocks. It hasn't spread yet, but it is taking out my one sps. Maybe I'll give this a try during tonights water change....

 

 

Take pics!!! I would love to see other peoples' results.

[doppelganger]

oh btw just as an fyi to ppl... the cheapest place for 3% hydrogen peroxide I've found so far is costco at $3.50 (cdn) for 4x500ml bottles.

[jestep]

I've been battling bryopsis for several months. I definitely will give this a try. I've got some rock with no coral on it that would be a good test. I've got some acans and a blasto on plugs with bryopsis on them as well.

 

I will definitely post some before / after pictures when I do it.

[malibukay]

oh btw just as an fyi to ppl... the cheapest place for 3% hydrogen peroxide I've found so far is costco at $3.50 (cdn) for 4x500ml bottles.

hydrogen peroxide is usually cheap anyway, it runs under 1$ per bottle, check walmart

 

but i mean if your really trying to save a couple cents, costco works lol

[doppelganger]

haha true but nothing's cheap up here cost like 3 bucks for a single bottle.

[ajmckay]

Very interesting... Honestly I wouldn't have thought about this, but I now recall reading a few posts about it at some point, probably quite a while ago.

 

Thanks for your thoroughness miser in tracking your methodology somewhat and taking some pictures. That sort of stuff helps out a lot.

[brandon429]

yep its bad to the bone, I just did it 3 days ago but I ran a different spin.

 

Instead of a systemic treatment (wasn't sure about jumping into heavy tankwide oxidation) I drained my tank down and spot treated the green algae, and a patch of red algae for a test. left the tank empty for about 5 mins, not a big deal to any species of coral Ive kept.

 

Then I refilled the tank, drained and refilled for a thorough rinsing. Just overnite the algae turned detritus looking brown and is coming off!

 

But, the red algae didn't respond. It could mean that its tough cell wall is impermeable to the extra oxygen or that I didn't let it sit long enough, but when it comes to green this stuff is magic.

 

I don't think I'll spot burn green hair algae anymore, will save the burning for the red algaes. To dribble a few drips of h202 onto algae, then refill with a water change is just too easy. also, my red brain and some zos got splashed with the peroxide initially and that didn't hurt them, direct on their tissue. It didn't bubble, and that was wierd but it bubbled at the base of the green hair algae strands and they for sure died.

 

peroxide isn't a wide spread antibiotic, its just water with an extra oxygen atom pressurized into it.

 

mainly the benefit of using h202 in a cut is the physical bubbling action that detaches bacteria and provides a carry away agent as the wound is rinsed. most aerobic bacteria secrete catalase enzymes that directly neutralize peroxide anyway, its a very common constituent in metabolic reactions for living cells.

 

It would probably be very hard to kill aerobic filter bacteria with it, and I don't think any systemic treatments are going to hurt anything I was just unwilling to experiment on a system as old as mine. The spot treatment worked, Im hooked. nice thread

B

 

didnt do pics but I vow its awesome.

Edited April 21, 2011 by brandon429

[dixiedog]

Fascinating. I'm thinking this would come in handy for dipping frags. I have had to pass on a lot of frags I wanted to buy because they had GHA/Bryopsis/bubble algae on them.

 

Wonder how it works on bubble.

[brandon429]

I dont know but Id dip only the exposed portion for safety

 

it is bleaching out my red algae, it just took an extra couple days. plus this was only one single treatment, I could easily repeat but it looks like 1 is enough!

 

google this "why doesn't peroxide bubble on skin?" and it will give neat answers about being specific on certain bacteria. Filter bacteria isn't one, it won't kill filter bacteria, its not an antibiotic. Small doses do nothing but temporarily increase oxygen levels in the tank, thats its only action. its a gas carrier, nothing else. peroxide is pure water put under pressure with pure 0 injected into it. Exactly like a carbonated drink, but oxygenated!

[snowflake ell]

will snails survive the peroxide dip

[brandon429]

unless I had really let the tank go, I would avoid dipping any animal into the peroxide if possible, including coral. I would only dip the part of the item covered in bad algae, if its a frag, then just the base of the frag.

 

I will watch to see if other posters who added it to their tanks had snail issues, its too new to know which animals are affected by it, thats why I only spot treat, i don't dose the whole tank.

Edited April 23, 2011 by brandon429

[snowflake ell]

yea thats true . ill just wait for some one else to do it and see what happens and nice tanks

[brandon429]

thanks!

 

Just last nite I upped the spot dosage to several drops placed right on my red algae colony that was starting to bleach out from the first treatment a few days ago. it does kill red algae! I may be through burning spots now unless they are really bad, peroxide is really neat. I consider it the most helpful algae reducer Ive seen in a decade, but it still needs to be used carefully.

 

I let several drops loose on some brown montipora accidentally, and it seems to be bleaching now. no big deal, it grows like a weed and will come back but as a heads up with the spot treatment idea its better to control the drops and keep em right on the target. interestingly, some blastomussa merletti was also soaked, and I mean soaked right into the mouth cavity, and set for 5 mins emersed while I was jacking with the empty tank, but this morning its fine.

 

Whatever is receptive to the peroxide in the tank (red algae, green algae, sps) is super sensitive, but whatever is immune to the peroxide (all else) really isn't harmed, what a strange substance 3% h202 is turning out to be. best thing since sliced bread

[brandon429]

lots of other sps in my pico are not affected by the small amounts of peroxide that was dripped into the water as it ran down the sides of the rock. It was only the sps that was emersed out of water and sat with peroxide directly on it that was burned.

 

I can tell peroxide used in small dosages is not a big deal, compared with its algae reducing capabilities.

Edited April 28, 2011 by brandon429

[snowflake ell]

i going to try this on my tank case it has bad algae

[snowflake ell]

how much peroxide shoud i put in a 5 gallon bucket

[DaJMasta]

I'm almost a week into a full tank treatment - had some GHA that wasn't in awful proportions but had some bryopsis as well. 1mL/10g was way too little - at 1.5mL (I figure it's about 15G after sand and rock in my 24g cube) i got almost no reaction. Around 2.5mL I got the zoas to close for a bit. Eventually upped to 3.5 then 5mL, then started that dosing twice a day.

 

The last two days I have just poured it in (so probably 15-20mL in a 24g tank twice a day) and am seeing some of the algae turning white and all that (plus a decent amount of bubbles on the rock). I think I will back off the dosage a little though, my SPS are live but had much less polyp extension today - oddly enough the pocillopora seems to be the most pissed off, followed by the acros, and the encrusting montis are least affected. The algae amount is definitely down, but it's not gone, so I'm looking at at least a few more days of treatment.

 

My fish, shrimp, crabs, and anemone have all been fine with it. I am using a 3% hydrogen peroxide mixture.

[DaJMasta]

A little update in case someone else has started dosing. I cut back the dosage maybe 20% and in one more day a whole bunch more algae has turned ghost white and started disintegrating.... but the SPS also look worse. I'm getting a decent amount of browning on my acros and pocillopora, and while I didn't notice it earlier, my hydnophora is also pretty pissed right now. pH also seems to be running low (hydrogen peroxide is somewhat acidic), so I'm going to let the tank be for a day or two to get some good polyp extension back (there is still some, especially with lights off) before I continue.

Edited April 25, 2011 by DaJMasta

[MedRed]

We use peroxide heavily in the FW world to rid tanks of nuisance algae. I was too afraid to even think about doing this in a reef tank since corals have algae in them. This may need more exploration!

[brandon429]

the two testaments above are why spot treatments are the only way I'll go

 

agreed on the symbionts, but with spot treatment it won't matter, it won't get on them

[ezmoy]

the two testaments above are why spot treatments are the only way I'll go

 

agreed on the symbionts, but with spot treatment it won't matter, it won't get on them

I just did a dip on some Zoas and started dosing the tank to ged rid of some red algae. I have a 28g, only put 2.5ml in, any advice on going higher? I've seen other threads that say 1-ml for every 10 gallons.

[brandon429]

I noticed the red algae took 3 days to begin to dieoff, but it did it would be good practice to wait three days before upping any dosage, and do some water changes of a few gallons in between. I say be careful with systemic additions, but all the outcomes Ive read so far have been positive when not pushing the dosage.

 

can you post pics now and then after the treatment? even if just a cell phone pic

 

I would give yourself a week to slowly up the dosage, no hurry. were you able to do a spot treatment by draining the tank to the level you need to get at the algae? it only feels safe to use the systemic addition way as a last resort it seems but it will be about the 20th time someone has reported success with it Ive read on this board.

[Genj]

I'm going to start direct dipping some rock I have that has GHA. If this works out, I'm going to start dosing as well.

 

I wonder how this will impact the tube of my feather duster which also has GHA on it.

Edited April 26, 2011 by Genj

[Drift Monkey]

Seems like a good way to rid yourself of any unwanted algae on newly acquired love rock...