Peroxide saves my Tank! With pics to Prove It!

[shaneandjohn]

I have snails and 2 peppermints. I have a mated pair of black occy's and a Mccoskers wrasse. The tank is mostly SPS, LPS, and a few Zoo's.

 

I can try to drain it down. Most of the Algea is located in the middle of the back.

 

I would have to do a Very large water change to accomplish this. Would this be more safe than daily tank dosings?

 

Thank you for your input. You seem to be VERY Knowlegable in this field..

[brandon429]

I think its that i'm really willing to type my opinions lol

 

You w be fine with a large water change matching temp and sg or you can refill using the water you drained out

 

 

 

Pics will show if the tank needs a clean-boosting water change or not but either way you get faster results with a drain and treat

[beau13]

Well I read through this whole thread when I was having an outbreak of hair algae due to trying to feed my new baby ultra blue maxima clam with phytoplankton and oyster eggs. I think I overdid the dose a bit. After a bunch of research, and reading very long papers by the USDA and Marshall Island clam growers associations I now know that you don't need to bother with feeding like that. Anyway, I took the opportunity to rearrange my tank a bit at the time and took all my corals out and dipped the rock in a 50/50 solution of hydrogen peroxide and tank water. It took care of almost everything. Since then I have drained the top of the tank a bit and sprayed the rocks with the same solution and have been having excellent results. I am still trying to get my nutrients under control, but all I can say is that this worked well for me. I dribble a little 3% peroxide on affected frag plugs and a day or two later they look great! Here are some pictures. I wish I had some from the exact same angles but I redid the rock work so that doesn't work.

Before

 

After

This rock was covered and is part of the one second picture up above.

Edited April 16, 2012 by beau13

[brandon429]

Beau that's really helpful thanks for posting

[PinkDamsel]

I now know that you don't need to bother with feeding like that.

 

So will you stop feeding altogether or just feed less?

 

I too have been feeding live phyto + OysterFeast and gotten algae along w. the growth. I never had algae problems before increasing feeding, but my softies wouldn't grow either. Curious what you've learned.

[misbar]

So will you stop feeding altogether or just feed less?

 

I too have been feeding live phyto + OysterFeast and gotten algae along w. the growth. I never had algae problems before increasing feeding, but my softies wouldn't grow either. Curious what you've learned.

 

Whole Tank dosing and BTA ?

 

I have a rock that my BTA is on and in need of a serious need of a treatment, Would it be easier to dose the whole tank?

[brandon429]

BTA's are on the list of known sensitives. A few pages back we had a poster dosing the whole tank with one, they shrivel up mad for a couple of weeks. We haven't lost an anem yet to a systemic treatment, but this indicates stress and therefore a drain and treat, or an external treatment is preferable. post pics of your setup we can troubleshoot it easily

[brandon429]

http://www.3reef.com/forums/algae/hydrogen...gae-133087.html

 

Matt made this post it looks like a neat article

He arranges, applies and writes well

[misbar]

http://www.3reef.com/forums/algae/hydrogen...gae-133087.html

 

Matt made this post it looks like a neat article

He arranges, applies and writes well

 

I have used peroxide with great success before, taken rocks out that I can, My BTA seems to close up for a while once the rocks are back,

 

There are 2 rocks that I can not take out and treat, I am going to try some Algaefix from API after reading the Reefcentrel post on it. ( 80% Covered in HA) I have since changed the DI Resin and stopped most of the sunlight (was in the sun for about 5 hours a day)

 

Will let you guys know the results.

[castiel]

Is this the stuff I need?

 

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/3-Food-Grade-Hy...#ht_3325wt_1139

 

Just spot treat?

 

I have this to deal with:

 

But it is in a spot that should be easy enough to spot treat during water changes.

Edited April 30, 2012 by castiel

[brandon429]

Peter that spot treatment sounds just right but since the peroxide isn't coming from the corner drugstore id be concerned its not 3%

 

Usually 3% costs 75 cents

And its uncommon for them to refer to 3% as food grade, can you find a different source just to be safe? For that small of an area it only needs one drop of true 3%

 

Id drain tank, hold the water. Apply a drop or two, wait a minute, refill with old water, then drain that complexed water back out 100% and refill with peroxide free mixed change water matching temp and sg, that's what I do regularly.

[brandon429]

Peter that growth is also a fine candidate for blue jet lighter fire blasting for a non chemical approach, its in an open area

[castiel]

Thanks, Brandon. For some reason, drugstore peroxide is not commonly available down here ... hence why I was looking to eBay for a source. The only 35% peroxide available on ebay at least is in teeth whitening pens or capsules. The 3% stuff is sold as mouthwash ...

 

But good point about the jet lighter, I will try that instead - as you say it is in a nice open area, so once drained should be easy enough to burn.

[matt frizz]

Peroxide did end up saving my tank. I'll post pics after the rest clears up. It takes a little bit of time after the direct spray method for them to go away but it definitely works.

[atoll]

Adding 2HO2 directly to the tank is fraught with dangers to your corals esp anemones if your not careful. A far safer way it to us an Oxygenator which breaks it down into H2O and O2 before leaving it. This will do a number of things as well as help rid aquariums of nuisance algae. See my thread on the Oxygenator for further info.

[brandon429]

Rk teks neomeris kill deserves placement this is new to the thread and becoming a popular nuisance

 

We don't stock its predators in our tanks, neomeris had full command until now

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=301388

[castiel]

Nice.

 

Well my lighter did the trick on my GHA - I was worried when I refilled the water that I hadn't got it well enough as lots remained ... but my two hermits quickly ran over and gorged themselves on their newly cooked algae. Spotless now.

[brandon429]

I know how funny is that! When I clean the micro green haze from my tank monthly, snails come from anywhere to get to it!

 

Linking one more nice set of before and after pics from the general forum,a whole rock dip:

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=301417

 

 

 

If you have a reefcentral id to see pics, this is interesting. A scuba diving pic taken recently on Grand Cayman island showing natural reefs covered in green hair algae/bryopsis and invasive macro algae in spite of what you can bet your bottom dollar is cleaner water than we'd ever find in a captive tank. Add to that grazers, in the millions, yet its still there. The conditions we battle with peroxide are actually the natural ones, its unnatural to keep reefs as clean as we do, but thats how we roll lol. just a neat reference to real nature

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.p...=1#post20230479

Edited May 8, 2012 by brandon429

[brandon429]

Two updates this month:

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=302834

 

Thread above awaiting bef/aft pics and this bef/aft set from adnup on the big Rc thread

 

 

It was a 1:10 dosing run plus follow up shock with gfo.

[brandon429]

Randy Homes-Farley's input is consistent regarding the unknowns of broadcast peroxide application. In earlier pages of this thread another link shows similar input. This one is from today

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthre...72#post20295472

 

Other posters are against it, the ones whose tanks are cleared like it. What a dichotomy! Undoubtedly, nobody can make a claim of certainty about negative side effects, and opinions are strong.

 

We can easily test for ammonia, nitrate and nitrite in the aquarium to inversely know about our filter communities, it would have been nice if each pic had that accompanying information in hindsight.

 

Link a thread if you can find actual measures or studies of aquarium benthic life impact from broadcast/systemic dosing. They are impossible to find so far. All internet threads regarding peroxide are opinion exchanges currently. The best way to impact that norm is with two things, pics before and after + long term follow up tracking.

 

I've been trying to pm early dosers on this thread to follow up with pics!

 

As the puzzle pieces of peroxide use are being assembled it helps to have the input from top chemists, microbiologists and aquarists. there is no information I can find in printed text about the uses seen in this thread reefmiser started. Its really an uncharted area of aquarium biology.

Edited May 26, 2012 by brandon429

[fishrme]

can yall tell me off hand what the weekly peroxide maintanence dosage for your tanks is after you dosed for the first 5 days ..trying to tell a friend and i forgot ...thanks

Edited May 31, 2012 by fishrme

[brandon429]

Man sorry I can't think of a blanket dose it needs to be based off full tank shots per the invader type etc

 

I don't recall using it in a regular amount permanently, just to knock out something and then the occasional follow up based on pics

 

If each dose is carefully evaluated based on tank specifics we can use it safely in a predictable way.

[fraxinius]

hello all..great thread..after reading a few pages of this thread i m gonna try to lkill some small areas of gha b4 they get worse ..i can dip one of the rocks but the other areas will need a drain down to spot treat..i would dose whole tank but i have a red foliated algae i wanna keep (gracillaririus curtissae?)..i have some gha growing as a beard on a small mollusk living in the lr, is peroxide safe for him? I fifigure he'll close up tight if treated and i would rinse off pretty quick,,was kinda cool at first. looked just klike a beard on a grinning clam..i will post pics b4 and after. a pic of the red algae is the one i wanna keep..

[brandon429]

Frax thanks for stopping in

 

Its a tough call on treating the mollusc I just can't recall any data on that

 

That red you want to preserve looks nice I can see how it adds variation to your scape

 

The smallest offering id give is to try and break the treatments up into small sections vs all at once to minimize residual leftovers that could stress those non targets, and changes of fresh salt water during this run if you don't mind being overly safe

 

When I dose a fair bit of 35%as a drain and treat into my packed 1 gallon vase, I refill the tank back up to kick the peroxide from the treated spot back into solution, its now briefly burning the whole tank technically. Since I don't have any of the known sensitives it might be fine as is

 

 

But for safety, immediately upon refill I drain it all down and refill with new water, leaving none in solution

 

If you can brainstorm ways to modify a similar approach its your safest bet.

 

If you kill targets while preserving your two sensitive non targets I'll spread that around it will be helpful for others to see

 

 

 

Nice to meet you

B

Edited June 4, 2012 by brandon429

[Trasheep]

I was following this thread and I too have been treating my small gelidium algae problem with peroxide (thanks to this thread). I had no idea where it came from but I only had little patches here and there. I treated them by removing the live rock, peroxiding the patches, gave a good rinse and returned it back to the tank. It took care of the patches but more kept appearing. Apparently my little trochuses had it growing on their shells as well. Well needless to say, I treated the snail shells with peroxide as well (very carefully) of course. I assume they were spreading the love around and I believe they were the source of the problem. Hopefully I have quelled the outbreaks enough that I don't have to do this again for awhile.