h2o2 as algae remover

26884 Views 55 Replies 30 Participants Last post by art_b, Mar 1, 2010

freshreef

Discussion Starter · Nov 9, 2004

Ive read all about it here and in the krib and would like to give it a try. could u guys tell me from your own experience what is the side effects and if it helped u remove the algae
1. how to dose and what is the recommended dosage that i should use in a planted tank with fish n shrimps?
2. does the hydrogen peroxide help with all the algae kinds? and if yes - should i use different dosage with different kind of algae?
3. first of all would like to try it in my 30L tank that has green water more then 3 days

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Daniel

· #2 · Nov 10, 2004

About H2O2... I tried that in my tank, and it's only effective over the blue algae, cyano... no with nitrate-algae or another kinds...

About dosage and aplication... 5 or 10 ml each 100 liters, it's recomended... application, just over the cyano, without mercy :twisted:

SORRY FOR MY BAD ENGLISH! :S

See ya!!!!!

Me

Gomer

· #3 · Nov 10, 2004

had a MASSIVE ..and I mean MASSIVE staghorn infestation. 2 consecutive days of 2oz (1/4 cup) into my 30g. came home from my trip 4 days later and there wasn't a SINGLE SIGN of staghorn in the tank. ..not clogging the filters, or anywhere. Didn't loose a single fish, plant or shrimp that I could tell.

HeyPK

· #4 · Nov 10, 2004

I have also heard that black beard algae (another species of red algae, along with staghorn) is also very sensitive to H2O2. Have not tried it myself.

freshreef

Discussion Starter · #5 · Nov 10, 2004

thanks , what concentration did u use? i got 33% - same dosage as u mentioned?
what about h2o2 against green water?

Simpte 27

· #6 · Nov 10, 2004

I tried H2o2 on BBA. It looked up and laughed at me after bubbling for about 30 min.

plantbrain

· #7 · Nov 10, 2004

H2O2 is good for a number of spot treatments I think, if you have lots of algae, best to remove it by hand first, then kill off the stragglers.

Full tank treatements might help tip a slight imbalance, but so would a tank cleaning. Add that to any treatment method BTW.
The problem with chemical treatments with a strong oxidizer are fish and plants can be fried if you do not do precise measurements and just dump what the person thinks is a fair amount, does many treatments every few hours etc.

You can get more effective use from dosing about 2/3 of the day into the light cycle also.

Turn off all filters etc for spot cleaning.

Some folks can use this and treat whole tanks with some success if they are careful.

Everytime someone post a H2O2 thing, someonme tries it and kills their entire tank of fish. It's not this gentle thing.
Same is true for copper but it's less lethal to your fish.

I personally don't use any anti algae chemicals since back in the 1990's nor need to nor really recommend them, but folks seem enamored with them and focus less on the plants. Algae killing is fun I suppose..........then it comes back, then you kill it again, then it comes back etc etc.

For spot cleaning, I just lop off the leaf or scrub it off. I use the plants and plain old mainteance methods to deal with algae.

Reagrds,
Tom Barr

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amber2461

· #8 · Nov 13, 2004

Gomer said:
had a MASSIVE ..and I mean MASSIVE staghorn infestation. 2 consecutive days of 2oz (1/4 cup) into my 30g. came home from my trip 4 days later and there wasn't a SINGLE SIGN of staghorn in the tank. ..not clogging the filters, or anywhere. Didn't loose a single fish, plant or shrimp that I could tell.

Hey Gomer

Did you have to do any water changes after the h2o2 into the tank? Some ppl tell me to have a massive water change but you mentioned nothing about it, pls help clear up this matter (pardon the pun )

Cheers

pineapple

· #9 · Nov 13, 2004

I used 2ml H2O2 per US gallon on a 30g aquarium to eradicate thread algae. I dosed two days running, 60ml, midday without removing fish or turning off the filter. There were no casualties, except the thread algae which was completely gone at the beginning of the third day. Tonina sp., Anubias, Marsilea sp. all survived. The fish showed no stress.

I used H2O2 to spot treat BBA on another aquarium without much success. Spot treating is an art, perhaps, which requires a good sized long syringe. In the end removal of rocks which had BBA (without returning these rocks), cleaning of the filter tubing with H2O2, and washing the filter and media in dechlorinated water, and vacuuming the substrate carefully was the key to eradicating BBA - along with increasing the CO2 level and ensuring it was consistent (in this case changing from DIY CO2 source to pressurized supply).

Andrew Cribb

AV8TOR

· #10 · Nov 14, 2004

pineapple said:
I used 2ml H2O2 per US gallon on a 30g aquarium to eradicate thread algae. I dosed two days running, 60ml, midday without removing fish or turning off the filter.

Help me try and understand this please, you are dosing this ratio straight to your tank water? No spot treatment?

I have some brush algae (I think) growing on some slow growers such as Anubias barteri that I just cant get rid of. Would this work? I have been thinking of removing the plant for a bleach dip.

Any good (reputable) online articles on this treatment?

pineapple

· #11 · Nov 14, 2004

Help me try and understand this please, you are dosing this ratio straight to your tank water? No spot treatment?

Yes, dosing it straight into the tank water. Not spot treatment. This dealt with thread algae.

I'm not sure whether H2O2 would be effective in eradicating brush algae.

H2O2 at certain reasonable levels does not harm fish and does not require a clean up (as does bleach solutions).

Andrew Cribb

mudboots

· #12 · Oct 23, 2009

I dosed the equivalent of 3ml per gallon in a 125 (about a cup and a half), dumped straight into the tank, and lost all algae except some GSA (I'm guessing that's what it is) on some driftwood. A week later I dumped 2 and a quarter cups (better than 4.3ml per gallon) straight in. The algae on the driftwood is still doing fine:mmph:. Almost all of my ramshorns and every single pond snail died#-o. Glad to see the pond snails gone, but hope the ramshorns make a bit of a comeback soon. No harm has been noticed on the plants or to the fish.

I put a hob filter on while doing this to keep the water moving (normally have no filter) and did it when lights were going full blast.

mikslik

· #13 · Oct 23, 2009

4 ml per gallon will kill pond snails? interesting... surely it would also kill shrimp at this concentration, too? Does it then become inert after a period of time? Or do you have to do water changes to cycle it out?

Mikslik

playthecello

· #14 · Oct 23, 2009

Resurrected thread to the rescue... I have blue-green algae in my tank (29g) that snuck up on me and got pretty bad. I moved, and did lots of wrong things that could have caused the outbreak (neglecting setting up my diy co2 b/c it was too much trouble, not replacing my clean up cory cats after they died, thinning back my plants but not my fertilizer, letting my light bulbs get too old, etc etc...) but I didn't realize how bad it had gotten until last week when I noticed the plants weren't really growing anymore, and everything looked pretty gross.

I spent 4 hours cleaning the goo off my plants and gravel and everything, but I can't get it all, and what escapes the gravel vac gets caught in my feathery plants. I was thinking I would have to hunt down some Maracyn until this peroxide thread showed up. Peroxide is way easier to come by than erythromycin in my area, but I know the latter is effective and relatively safe. So, what would the people with more experience recommend?

To (partly) answer mikslik's question, hydrogen peroxide 2(H2O2) breaks down into water 2(H2O) and oxygen (O2), but I don't remember exactly what causes it. I know it decomposes spontaneously, but there are catalysts that speed it up (silver, for one). I think I remember hearing that light catalyzes the decomp, which is why it's sold in an opaque bottle, but that could be wrong. (high school chemistry was a while ago)

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Tex Gal

· #15 · Oct 23, 2009

playthecello - you know BGA is a cyanobaceria right?

Here's a link:
http://www.theplantedtank.co.uk/algae.htm

playthecello

· #16 · Oct 23, 2009

Yep, I know that. I was hoping to get it under control without using chemicals or antibiotics, but I'm not sure if that's going to be possible. A lot of the posts I've read recommend Maracyn or other form of Erythromycin to kill it, but then I saw this peroxide thread and wondered if it would work just as well, since it works as a topical antiseptic/antibiotic. It kills nasty things in paper cuts, so why not nasty things in the aquarium?

mudboots

· #17 · Oct 23, 2009

Regarding the breakdown of h2o2, I recall that light energy is the main catalyst.

Regarding the cyanobacteria, if you try it sure enough let us know how it works. I've not really had much stuff like that to try and kill because two evil outbreaks out baterial disease popped up from "adopting" fish and I had to dose antibiotics, so everything was wiped out.

Mikslik - I'm not sure it'd be nearly as bad for shrimp as it is for snails, but davemonkey and kwc1974 had tried this and I think both of them had shrimp at the time??? I might be mistaken...

playthecello

· #18 · Oct 26, 2009

I tried the peroxide. I dosed 2ml/gal two days in a row. The algae looks a lot better, but not completely dead, I don't think. If it comes back, I'm going to use Maracyn instead of more h2o2, because while all my fish survived, all of my plants did not.

My anacharis, eurasian watermilfoil and hornwort (all collected locally. coincidence?) are not looking so hot. The anacharis is droopy and wilting, the milfoil is turning brown, and the hornwort is disintegrating. They're all similarly delicate/feathery, but what is surprising is that my other delicate plants (water sprite and rotala wallichii) look fine.

The tip of each plant has a relatively healthy looking spot of new growth, so hopefully I'll just lose the old leaves and not the entire plant.

oakleyhoma

· #19 · Nov 5, 2009

what effect does peroxide have on animal inhabitants, other than supplying o2?

davemonkey

· #20 · Nov 5, 2009

oakleyhoma said:
what effect does peroxide have on animal inhabitants, other than supplying o2?

At 2ml/gal, I noticed no symptoms on animals when I tried this as an experiment.
At 3.5 ml/gal I noticed some stress on my snails (almost looked dead, but they pulled out of it later), but no stress on shrimp.

I stopped at that point. I know one person who dosed 4 ml/gal and lost nearly all snails. Still, there was no reported affect on other tank inhabitants.

Still, "peroxide" is not a cure, just another of many treatments to help clear out what's there after you've fixed the issue that lead to algae in the first place.

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