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I've squirted H2O2 directly (via syringe) onto cyanobacteria. It bubbled profusly and vanished in 24 hrs.
h2o2 as algae remover
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I'd say 2ml/gal dosed two consecutive days killed 90% of my BGA, along with 90% of my anacharis, hornwort and milfoil. Another day probably would have taken care of it entirely, but when I saw my plants disintegrating I panicked and stopped treatment. The plants are growing once again, but the BGA is slowly coming back too. I removed the sensitive plants last night and dosed again, and ordered some Marycin just in case. I'm tired of paying for the stupid algae-causing mistakes I made a month and a half ago and I want this stuff dead.
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I used better than 4ml/gal one day after using 3.??ml/gal and killed 99% of the snail population. The fish seem fine, except a couple zebra danios have nipped-looking fins, though they nip at each other regularly, so this may not have anything to do with it.
I noticed pretty similar results on some of my mosses. While some pockets of them were untouched, others were nearly obliterated (using the 3.whatever and 4ml concentrations back to back).
However, I've just put in a significant order to InvertzFactory and hopefully can rely on critters to do my algae work from now on. Even though I did not many plants (yes, some did in fact perish), I lost 30-50% of my leaves (depending on species) and 100% of the leaves on my 2 red lotus. They're coming back as we speak, and now I have another baby coming up next to one of the mama plants.
H2O2 is awesome as a treatment, but overdoing it can cause more harm than good IMEO (E becaue I figure after blasting peroxide into the tank in such quantities I've killed enough plants to have formed an educated opinion). Buy some otos and other algae lovers; they're relatively cheap and make great tank additions.
P.S. - After all of this, the green water STILL did not vanish. If the conditions exist to support algae beyond the plants' capabilities, there really is no quick "cure" to your woes. Be patient, find the problem, and be patient some more...
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I had green water earlier this year. I did a 3 day black out and when I saw that the water was still cloudy I put 2 willow tree cuttings (long enough to get burried in the substrate and protrude from the tank) into the tank. I was lucky enough to have cutting that already been rooted. I left them in till the water cleared.
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I am trying the H2O2 treatment today in one tank. This tank has some string algae, BBA and a small clumb of Brush Algae.
The animals are corys, loaches, rummy nosed tetras, black line gobies, ottos, swordtails and baby mollies, one bristlenosed pleco and a lot of red shrimp. I started with one ml per gallon doses using a shringe. Will spot treat the plant leaves and driftwood each day for a week and see if I get any results. Will change about 40% water weekly. The tank gets about 5 watts per gallon of lighting 10 hrs a day and is running an Eheim canister filter. Algae did bubble a bit and some turned white today with the first treatment. No plants, fish or shrimp was effected yet. Will update this next Saturday.
The animals are corys, loaches, rummy nosed tetras, black line gobies, ottos, swordtails and baby mollies, one bristlenosed pleco and a lot of red shrimp. I started with one ml per gallon doses using a shringe. Will spot treat the plant leaves and driftwood each day for a week and see if I get any results. Will change about 40% water weekly. The tank gets about 5 watts per gallon of lighting 10 hrs a day and is running an Eheim canister filter. Algae did bubble a bit and some turned white today with the first treatment. No plants, fish or shrimp was effected yet. Will update this next Saturday.
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Spent 5 hours with Microsoft upgrading to Windows 7 yesterday so I'm a day late with update.
No fish, plants or shrimp have been effected by the dosing which I increased to 2 ml after three days. Did water change today. I did cut back my lighting to about 2 watts per gallon during the treatment. Results so far: Most all the BBA has turned either red or white and the black line gobies and now the otos have been working hard on it. The string algae is almost all gone and the brush algae turned white and separated from the driftwood and I just took it out. Still got more BBA to go, but it does seem to be decreasing now. Will report back in another week. Oh yes, the blackline gobies in another tank are really working and reducing the BBA algae. This tank is not getting H2O2, but Excel overdosed instead.
No fish, plants or shrimp have been effected by the dosing which I increased to 2 ml after three days. Did water change today. I did cut back my lighting to about 2 watts per gallon during the treatment. Results so far: Most all the BBA has turned either red or white and the black line gobies and now the otos have been working hard on it. The string algae is almost all gone and the brush algae turned white and separated from the driftwood and I just took it out. Still got more BBA to go, but it does seem to be decreasing now. Will report back in another week. Oh yes, the blackline gobies in another tank are really working and reducing the BBA algae. This tank is not getting H2O2, but Excel overdosed instead.
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Third week and now up to 50ml in a 29 gallon tank. All algae except for the BBA is gone. The only casualty seems to be my Vals as they have a lot of tan colored stems and quite pale looking. Will stop using the H2O2 after this week, change water and begin using dry ferts in the tank. May have to remove some of the aubias and driftwood to get the rest of the BBA with Excel. Other plants I have in the tank are Bylx Japonica, Minuta, red repens and Tennelus. I have now upped the C02 and lighting.
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When my husband was taking care of my tank while I was visiting family he left the lights off (for a MONTH). After I got back and turned them back on I got a bad algae outbreak.
I used Hydrogen Peroxide and it removed all of the algae within two days. No fish were harmed. I have used this method before with the same results.
And then (the last time I had fish) I dosed my tank very-VERY heavily and killed my fish- all of them. I wasn't paying attention to what I was doing and added way too much. All of my darters were dead by the time I realized what I had done.
I have noticed the very fine leafed plants can succumb and die when exposed to peroxide.
Other than grossly overdosing the tank I have never experienced any problems. I do not do a water change after dosing.
I also noticed no drop in the quality of my water parameters for the dead algae. (My tanks are always very heavily planted though)
I used Hydrogen Peroxide and it removed all of the algae within two days. No fish were harmed. I have used this method before with the same results.
And then (the last time I had fish) I dosed my tank very-VERY heavily and killed my fish- all of them. I wasn't paying attention to what I was doing and added way too much. All of my darters were dead by the time I realized what I had done.
I have noticed the very fine leafed plants can succumb and die when exposed to peroxide.
Other than grossly overdosing the tank I have never experienced any problems. I do not do a water change after dosing.
I also noticed no drop in the quality of my water parameters for the dead algae. (My tanks are always very heavily planted though)
I have a bottle here that says 3%. I think that's what people are talking about?
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3%
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HAH!!!!! I bet that'd make for some AWESOME pearling...up to the point that the driftwood begins to turn white and everything else dissolves!
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While I been trying the H202 dosing I was wondering about something. Has anyone ever heard or thought about if dosing with H202 could reduce or kill all the good bacteria in filters or the tank itself?
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Will this treatment affect mosses?
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Did not bother mine and it cleared most all the algae in it.
I have heard it will, however hurt mosses.
I have heard it will, however hurt mosses.
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I put a couple cups of 36% in a 75 removing the fish first and leaving the filters on. It killed all of my MTS and even in tanks where I used a catalytic H2O2 doser, I am still MTS free. However with the two cups "treatment", there was a lot of foam. I had lowered the water level as low as I could to keep the filter running, about six inches, but the foam billowed up way higher than that and like in some Lampoon movie, kept rising out of the tank and onto the stand and the concrete floor. There was enough peroxide left in the foam to slightly lighten the wood stand and the concrete.HAH!!!!! I bet that'd make for some AWESOME pearling...up to the point that the driftwood begins to turn white and everything else dissolves!
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i occassionally use H2O2 for spot treatment, including the filter returns. When the product comes from a new bottle, i see fizzing. However, after months of storage at room temp, it seems to loose its efficacy.
I googled shelf life of hydrogen peroxide and found a few interesting tid bits (not an exhaustive scientific study). While 3% is supposed to have long shelf life, one site mentions that "IF YOU LEFT THE BOTTLE OPEN FOR AWHILE OR HAD DIPPED A CONTAMINATED SWAB BACK INTO THE BOTTLE YOU PROBABLY RENDERED THE PEROXIDE INTO PLAIN WATER." Another site mentions "hydrogen peroxide can turn into water OVER NIGHT if you leave it open." This supports my experience. When it doesn't fizz anymore then it's not potent. Perhaps, to slow it's decomposition, it can be stored in the refrigerator. A small bottle is less than a buck, so if it is only used occassionally, get fresh stuff when needed.
I also came across an interesting advertisement that recommends 7.5 ml (1 1/2 teaspoons) of 3% or food grade H2O2 to a gallon of distilled water to make my .006% H2O2 for drinking water. This suggests its safety in low concentrations.
http://www.dancingalgae.com/hydrogenperoxide.html
However, note the term "food grade."
The most common form you buy in a drug store or supermarket is designed for (unopened) long shelf life and thus has stabilizers in it . It is not FDA approved for consumption. Some of the stabilizers are phenol, acetanilide, and phosphoric acid.
I personally will continue to use drug store H2O2 only for occassional spot treatment and not for hole tank use.
I googled shelf life of hydrogen peroxide and found a few interesting tid bits (not an exhaustive scientific study). While 3% is supposed to have long shelf life, one site mentions that "IF YOU LEFT THE BOTTLE OPEN FOR AWHILE OR HAD DIPPED A CONTAMINATED SWAB BACK INTO THE BOTTLE YOU PROBABLY RENDERED THE PEROXIDE INTO PLAIN WATER." Another site mentions "hydrogen peroxide can turn into water OVER NIGHT if you leave it open." This supports my experience. When it doesn't fizz anymore then it's not potent. Perhaps, to slow it's decomposition, it can be stored in the refrigerator. A small bottle is less than a buck, so if it is only used occassionally, get fresh stuff when needed.
I also came across an interesting advertisement that recommends 7.5 ml (1 1/2 teaspoons) of 3% or food grade H2O2 to a gallon of distilled water to make my .006% H2O2 for drinking water. This suggests its safety in low concentrations.
http://www.dancingalgae.com/hydrogenperoxide.html
However, note the term "food grade."
The most common form you buy in a drug store or supermarket is designed for (unopened) long shelf life and thus has stabilizers in it . It is not FDA approved for consumption. Some of the stabilizers are phenol, acetanilide, and phosphoric acid.
I personally will continue to use drug store H2O2 only for occassional spot treatment and not for hole tank use.
OK, read most of the thread. Dosed 3/4 cup in 75 gal. I had to convert! Don't have graduated cylinders here. I gave it a couple of glugs before but just guessing and it had little effect. I had it work a long time ago but that was by the glug method. Two days later, green hair algae turning white and the moss is fluffing up a bit rather than being tied down by the algae. Black stuff still on bolbitis but I'm not sure what that is.
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Dang Rhotophyta! I was just kidding! Thanks for taking the initiative to actually try it out at such a concentration so we can get an idea of what it'll do.
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I did this before the thread here started. I didn't leave any plants in the tank except for a few dead pieces I missed. It also killed all the MTS that even concentrated chlorine bleach would not affect. Moving the dosers around eliminated all my MTS and I have not had them back, although I do have the tiny flat snails. Those are the ones that have a spiral shell on their back but flat, not standing up like a ramshorn snail. NO idea what species they are but I've seen them in many planted tanks and on plants at pet shops.
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