Sweet Algae relief

[FishyMatty]

For those of you plagued with green algae, hair algae and BBA I beat those nasties. I read all I could read for months about battling algae and it was mostly the same thing about too much phosphate and iron, get some fast growing plants, too much light or not enough co2.
Then there are plenty of people who prove excess nutrients have little to no effect on algae.
Then I started reading about h2o2 as an algaecide. For those of you that aren't chemistry majors h2o2 is hydrogen peroxide.
At first I was very wary about putting that in my fish/plant tanks but the more I read the more confident i was in trying it. I mean its only water with an extra oxygen molecule.
Well salvation has come to us algae sufferers. I started with adding 2 cap fulls of h2o2 to my 38g at the end of the day before I was about to turn out the lights. The next morning a good amount of hair algae had turned light blue and the green algae covering my drift wood and rocks was nearly gone.
Two days later I decided to do the spot treatment. I got a 6ml oral syringe and spot treated the worst areas over and over with the filter off. Wait 30min to an hour then water change and turn the filter back on.
You will see the algae fizz and disappear almost in front of your eyes.
Sweet salvation.
As of now no side effects other then DEAD algae.

[rich311k]

That is good to know. The fish had no bad reactions. I wonder how they would react to long term exposure.

It still doesn't prevent the algae from returning.

[FishyMatty]

No that is true but as far as I know algae is a result of exposure. If you could kill the algae you would have a better chance of controlling it.

[cnoon]

Hydrogen peroxide can be used as a disinfectant. This might disrupt the nitrogen cycle. What are your ammonia/nitrite/nitrate test results afterwards?

[247Plants]

Actually from all that I have gathered the oxygen bond in Hydrogen Peroxide breaks down really fast in our aquariums and turns into H2O. So I dont think there are many long term effects from this.

Another way I have seen Hydrogen Peroxide used as a DIY oxygen reactor was they had a container with a airtight lid with an airline hose sticking out of it. It was filled with h2o2 and a chunk of lead was dropped into it and the chemical reaction breaks the extra oxygen atom bond and releases small amounts of pure oxygen through a diffuser for higher o2 saturation.

[Sammie7]

http://theaquariumwiki.com/H2O2

http://members.optusnet.com.au/chelmon/Chemicals.htm
"Hydrogen Peroxide
Hydrogen peroxide can be use as a treatment of acute oxygen insufficiency at a dose of 0.25 ml of a 3% H2O2 solution per litre of water; also used to treat external protozoans at a dose of 10 ml of a 3% solution per litre of water as a 10 to 15 min bath. Used at 250-500 mg/l to control fungi on all species and life stages of fish, including eggs.

There are many different doses suggested in the literature for use in aquarium fish. However, because there are hundreds of species of ornamental fish, certain factors must be taken into account when using Hydrogen peroxide. It can be very toxic to some species, and certain life stages may be more sensitive. Increasing temperature seems to increase the potential toxicity. Dosage and duration of treatment will also determine whether fish being treated will live or die.

Hydrogen peroxide can cause mortalities primarily by damaging the gills. Therefore, toxic effects will often be seen related to gill damage, as indicated by gasping near the surface, or increased ventilation rates.

Contrary to popular belief, in water with relatively low organic content, the concentration of Hydrogen peroxide does not decrease significantly. Of course, any increase in organic loading will change this factor, but the bottom line is that Hydrogen peroxide does not break down as quickly as some may think. Water changes are required after treatment."

[FishyMatty]

The first time I dosed h2o2 I added about 20ml direct to the water with filter off and 30min later turned the filter back on and did not change any water. 3 days later all levels are normal and no indication of any stress from the fish.

[robg32]

This is something that from time to time I have done for a few years and have never had a problem with a wide range of fish in the tank and the ones I am usually the most concerned about is my scaleless clown loaches because I have had them many years. I have never had an issue doing this. I would be careful though and only use a little because it can damage some of the more sensitive plants.

[geofied]

This makes sense. You should have seen what it did to the fungus under my smashed and dead toenail!:yuck:

[dwarfgourami7]

So where do you get it from? the local chemists?

[jm1212]

interesting

[UCF-Planted]

So where do you get it from? the local chemists?

We call it a pharmacy in the US, but yes, anywhere they sell bandages they will almost certainly have Hydrogen Peroxide nearby.

[Nolapete]

hydrogen peroxide can be purchased at any local drugstore

[george_gremlin]

we have a 125 gal tank with 2 8-inch oscars and no plant life ans a green algae problem. have to chage water every weekend because its green. do you think the peroxide thing will work for us and if so how would we do it?

[UCF-Planted]

I think the peroxide trick is really for spot treatments. Green water is better handled through improvement of water parameters with water changes. How are your nitrates? I don't think peroxide would be an appropriate treatment for this, but I do think you might benefit from starting a thread asking what people have done successfully for green water.

[plantbrain]

Simple, turn the lights off for a week and cover the tank.

No light= no algae.

Regards,
Tom Barr

[geofied]

This is going to sound stupid, especially after plantbrain's ultra logical solution above. But I've met folks that swear by putting a willow branch in their tank to clear green water. Leave it in for a week or so, might even get little buds, but they say it works like a charm.

[Squawkbert]

How do invertebrates (specifically, shrimp) deal w/ H2O2?

[J double R]

This is going to sound stupid, especially after plantbrain's ultra logical solution above. But I've met folks that swear by putting a willow branch in their tank to clear green water. Leave it in for a week or so, might even get little buds, but they say it works like a charm.

that has to do with the fact that the willow branch is an ENORMOUS nutrient sponge, and with no food, the algae is outcompeted and dies.


i wonder how peroxide would work on green water.. hm... i'll test it tonight.

[mellowvision]

I bought some h2o2 today with the intention of hitting a few spots with a syringe in my 10 gallon. the tank is virtually algae free, but 3 or 4 areas have sprouted black hair over night, where I used plants from another tank. I have removed leaves, but it returned quickly, and there is very little waste or bioload in the tank at this time, and conservative light time... I want to really limit the amount I put in, to be safe... what would you say a max dose would be? I was thinking no more than 1-2ml...

[george_gremlin]

thank you all for your info. just curious where you are from. we have rare if any willows in our area. we are west coast florida. thank you for your ideas tho and it does make sense. dont sound stupid at all.

[FishyMatty]

I have also heard of the willow branch idea. As far as h2o2 effect on inverts, I have seen no effect on my shrimp. On the other hand apistos are bad for shrimp.

[geofied]

thank you all for your info. just curious where you are from. we have rare if any willows in our area. we are west coast florida. thank you for your ideas tho and it does make sense. dont sound stupid at all.

I'm in Ohio, not sure how far South they go. If you really, really want some, I can ship you some sticks in a big envelope.

[FishyMatty]

Even though I managed to rid myself of green algae but now what I think is staghorn and BBA has now started up in 2 of my tanks. What the F. I have gone over a year with nothing but some spot algae and some green covering my wood and rocks to hair algae then staghorn and BBA, I've never even seen staghorn or BBA before. What is the treatment for this algae.
The BBA is just starting on a few leaves hear and there but the staghorn is rampant in my hairgrass and some leaves.
The H2O2 has had no effect on these algae. I trimmed my grass down to almost nothing and cranked up the co2 in one tank and I'm blacking out the other tank for a few days.
Any suggestions?????

[sambangert]

Hairdressers use Hydrogen peroxide.

What size tank did u use 20ml in??????

[FishyMatty]

I used 20cc in my 20g and about 30cc in my 38g. The only problems I had was in the 20g the glosso and HC were damaged but have since bounced back.

[plantbrain]

Just a word of advice, you need to address the root cause and stop with chasing after symptoms.

As you have seen, you are chasing one species of algae to the next.

Focus on the plant's needs.
Then kill the algae that's there.

You are not going to beat it any other way.
Excel can help.
Doing large water changes daily, blackouts etc will also help.
SAE's amano shrimps will help.

But mostly it's follwoing a routine that adds enough ferts and enough CO2 more importantly.

Less light helps more than more light.
Stick with 1.5-2 w/gal for awhile.

Regards,
Tom Barr

[geofied]

Just a word of advice, you need to address the root cause and stop with chasing after symptoms.

As you have seen, you are chasing one species of algae to the next.

Focus on the plant's needs.
Then kill the algae that's there.

You are not going to beat it any other way.
Excel can help.
Doing large water changes daily, blackouts etc will also help.
SAE's amano shrimps will help.

But mostly it's follwoing a routine that adds enough ferts and enough CO2 more importantly.

Less light helps more than more light.
Stick with 1.5-2 w/gal for awhile.

Regards,
Tom Barr

Tom, I've been reading some older info (Krib, Krause's lighting theories)that discusses using less wattage for more time. Does this still fit the bill with your recommendation above for less light, or are you suggesting less duration as well? I can understand reducing light intensity, but still can't reason lowering light duration unless it is for a total blackout. At some point you have to enable increased growth (in this case by increasing the photoperiod) of the plants and not algae.

This latest round of algae blooms I have been dealing with has been successfully contained by increasing (and keeping consistant) CO2 and keeping with 12+ hours of medium to medium-high (2-3w) light. Additionally, I use Salvinia to filter the light in all my tanks, so I would guess that none of my tanks currently have high light. So far so good. Haven't needed any blackouts yet, but I am prepared to do so if things change.