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Hydrogen Peroxide Control of Algae


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#1 Guest_farmertodd_*

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Posted 23 February 2007 - 04:32 PM

So... I did the peroxide thing and all I can say is WOW.

This is using NativePlanter's suggested dose of 1 oz per 10 gallons, and that was per water volume, not tank volume (I use deep sandbeds which occupy a fair amount of the tank volume).

I have to admit, I got a little itchy last night, as the cyano crashed (didn't realize there was this much in there), the tank turned kool-aid red, like some plague of Moses or something. But no one seemed very bothered by it. I had a couple corbicula mussels surface in the 100 gallon, but they're reset themselves into the substrate today. The tanks are now un-red, and have a tannic, yet crystal appearance, if that makes any sense.

I'll be doing my usual 50% monthly water changes on Sunday, which will be the first chance I'll get at it. I would imagine that while the H202 would oxidize a lot of the carbon fixed by algae into CO2 (the bubbles you will see), there's still got to be an overall increase in nutrient loading (or re-loading, however you want to look at it). It will definately be interesting to crack open the canister filters and see what they look like.

I had a pretty heavy mess in my Florida tank due to feeding a large amount of pellet food (I knew I hated pellet and flake for some reason), and so this tank looks like it will require another dose. However, I can't say that it was the fortitude of the cyano in this system... I absent mindedly left a carbon bag in for the first 5 minutes right where I was dosing into, so that probably ate up a good deal of the peroxide off the bat. Still, as bloody red as the tank was, I'd hate to see everything purge at once :)

What I really like about this is that it doesn't seem to have affected the cyano down in the sandbed, out of the photoreactive zone. And that's where I want my algae building itself and fixing nutrients. This seems like a great way to favor development where I want it.

By the way, I saw this in another thread searching and searching for the dosage in a great many very similar threads lol...

The amount of Hydrogen Sulfide it would take to deleteriously affect your fish is enough evolving all at once to make you puke if you were standing next to the aquarium, it's really a pretty stable molecule.

The problems people find are associates of conditions where Hydrogen Sulfide develops, not the chemical itself. Anoxic, hydric substrates aren't a problem. In fact, they're a benefit because they're getting rid of some of the nitrogen issues. However, in our highly eutrophied, nutrient loaded glass boxes... High nitrogen loads can exceed the capacity of the sediment to process it, which is problematic in itself. As well, cyano typically begins to take over, and some of the chemicals evolved by cyanobacteria are downright evil.

It's kinda like a stinky sewer in the old days. Was it the "mal-aria", the "bad air" killing people? Definately what you'd notice! But it was the not-so-stinky, invisible cholera and other water borne diseases from fetid water that was really doing the job. Think how long it took humans to figure that one out.

Fear not the deep, enriched substrates!

Todd

#2 Guest_nativeplanter_*

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Posted 26 February 2007 - 11:33 AM

Awsome post, Todd!

Too bad you didn't take pictures of the "river turned to blood" plague. I've never had my tank turn colors like that. I wonder what did it. I have before also used permanganate, and that turns the tanks purple for a while! But it's not for the faint-of-heart.

#3 Guest_farmertodd_*

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Posted 26 February 2007 - 12:42 PM

Thanks Laura.

I have even better... I have Hi-Def video :) However, that doesn't translate very quickly to posting online right now, as I haven't had time to play with the new toy and get it connected to my computer etc.

The red has everything to do with lysis of the red cyanobacteria, and whatever the red pigments in the cyano are. If the infestation were a green film algae, I would imagine it would turn green from all the liberated chlorophyll.

I did the waterchange yesterday, and there was relatively nothing in the canisters. Next time I do this, I'd like to be a little more systematic and test nitrogen before and after. The a good portion biofixed carbon goes somewhere into the air, which makes it look like a lot "less", but I'm curious to see what it does to the other elements algaes are fixing. Maybe it's going off as NO2, but I wanna know... This is just a little too "silver bulletish" to be true :)

In any case, it definately takes care of any film algae, true or cyano. Now the blackbrush... Ugh. Gets knocked back, but definately not out.

Todd

#4 Guest_nativeplanter_*

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Posted 26 February 2007 - 01:03 PM

Use a syringe to aim the whole dose on the blackbrush algae. You could do it daily. It should eventually do the job.

#5 Guest_farmertodd_*

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Posted 27 February 2007 - 08:55 PM

Too bad you didn't take pictures of the "river turned to blood" plague.


Here you go!

http://www.farmertod...rch/koolaid.wmv (2 mb)

Todd

#6 Guest_NateTessler13_*

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Posted 10 March 2007 - 11:57 PM

I'm giving it a shot in my planted tank right now. I'll post on how it goes tomorrow.

#7 Guest_NateTessler13_*

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Posted 11 March 2007 - 12:13 PM

...I've got the kool-aid water today...

#8 Guest_gerald_*

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Posted 14 March 2007 - 11:40 AM

i too have "fear" of deep gravel, based on the observation that these tanks seem to become mycobacterium farms eventually, in my experience. or maybe its nocardia, ichthyosporidium, or some other bacteria or fungal microbe that eats up fish kidneys & spleen; havent done the diagnostic tests but i can often see & feel pale lumpy nodules in the organs, and lesions on the head & skin that look like classic myco ("fish tuberculosis") symptoms. soft-water dwarf cichlids, anabantoids, and rainbowfish are the most common victims, but ive also had darters and shiners get similar symptoms. with shiners the first symptoms are often inflammation in the nostrils, then jaw & eye deformity. Plant growth may be spectacular in these tanks, and water quality "seems" fine (the very few parameters i can test) but certain fish species just dont do well long-term, getting evidence of internal infections after a few to several months. maybe it has nothing to do with dirty gravel and its a diet/mineral/vitamin problem ??, but i think it happens less in bare-bottom tanks (painted black) where i can effectively vacuum off the fish waste. i'd love to know more, and overcome my deep-bed phobia if in fact its based on misinterpretation. where did this thread come from and is there more worth seeing ? thanks Todd -- gerald

>> Todd wrote: By the way, I saw this in another thread searching and searching for the dosage in a great many very similar threads lol...

The amount of Hydrogen Sulfide it would take to deleteriously affect your fish is enough evolving all at once to make you puke if you were standing next to the aquarium, it's really a pretty stable molecule.

The problems people find are associates of conditions where Hydrogen Sulfide develops, not the chemical itself. Anoxic, hydric substrates aren't a problem. In fact, they're a benefit because they're getting rid of some of the nitrogen issues. However, in our highly eutrophied, nutrient loaded glass boxes... High nitrogen loads can exceed the capacity of the sediment to process it, which is problematic in itself. As well, cyano typically begins to take over, and some of the chemicals evolved by cyanobacteria are downright evil.

It's kinda like a stinky sewer in the old days. Was it the "mal-aria", the "bad air" killing people? Definately what you'd notice! But it was the not-so-stinky, invisible cholera and other water borne diseases from fetid water that was really doing the job. Think how long it took humans to figure that one out.

Fear not the deep, enriched substrates! Todd

#9 Guest_gerald_*

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Posted 14 March 2007 - 11:44 AM

do you mean squirting 1 oz of 3% H2o2 per 10 gallons every day until blackbrush alg is dead ???

Use a syringe to aim the whole dose on the blackbrush algae. You could do it daily. It should eventually do the job.



#10 Guest_farmertodd_*

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Posted 14 March 2007 - 12:25 PM

Hi Gerald,

I'm not talking about deep gravel. I'm talking about mud covered with sand. The interstitial spaces between gravel are too large, the surface area is too little in the substrate.

There really wasn't a thread. It was a compilation of things I ran across looking for the H2O2 dosage.

Todd

#11 Guest_nativeplanter_*

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Posted 15 March 2007 - 11:58 AM

do you mean squirting 1 oz of 3% H2o2 per 10 gallons every day until blackbrush alg is dead ???


That's exactly what I meant. I don't expect it would take more than a few days if you squirt it right on the problematic areas. If you would, let me know how many days it takes. I would guess maybe 4 or 5, tops.




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