Dosing Hydrogen Peroxide - The best kept secret for algae and dinos

**toomanytanks** · 01-17-2015, 07:51 PM

Hey all,

I just wanted to share with you the great success I've had dosing Hydrogen Peroxide for over a week now. The reason I started to dose H2O2 is because of the reef tank menace otherwise known as Dinoflagellates. Dinos are very hard to get rid of, and if not attacked early, will almost certainly destroy your tank. I have had them before and had to wrap my tank in black plastic with the lights out for about a week before they would disappear. Even then, they came back after 2 days or so and I ended up having to break down my reef.

I cringed when I saw them show up in my display tank a couple weeks ago. They kept growing and growing and were making my tank look slimy and disgusting. I scoured the internet for removal methods and they all seemed hit or miss. I came across a few threads on dosing 3% H2O2 with mixed results, but mostly good. Knowing my history with dinos, I figured I had nothing to lose.

I turned my lights out and began dosing 10mL 3% H2O2 every night per 10 gallons of display tank volume. I kept my lights out for three days completely, and then turned the timer back on. I maintained the dosing schedule up to the present. When I inspected my tank after the three day lights out and dosing period, I was astonished and relieved to see THE DINOS WERE GONE! Further, my tank had never been clearer, the rocks were algae free, and my glass was even algae free! This stuff is amazing. The only algae that was left in my entire tank was the coraline. The H2O2 had killed off every other type of algae in the tank. My corals still look great and do not look affected by the treatment, at all. I have SPS, anemones, leathers, zoas, gonios, hammers, you name it. None of them were affected and all had great polyp extension.

If you ever have a dino problem - or any algae problem for that matter - please consider H2O2 dosing. It is the best kept secret in invasive nuisance algae treatment. It is also a great frag dip btw.

**Jim28fl** · 01-18-2015, 04:11 PM

We just did a group buy on the Oxydator from the UK. Been around for many years and its a sustainable way to dose H202 full time. I use it in all my tanks now, and I have for over 6 months. I keep every type of coral n such.. no issues.. The answer to the mystery is it increases Free oxygen in the water "RAISES ORP" which is good for everything in the tank. and BAD for Algae and DINO's

But the reason they were there in the first place can't be dismissed.. usually water quality in one way or another. either a faulty RODI or not enough WC's or poor quality salt or food. So look into that as well.

But none the less I agree H202 is great stuff. They make food grade that is stronger and cleaner than drug store stuff.

BTW we will have one of these Oxydators available to win in one of our upcoming Raffles's at one of the monthly meetings.

**toomanytanks** · 01-18-2015, 04:55 PM

Hmm, interesting. i've never heard of the 'oxydator'. You'll have to let me know how it works out for everyone. For now, dosing H2O2 every night isn't a task that I need to automate. Also, I agree with you that there is a root to the problem. For me, all of my nutrient levels are very low - usually undetectable. The dinos seem to have come about soon after one of my wall hammers contracted a brown slime infected and died. My TDS is 000, my phosphate is 000, and my nitrate is 000. Whatever the case may have been, it's under control now and not coming back. I just can't get over all of the other beneficial side effects like the amazing water clarity and reduction of all of the other algae in my tank. Thanks for the reply!

**philip_r5** · 01-19-2015, 02:46 PM

Also, I used this for treating GHA, and Bryopsis in my 75gallon.

Look here. http://www.o-r-c-a.org/forum/showthr...t=16717&page=5

Also, http://www.o-r-c-a.org/forum/showthr...highlight=h202

**toomanytanks** · 01-19-2015, 07:17 PM

Thanks for sharing. However, I had a couple comments about the video:

1. DO NOT use 35% H2O2 with the dosing routine I described. I dose 1mL per 10 gallon with 3% H2O2. 35% would have to be diluted before adding it to your aquarium.
2. It is safe for crustaceans (but probably not for him since he used 35%). I have a blue lobster, a pair of coral banded shrimp, a skunk cleaner shrimp, 3 mithrax crabs, and a sally lightfoot crab. They are all doing great 7 days into dosing.
3. Everything else about his video was spot on. REDOX/ORP is up, clarity has significantly improved, and algae continues to become rarer and rarer of a sight in my tank.

Good luck, and let me know how it works for you!

**caffboy** · 01-22-2015, 04:07 PM

How long after the initial 3 day dark peroid do you intend to keep dosing?
Also may i ask do you keep your skimmer running?

**toomanytanks** · 01-23-2015, 08:37 PM

Caffboy:

My skimmer has been running the entire time. I stopped dosing the day before yesterday and I'm going back to vodka dosing, not because H2O2 isn't GREAT, but because I don't want my tank being monopolized with one kind of bacteria. H2O2 kills dinos, algae, makes the water crystal clear, and increased the health of my take noticeably. However, vodka dosing has its benefits, too, and now that my tank is 'clean' I'd like to bring up the bacteria count again and get my corals growing in overdrive. Goodluck with the H2O2 dosing, you won't regret it!

**philip_r5** · 01-24-2015, 02:23 PM

Yea, I just did this for a few nights/days, and the water is crystal clear, yumas, and mushrooms look better and are more extended, and the dinos died back. Also, before I did this the glass had noticeable algea on it, I didn't clean this and its all gone.

**caffboy** · 01-24-2015, 05:20 PM

Great going to give it a go hopefully will get rid of the algae that is statring to get unsightly

**toomanytanks** · 01-24-2015, 06:44 PM

Awesome, keep us posted with your results.

**philip_r5** · 01-25-2015, 01:10 AM

I must add, my anemones weren't happy at all. They started to turn inside out, lack of photosynthesis and food. 3 nights/2 days but the 3rd day lights only at %15.

**toomanytanks** · 01-25-2015, 07:24 PM

Yes, I forgot to mention that. I have a rose bubble tip and he began moving all over the tank to find some light. He's doing fine now, though.

**philip_r5** · 01-26-2015, 01:03 PM

Yea, they are recovering good now. I feed them as soon as I started relighting the tank.

**toomanytanks** · 01-27-2015, 08:26 PM

So as an official note to the process and system:

***Adjust 'dark period' length as needed to maintain permanent health of sea anemones***

**CoralolisEffect** · 01-30-2015, 07:05 AM

Great info all around. I had been battling cerano bacteria for several months. Added the oxidattor I.e. A form of h2o2 dosing. Within 5 days the red cyrano was on the retreat. Gone within two weeks. Interestingly a green cyrano started to pop up. It want away another week or two later. Only change in settings was the h2o2. Agree h2o2 can defiantly help. When properly added. Of note this high-strength food grade stuff can be hard to find. Plus it's a extreme oxidattor and dangerous to handle full strength.

**Jim28fl** · 01-30-2015, 08:36 AM

If anyone wants some 35% to dilute on there own i can bring it to the meeting. I found and purchased mine on the web from a "healthly living" site. It's commonly used by humans to ingest daily at a low percentage to keep you healthy.. imagine that.... Some also gargle with H202 for fresh breath..
On a side note, none of my fish have bad breath that i have noticed, another plus.........
You can Pm me for the name of the site I got my gallon of 35% from. I'm comfortable giving out a good bit of it as i expect to use about one cup a year. once you dilute it down it goes a long long way. I suggest you bring something glass with a good lid to the meeting for me to pour into from my Gallon jug.

Did I mention I like the Oxydator H2o2 doser?... lol

**ccampo** · 01-30-2015, 09:08 AM

Originally Posted by Jim28fl

If anyone wants some 35% to dilute on there own i can bring it to the meeting. I found and purchased mine on the web from a "healthly living" site. It's commonly used by humans to ingest daily at a low percentage to keep you healthy.. imagine that.... Some also gargle with H202 for fresh breath..
On a side note, none of my fish have bad breath that i have noticed, another plus.........
You can Pm me for the name of the site I got my gallon of 35% from. I'm comfortable giving out a good bit of it as i expect to use about one cup a year. once you dilute it down it goes a long long way. I suggest you bring something glass with a good lid to the meeting for me to pour into from my Gallon jug.

Did I mention I like the Oxydator H2o2 doser?... lol

Hi Jim,

I'll take some, I bought one of those with Tucker's group by.

**Jim28fl** · 01-30-2015, 10:47 AM

I'll bring my whole gallon jug and hand it out as needed. I just suggest you bring a glass with a tight lid to hold it in.. it is very very strong at 35% and will immediately turn your skin white just from the fumes off the bottle and likely ruin fabric n such if spilled. I dilute mine to 3% with RODI in my Oxydators. Many also use 6%. The reaction is linear so you get twice as much release of pure oxygen out of 6% as you do 3% with the same size Catalyst. The catalyst is the pellet that comes with it. the small ones comes with a tiny one, the other sizes come with the normal size one. "DONT LOOSE THAT" its small and it last forever. and its the only loose part that comes with the kit. pretty simple.

You could also use "half" a Pellet and get the same outcome as doubling the percentage , In effect you can DIAL in the dossage for you system by using 3 or 6% and using different quantities and sizes of catalyst in the chamber.

Typically i find in 100 gallons on large catalyst and 3% last a bit over a month. I believe the small catalist is 1/3 of a large one they are literally a small pellet the size of a tylenol capsule for the large.

The whole idea is to get the release to just about match your tanks absorption by dialing it back till you don't see bubbles being released constantly from the unit to the surface. Which indicates the tank is reaching saturation related to oxygen.

You can over do it of course as extra oxygen it just released at the surface and in effect is wasted. i occasionally few times an hour se a bubble escape the unit and foal to the surface during my max day light period on the tank, which should be when the system naturally has reached a higher point of oxygen due to natural process which increase ORP and Ph n such. like bacteria and algae processes. as well as Temperature in the tank. but this is like super small amounts and just common observation by me. there i no hand over running it. and seems to be pretty set once you get an appropriate pellet and % figured out.. i have not changed it since the first month i had them in any of the systems. Its pretty much dial it in to the value of water you have and the bio load has a small effect i think.

I think Maybe ill try n do a fast presentation at one of the upcoming meetings "not this month" and use some drawings and some actual units n stuff. i really like this thing. its been around for maybe 30 yrs in Europe and never really caught on in the US. The units are not easy to get here so most folks have never dealt with it. its a shame, it seems things that are nearly impossible to understand and gimmicky get all the attention in the hobby, Oxydators are simple, easy, effective, safe, and cheap.. Its a home run IMO. I'm 100% behind them. Love it.

What about water changes.. how hard is that to do and how much good can come from it??? its simple, easy, effective, safe, and cheap. But how much resistance do folks give it? kinda silly honestly. Periodically change some of your water with good new salt water it will do you more good than anything else relative to the time n cost it takes.

**brandon429** · 01-31-2015, 03:27 PM

i like to pop into peroxide threads and post what info forwards the hobby. this thread here was linked to many forums and got people to discussing the subject. even read a few posters who went right in and dosed some ml's into their tank, so its fun at that point to discuss repeating variables we see in peroxide use in tank. has pros, cons

the oxidator has many years validation in the hobby, and raw liquid dosing is also gaining a foothold using no pre digestion (dangerous, but has measured benefits, google peroxide in the reef tank and see if any 10 page thread seems like its not working)

its a known cheat. like a skimmer is a known cheat for violating natures dissolution allowances. The interesting part is the repeating variables involved in peroxide dosing, here's a ramble of some. Linking back to our friends at R2R as thats a nice reference thread to save tons of retype. I assemble before and after pics like mad and post them up to these threads, you guys should fill this thread up with some treatment pics and lemme use em

http://www.reef2reef.com/forums/mari...ge-thread.html

B