hypertech October 8, 2011 Share October 8, 2011 I decided to give hydrogen peroxide a try. I added 10 ml to my 75g plus 20l sump system today. Fingers are crossed. Anyone here used h2o2 before? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zygote2k October 8, 2011 Share October 8, 2011 I use a product called Aqua Maid that is 3% hydrogen peroxide on fish only tanks that are hair algae nightmares and it cleans everything in a few days. Activated carbon in huge quantities after a dose is necessary. This stuff works, but you're really treating a symptom instead of attacking the root problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hypertech October 8, 2011 Author Share October 8, 2011 I've tested the source water. I've tested the tank. I don't over feed. I do over skim. There is no reason for this stuff not to be dead. I did a water change two days ago and scrubbed as much as I could and darn it all the stuff took off and had a growth spurt. I'd have to take the GFO offline to run carbon. I assumed it would be better to run the gfo to absorb any phosphates from a die off. Am I better off running carbon? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LanglandJoshua October 8, 2011 Share October 8, 2011 If your going to add something that has to be pulled out or the health of your tank is at risk. I would say removing the GFO is the least of your worries, unless somehow the GFO will remove it itself. Maybe someone else would know more. In my opinion, the GFO is just a filter intended to remove phosphates. I doubt they will build up fast enough to cause an issue . Unless there is some fine point that I do not know of, since I do not run any reactors at this point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F&Fmgr October 8, 2011 Share October 8, 2011 what type of algae is it, like Rob said ID the algae and then you can see what contributes to its growth. I.E. green hair algae proliferates in lower alk, lower salinity( which can make it harder to raise your alk). id the algae first. The peroxide works well so do daily doses of PP, but youre not reaching the source of the algae, there has to be areason for it taking off....99 times out of 100 it is watr chemistry IME. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zygote2k October 8, 2011 Share October 8, 2011 I'd test your water for the following- Alk, Ca, Mg, P04, N03 and take it from there before dosing peroxide. Raising the Mg level to 1800+ is a good way to kill off most nuisance algae like hair, derbesia, and bryopsis. Keeping a stable Ca and Alk will go along way to preventing outbreaks too. The right mix of herbivores will also work. You can use carbon and GFO at the same time. I work on a few tanks with ever present algae issues, but I don't recommend using peroxide until all other options have been exhausted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hypertech October 8, 2011 Author Share October 8, 2011 I have one reactor. I can run carbon or GFO but not both at the same time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F&Fmgr October 8, 2011 Share October 8, 2011 I have one reactor. I can run carbon or GFO but not both at the same time. I would run carbon. If youre not testing any phosphates or they are real low... then the carbon would do more as far as organic removal than a media designed to go after just phosphates. I would highly recommend re testing with a friends kits. In particular, test salinity with a refractometer calibrated to 35 ppt(not with RODI). and test your alk, if your test says its above 8 or 9 then you need to validate this with a test solution. I have some(1 gallon) of 12 dKH test standard, free if you bring your own bottle. I can't tell you how many people inadvertently experience this. 2 cases just recently, 1. skimmer was skimming way to wet and skimmed most of the salt out and the ato effectively lowered the salinity....they didn't think to check the salinity b/c their pH probe said 8.2-8.4 constantly. 2. Green hair algae everywhere, tried peroxide and algaecides til they brought me water...the salinity was at 1.020 and the alk was 6 dKH and her test had been showing the salinity @ 1.025 (refractometer cal with RODI) and an innacurate KH test that said it was 9-10. hope that helps Sean Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hypertech October 8, 2011 Author Share October 8, 2011 I have a calibrated refractometer. Test kits are salifert but are starting to get older. Hmmmmm....... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F&Fmgr October 8, 2011 Share October 8, 2011 (edited) just my .02 but, When I have problems that are water chemistry related, i recalibrate everything(alectronic or not) and test against standard solutions. out of curiousity how often do you calibrate your refractometer? BTW you can make 5 gallons of dKH standard with very little soda ash or baking soda, using the reef calulator on bulkreefsupply.com Edited October 8, 2011 by F&Fmgr Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LanglandJoshua October 8, 2011 Share October 8, 2011 I calibrate mine every time. I believe it's in the instructions. The room temperature can change readings. After all, we are talking in the .oo1 range when room temp can vary by 10 degrees... Just my two sense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hypertech October 8, 2011 Author Share October 8, 2011 It has been a little while since I calibrated it. I don't trust my solution anymore. It's sealed tight but it has been opened for too long. I didn't think to add any to my recent BRS order either........ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hypertech October 8, 2011 Author Share October 8, 2011 I calibrate mine every time. I believe it's in the instructions. The room temperature can change readings. After all, we are talking in the .oo1 range when room temp can vary by 10 degrees... Just my two sense. Unless you are using a fresh solution every time you are probably doing more harm than good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LanglandJoshua October 8, 2011 Share October 8, 2011 I never let the lid stay off more than the 10-20 second it takes to put 3 drops... Although I could see as the water level drops and fresh air is added it could concentrate more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hypertech October 8, 2011 Author Share October 8, 2011 Just tested alk. I get 9 dkh on my kit. I did have some fluctuations as I fiddled with my ca rx but it's been pretty stable at least the last month. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hypertech October 9, 2011 Author Share October 9, 2011 2 days in. Does not seem to have affected it at all yet. I'm dosing to the return chamber of the sump. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hypertech October 9, 2011 Author Share October 9, 2011 Day 3. Some bubbles on the algae. This has happened before though so I don't know if it's the h2o2. I've taken the GFO out and started running carbon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F&Fmgr October 9, 2011 Share October 9, 2011 for me it took about a week Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hypertech October 10, 2011 Author Share October 10, 2011 Day 4 A few more bubbles. No significant effects yet to algae or corals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hypertech October 12, 2011 Author Share October 12, 2011 Day 5 Algae might be taking a brownish hue. Or, my mind is playing tricks on me hoping something is finally working. One thing is for sure, it is matting up in high flow areas like pumps and the overflow. I scrubbed it today. Removed a pile of it. Probably released a bunch back into the water but at least I got some our and it doesn't look so bad now. Ph has dropped about 0.2. Not sure if it's related. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F&Fmgr October 12, 2011 Share October 12, 2011 sounds like your right on course. the algae will start to lose its chlorophyll, retarding or stopping photosynthesis which will cause it to die. what i did after i got to this poiunt was to manually remove as much of the algae as possible. my thought process was that if there is less algae for the peroxide to "work" on then the peroxide will work better. the other thing i noticed when i did this was that hte fresh tears were even more susceptible to the oxidation caused by the peroxide. best of luck, Sean Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hypertech October 13, 2011 Author Share October 13, 2011 (edited) Day 6 Still not much to speak of. Going to give it a double dose .... and maybe a dose of single malt :/ Edited October 13, 2011 by hypertech Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hypertech October 15, 2011 Author Share October 15, 2011 Day 7. Ph seems to have flattened out. I gave it a double dose yesterday and today and won't dose this weekend. It seems like it might be thinning out. Fingers are crossed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hypertech October 17, 2011 Author Share October 17, 2011 Day 9 Algae is still growing but it really seems to be thinning. I will probably scub it again in the next day or so. Some sps are starting to become more pale/pastel but polyp extension has increased. I'm not sure what to make of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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