# Hydrogen Peroxide



## BettaBettas (Aug 21, 2016)

How do I use hydrogen peroxide in the fish tank to remove algae?
I have some algae in my tank that I just cannot get rid of, I have 2 amano shrimp in the tank along with 2 other fish, its a 5 gallon tank. How much hydrogen peroxide do I spray on the algae? is there a thing such as to much or to little? will it harm the shrimp? other suggestions?


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## IUnknown (Feb 5, 2003)

Look into double dosing excel/metracide. Might be safer. Also depends on what type of algae.


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## John Wong (Dec 2, 2015)

OK, if your tank contain hc Cuba, Java moss and riccia, they will die upon direct contact. Normally I drain most of the water, expose the affected area and apply h2o2 with paint brush. 
Another alternative is this :








Enzyme base algaecide. Effective and safe for everything accept valisneria.

Sent from my MX4 using Tapatalk


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## IntotheWRX (May 13, 2016)

BettaBettas said:


> How do I use hydrogen peroxide in the fish tank to remove algae?
> I have some algae in my tank that I just cannot get rid of, I have 2 amano shrimp in the tank along with 2 other fish, its a 5 gallon tank. How much hydrogen peroxide do I spray on the algae? is there a thing such as to much or to little? will it harm the shrimp? other suggestions?


you can do two ways. you can spot treat the algae or you can dose hydroproxy into the water cycle it around depending on what kind of algae you're trying to kill.

spot clean: get a $1 travel size spray bottle from target, load up the hyroproxy into the bottle. turn off your filter so water is not flowing all over the place. squirt the algae with the hydroprox and give it couple minutes as you can see some bubble come as the algae is screaming in its death. it will turn light color or pink. Maybe about 5-15 minutes, you can turn the filter back on and run as normal.
dosage:like 1-5 squirts is safe

dosing nuke: keep filter on and flowing, but take out benificial bacteria media in your filter so they dont get nuked with the attack. dump some hydrogen peroxy. about 1-2 tablespoon per every 10gallon. let the hydro proxy swirl all over your tank. move your filter to hit any dead spots. let it flow for 10-20 minutes. algae all over your tank will be dying. 
dosage: 1-2 table spoon is safe

you can keep your fishes in there, they will be ok. Java moss doesn't get hurt. Ive seen my parents tank after 10 drops of bleach for 3 days. if that tank can still survive, hydroproxy will not kill your tank. 

water change is recommended after but not necessary. itll take about 5-10 min to kill the algae and 2-5 days to watch them die off.


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## BettaBettas (Aug 21, 2016)

IntotheWRX said:


> you can do two ways. you can spot treat the algae or you can dose hydroproxy into the water cycle it around depending on what kind of algae you're trying to kill.
> 
> spot clean: get a $1 travel size spray bottle from target, load up the hyroproxy into the bottle. turn off your filter so water is not flowing all over the place. squirt the algae with the hydroprox and give it couple minutes as you can see some bubble come as the algae is screaming in its death. it will turn light color or pink. Maybe about 5-15 minutes, you can turn the filter back on and run as normal.
> dosage:like 1-5 squirts is safe
> ...


will it hurt the fish, snails, or shrimp though?

also some comments say it hurts java moss, is this true because there is java moss in the tank


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## Supa Mint (Jul 5, 2016)

BettaBettas said:


> will it hurt the fish, snails, or shrimp though?
> 
> also some comments say it hurts java moss, is this true because there is java moss in the tank


Be careful, as it certainly can hurt your livestock - although it probably depends upon dose and exposure time. Last weekend, I shut off the filter pump; removed 50% of the water in my 29 gallon planted tank; sprayed hydrogen peroxide on the surface and on the algae on the plants that were above the water level. I also sprayed the algae on the algae under the water level, which was on the Java Fern, the H.c., and on the rocks and wood. The total amount of peroxide applied was probably around 50mL. I then filled the tank back up with water, waited about 10 minutes, and then started the filter pump back up.

A couple hours later, several of my Cardinal Tetras, Corydoras, and SAE were actiing distressed. Eventually, I lost 2 Cardinal Tetras and 1 dwarf Cory.

The good news is that the hair algae turned red, which I believe indicates that it is dead/dying.

The primary mistake that I think I made, was that I applied too much peroxide for the lowered water level/volume; and then did not do a water change after the peroxide treatment. I should have applied the peroxide to the algae in the filled tank (filter off), and then performed a water change.

Good luck!


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## Kubla (Jan 5, 2014)

I did research on here until I came up with what I though was a safe level for treating the whole tank. Then I used half or less of that amount. Loaded it in a syringe (they gave it to me free at the pharmacy, just get one they use to give babies oral medicine.) Turned off all the filters and water circulators. After I waited a few minutes for everything to calm down I applied the H2O2 directly to the affected areas. Leave everything off for several minutes. I can't remember if I did water changes or not, but it seems like a good idea. I don't know how long it takes the H2O2 to dissipate. It's quite satisfying watching the algae die. Unfortanately, dosing like that did kill my moss along with the algae. I think it was peacock moss. I hated to lose the moss but it was full of hair algae so it wasn't any good like it was. No harm to anything else. I don't have any shrimp, only fish, plants and snails. Good luck!


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## IntotheWRX (May 13, 2016)

BettaBettas said:


> will it hurt the fish, snails, or shrimp though?
> 
> also some comments say it hurts java moss, is this true because there is java moss in the tank


my fishes were swimming to the bubbles from the hydrogen proxy. i was like nyoooo stop!!! they probably thought there was food. I was doing light squirts in the water. I think as long as they dont get a gulp of it in their face they are fine. 

I was straight spraying my hydroproxy on my java moss because it had BBA on it. it was fine.


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## BettaBettas (Aug 21, 2016)

Supa Mint said:


> Be careful, as it certainly can hurt your livestock - although it probably depends upon dose and exposure time. Last weekend, I shut off the filter pump; removed 50% of the water in my 29 gallon planted tank; sprayed hydrogen peroxide on the surface and on the algae on the plants that were above the water level. I also sprayed the algae on the algae under the water level, which was on the Java Fern, the H.c., and on the rocks and wood. The total amount of peroxide applied was probably around 50mL. I then filled the tank back up with water, waited about 10 minutes, and then started the filter pump back up.
> 
> A couple hours later, several of my Cardinal Tetras, Corydoras, and SAE were actiing distressed. Eventually, I lost 2 Cardinal Tetras and 1 dwarf Cory.
> 
> ...





IntotheWRX said:


> my fishes were swimming to the bubbles from the hydrogen proxy. i was like nyoooo stop!!! they probably thought there was food. I was doing light squirts in the water. I think as long as they dont get a gulp of it in their face they are fine.
> 
> I was straight spraying my hydroproxy on my java moss because it had BBA on it. it was fine.





Kubla said:


> I did research on here until I came up with what I though was a safe level for treating the whole tank. Then I used half or less of that amount. Loaded it in a syringe (they gave it to me free at the pharmacy, just get one they use to give babies oral medicine.) Turned off all the filters and water circulators. After I waited a few minutes for everything to calm down I applied the H2O2 directly to the affected areas. Leave everything off for several minutes. I can't remember if I did water changes or not, but it seems like a good idea. I don't know how long it takes the H2O2 to dissipate. It's quite satisfying watching the algae die. Unfortanately, dosing like that did kill my moss along with the algae. I think it was peacock moss. I hated to lose the moss but it was full of hair algae so it wasn't any good like it was. No harm to anything else. I don't have any shrimp, only fish, plants and snails. Good luck!


thanks so much for the replies! honestly these reply's are all helping me and other people reading this who want to know how to safely use HP, one last question lol, for a 5 gallon tank how much should I use? :fish1:


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## redchaser (Apr 27, 2015)

I've used levels of H2O2 up to 3ml per gallon. I'll usually turn off my filter and take out the media. Spot treat the algae in the tank with a dosing syringe until I reach a level somewhat below 3ml a gallon, let it work for a minute, then turn the filter on and let it circulate for around 15 minutes then do a 50% water change. From what I've read, circulating the water makes it less likely to negatively impact your livestock. My tank has Oto's, CPD's, CRS, Amano Shrimp, scarlet badis and wrestling halfbeaks. The amano shrimp and oto's don't particularly like the treatment and get a bit agitated, but return to normal behavior shortly after the water change. I have't lost any livestock to it or had any show any real ill effects.


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## Kubla (Jan 5, 2014)

Then when you're all done, try to get a handle on what's causing it. This method should really be viewed as a last resort, short of tearing down.


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## John Wong (Dec 2, 2015)

Recommend this product instead of h2o2.
No need water change
Harmless to fish and snail and shrimp. 
Harmless to all plants(accept valisneria). 
Cheap to use, not over USD10
Singapore product. 

I used it and it was effective, although not as fast as hydrogen peroxide, but I'm a bit lazy. All algae slowly turn white and disappeared and after one week, every algae will disappear.










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## bacon5 (Jul 25, 2011)

I think it really depends on the type of algae. Unless I somehow missed it, it never seems that you have mentioned what kind of algae you are battling. IME H2O2 works best on black beard and some hair algae. For spirogyra however, I have only had success with the algaefix product.


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## Kubla (Jan 5, 2014)

IntotheWRX said:


> my fishes were swimming to the bubbles from the hydrogen proxy. i was like nyoooo stop!!! they probably thought there was food. I was doing light squirts in the water. I think as long as they dont get a gulp of it in their face they are fine.
> 
> I was straight spraying my hydroproxy on my java moss because it had BBA on it. it was fine.



Now that I'm thinking about it more. I don't think it was the H2O2 treatment that killed my peacock moss. I did the same syringe treatment at one point using glut instead. That's the one that took my moss out.


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## roadmaster (Nov 5, 2009)

One two punch spelled out by member Dark Cobra in algae sub forum here on this forum works well if direction's are followed.
If condition's that brought the algae are not dealt with ,then the algae is likely to return.
Nobody I know want's to battle algae,or study way's to kill it, when they could be growing plant's.
Need to study what your doing or not doing that bring's the algae.


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## aqbii (Nov 9, 2016)

John,
I've tried OF 0 Algae before. It killed some of my shrimps. So I'm not sure about it being shrimp friendly.


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