# Hydrogen Peroxide to Treat Algea



## anonapersona (Oct 19, 2002)

*Dangerous stuff*

it wont help the green water as far as I know. You need to attack the causes of that, not just battle the symptoms. 

It will help with BBA, I have used it, cautiously, a ml at a time in a tank with fish. I used an eyedropper to put 1 ml on the BBA. Some bubbled away instantly. Some turned pink and then got eaten by shrimp. 

I used up to 2 ml a day in a 29 gallon tank. It cleared about a half inch square, and over the next few days some more retreated in the general area. 

I never bothered to try to eradicate it, just got ahead of it some. It continued to die back, but never went away, I still have DIY on that tank and Tom Barr says that unsteady CO2 is the cause of BBA.

if you dosed the entire tank, I think you'd oxydize the bacteria and kill all the biofilter. Be careful. Dangerous territory.


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## oazanki (Jan 5, 2004)

Ok good point anona.. I will be more careful with that. Where did you get Hydrogen Peroxide from? any particular brand I should be looking for?

I agree with the idea that unsteady CO2 affects algae growth, I had the DIY and just a week ago I switched to the Hagen Co2 system.. Same thing but I guess its more steady but I believe I need to add another bottle, one haggen bottle is not enough for a 29 Gal tank. eventually I will switch to a pressurized system and that will definitly help control the algae from its source.

But for now I would like to improve the look of the aquarium since it looks very scary. and also I don't have green water, I have the BBA and the green hair algae. I will post some pics of my tank tomorrow to help identify both algae types


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## Momotaro (Feb 21, 2003)

Omar!

Hydrogen peroxide is hydrogen peroxide. Just shoot down to the supermarket or a drug store and pick up whatever is the cheapest.

Mike


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## FiberCon (May 22, 2004)

Actually, not quite Momotaro... The stuff you get in grocery and drug stores is low-grade, being only about 3% H202 with the other 97% being an inert ingredient (probably distilled water or something.)

There's a couple sites out there where you can get 35% H2O2, and probably even higher concentrataions are available.

I'm not sure of the safety of using any strength of H2O2 in an aquarium. The only time I've heard of it being used as such is the simple low-grade kind being used to add oxygen to the tank water if it is low on oxygen.


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## anonapersona (Oct 19, 2002)

*Safety and algae types*

There is some good info on the use of H2O2 at WetmanNY's http://skepticalaquarist.com. Just don't use much!

But, it is safer to attack the causes... BA is due to low CO2 and unstable CO2. With a 29 you might want to go to DIY mixes just to get the higher initial rates. Also, be sure you have minimized surface agitation.

The green hairy algae is either traces or nitrate, I can't recall which. I think nitrate. Are you adding any nitrates? do you test for nitrates?


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## anonapersona (Oct 19, 2002)

If you use H2O2 in the aquarium, just use the drugstore strength. I think I recall a limit of a capful for 20 gallons, but best to stay below that and just do spot applications.


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## Clone (Feb 29, 2004)

Why would you want a more concentrated peroxide when you are experimenting. Unless I misread the posts we are talking about introducing the hydrogen peroxide on the algae inside the aquarium. In which case a more conservative approach would be best to avoid killing any inhabitants. If the stuff from the drug store doesn't work you can put in the medicine cabinet and use it to disinfect any aquarium-related scrapes and cuts roud:

On a related note try using the search and read up on dipping plants and decorations in peroxide. It may take more time but may be safer.


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## aquaverde (Apr 15, 2003)

As stated, it's the 3% for our application. You can bleach the whole tank with it if you want to remove the critters. Some have had success with the spot application, some have not.


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