# How much H2O2 is a safe dose?



## Naekuh (Oct 19, 2011)

i heard u want as little water movement as possible because u want the H2O2 to have the longest contact time b4 it oxidizes and possibly gets everything in its field b4 it oxidizes. 

And as the word spot treatment says... yes you need to get it where you see all the spots or the base of where its starting.


----------



## inkslinger (Dec 28, 2003)

http://www.gpodio.com/h2o2.asp


----------



## jart (Jan 17, 2003)

I have referred to the link that Inkslinger posted before. But I have never used it for clado. I have spot treated BBA-infected equipment with peroxide (and yes, I use the 3% concentration). The link suggests a max of 2 mL/gallon; I have only used up to 1 mL/gallon with no signs of issues with critters. My understanding is that H2O2 has a finite lifespan outside of the bottle, but I can't recall what factors affect its rate of decomposition.

Of course, as the article suggests, if you spot treat, wait 1/2 h or so, then do your regularly scheduled WC, you should minimize any adverse effects.


----------



## VeeSe (Apr 16, 2011)

Sounds good. Hard to spot treat like 30 spots though.


----------



## DarkCobra (Jun 22, 2004)

With water movement, it's a whole-tank treatment, rather than a spot treatment.

For a whole-tank treatment, you want as much water movement as possible. H2O2 only oxidizes what it contacts, and high flow ensures each molecule has a high probability of contacting something, rather than just floating around in the water uselessly.

The trick is to not have water flow through your filter media, otherwise the H2O2 is mostly consumed oxidizing your biofilter bacteria rather than algae. Use a powerhead, or even your filters if you can temporarily remove the media.

H2O2 decomposes only through reaction with organic material. Light takes days to break it down. 

2ml/G is considered generally safe. During treatment, concentration drops as it reacts with algae, biofilms, and other waste. At the end of treatment, the filters are turned back on (or media replaced) and the remainder is then consumed more rapidly in reaction with biofilter bacteria, until it is zero. Fish can tolerate that concentration, for that time.

I've experimented with up to 6ml/G. Fish seem to be able to tolerate that for an hour, but then you must remove it with a large water change. Otherwise, it lingers far too long past the treatment period and symptoms of gill damage become noticeable. Your results may vary.

Clado is tough. With a spot treatment and no water movement, you can achieve a very high concentration in a small volume. Spread out over the entire tank, I'm not sure if any reasonable dosage will significantly affect clado. I hope I'm wrong. Try it and see.

But start small, and keep an eye on your Vals. If a plant is sensitive to Excel, it's usually sensitive to H2O2 as well.


----------



## VeeSe (Apr 16, 2011)

DarkCobra said:


> With water movement, it's a whole-tank treatment, rather than a spot treatment.
> 
> For a whole-tank treatment, you want as much water movement as possible. H2O2 only oxidizes what it contacts, and high flow ensures each molecule has a high probability of contacting something, rather than just floating around in the water uselessly.
> 
> ...


Sounds good. I will plan on both spot treating and doing the whole tank treatment with a powerhead. I don't care that much about the vals. I care much more about getting this clado out of the way. It's pretty much spread over a very large area of substrate now, but it isn't very dense in any spot (only a few strands in each spot), so it's hard to spot treat since I'd only hit a few strands at a time doing that.


----------



## VeeSe (Apr 16, 2011)

So I picked up some H2O2 at CVS today and spot dosed 4-5 spots of the clado with 5mL of the H2O2. Nothing has happened to it so far... I'm not sure that it did anything, but I'll allow some time to wait and see. water change was done immediately after 30 minutes of letting the H2O2 do its stuff with no water movement.


----------



## ghotifish (Feb 16, 2009)

jart said:


> My understanding is that H2O2 has a finite lifespan outside of the bottle, but I can't recall what factors affect its rate of decomposition.


Judging by the fact that it is always sold in a dark brown non-transparent bottle, I'd say that light must be a factor.


----------



## Naekuh (Oct 19, 2011)

VeeSe said:


> So I picked up some H2O2 at CVS today and spot dosed 4-5 spots of the clado with 5mL of the H2O2. Nothing has happened to it so far... I'm not sure that it did anything, but I'll allow some time to wait and see. water change was done immediately after 30 minutes of letting the H2O2 do its stuff with no water movement.


it should of started to bubble imediately on contact... 

if its not bubbling, i have no clue... lol... because h2o2 should oxidize anything organic.

Heres an example to how it should look like:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9b6xPlasgY8&feature=related

but not as STRONG, and not as fast.. we play with 2% not 30% as shown in the video.


----------



## VeeSe (Apr 16, 2011)

Naekuh said:


> it should of started to bubble imediately on contact...
> 
> if its not bubbling, i have no clue... lol... because h2o2 should oxidize anything organic.
> 
> ...


I didn't mean that it didn't bubble. I meant nothing happened to the algae. I didn't really expect it to do anything on the first day, and it looks like it worked out just fine one week later.


----------



## [email protected] (Jul 17, 2008)

VeeSe said:


> Sounds good. Hard to spot treat like 30 spots though.


30 spots aren't hard to treat, just tedious. Try adding a length of airline tubing to the syringe so you can step back a bit to better see what you are aiming at. 
Patience is an important thing to have in our hobby. One can acquire it or purchase it. Purchasing, by spending money on products, can be like a puppy chasing it's tail. It only stops when something falls over. 

If most of your algae spots are on just a few plants, consider pulling them out and treating them in a dip. 
If the spots are on plants that can easily stand a trimming, trim away portions or leaves with spots.


----------



## VeeSe (Apr 16, 2011)

[email protected] said:


> 30 spots aren't hard to treat, just tedious. Try adding a length of airline tubing to the syringe so you can step back a bit to better see what you are aiming at.
> Patience is an important thing to have in our hobby. One can acquire it or purchase it. Purchasing, by spending money on products, can be like a puppy chasing it's tail. It only stops when something falls over.
> 
> If most of your algae spots are on just a few plants, consider pulling them out and treating them in a dip.
> If the spots are on plants that can easily stand a trimming, trim away portions or leaves with spots.


It was mostly on the substrate and on the Staurogyne repens that was growing in the substrate in the area. It also was on the driftwood for awhile. H2O2 spot dosing did good, as did rinsing the wood with 25 mL or so of Excel outside of the tank. Either that or increasing the flow to the area worked as well. At any rate, it was always manageable with low light, just not enough to do nothing about it. I agree that patience is the key, and I would say that I have it and it has paid off so far, and hopefully I will get even more patient in the future. Thanks for the help!


----------

