Hydrogen Peroxide dip

[jrnannery]

Hey folks, long time, no see. Sorry, but I've been really busy on the outside here.

I've had an issue with the annoyance of hair algae recently. A little spot grows to a mini forest, then spreads a little. You all know the drill.

Well, I got fed up with it finally yesterday. I pulled the easy stuff out, and then dipped my brain and even some sticks that had been covered with the hair algae. I also dipped the racks they were sitting on.

Today I report success!! The stuff that was on my brain frags is almost completely gone, and the stuff that was on the acro frags is going away big time. The brain is still very bright green, showing no trauma to the dipping procedure, and the acros have color as well. Nothing looks stressed, save for the algae. Good riddance!!

The solution was approximately 5-8:1 ratio of tank water and three percent H2O2, available anywhere. Dipping was done in a Tupperware container, nothing special. Dip time was approximately five minutes. I lost several bristle worms. They are as affected by the H2O2 as marine plant life is, apparently.

The mat of algae begins to see a lot of bubbles, and even after you shake it out, as you would if you were doing a flatworm dip, the bubbles stay present...even when the frag goes back into the tank. algae turns white, then clear, then dissapears. No problem.

Give it a try, and don't be too uptight about the ratios. Great success is being reported everywhere with varying concentrations, with dip times all generally being around five minutes. There is a procedure for an underwater method as well. Shut off pumps, slowly spread the solution into the affected area, a rock, for instance. The H2O2 should displace the saltwater in that area. Same basic idea as a targeted feeding. After a few minutes, restart the pumps and then do a stout water change.

From what I have gleaned, Candy Canes, and Zoas don't seem to like the procedure much.

[jroescher]

I tried it on a small rock covered in hair algae and it worked great for me. My problem is I have some very large rocks buried in deep sand that I can't pull out.

It would seem to me that as the algae dies off, it's releasing all those nutrients back into the water. Wouldn't that only feed the algae growing somewhere else?

[jrnannery]

That would be a good argument for doing the water change after. It's not supposed to be an all-at-once project...more like a process. And of course, you would monitor your results and tank conditions/parameters. But it is a real answer to one of our biggest nuisances.

[tebstan]

I first heard of adding H2O2 to water years ago, as an emergency fix when fish were suffocating from crowded conditions during shipping. I've seen it added to overheated ponds to buy time until pumps were repaired.
It works, but it was an emergency solution, not a "treatment." The important part was addressing the issue that caused the problem in the first place.


I've tried a peroxide dip for algae, with mixed results leaning to negative. I was experimenting with zoas, which I knew was risky. The algae died quickly, but so did all inverts, macro, and sponge. Some zoas recovered, some didn't. The ones that had algae growing around them survived, the ones that had algae growing on them did not.

Maybe my concentration was too high. I thought I had it right, but maybe I was mistaken. Or maybe it's not as safe for inverts and sponge as some sites have claimed. Either way, I'm sure glad I didn't make the mistake of doing it in the main tank.


If someone were to experiment with it in their main tank, I'd love to see pics/video. The viscosity of H2O is very similar to that of the H2O2 solution. How can you tell where it will end up when you squirt it at something, when the high currents are taking it everywhere and anywhere?

My favorite part of my tank is all the microfauna. If you were to spray H2O2 at a stationary coral, are all the sponge and tiny critters near it going to suffer?