Calothrix and Hydrogen Peroxide

[ahmed.boomer]

I went away for two weeks and allowed a friend of mine to take care of the tank. Had new GFO carbon and did a 20% water change before I left. Guess he must have over fed a ton. When I came back there was a massive die off. Fragged what remained of most of my SPS colonies and have a new clean up crew coming in soon. I've fixed most of it since. Got rid of the hair algae and cyano by brushing it off in a salt water bath. A week and a half later the hair algae has disappeared and I'm back to carbon dosing but I still have calothrix. It doesn't bother me but it latches onto my corals, dare I saw 'encrusts' and sufficates it. My birdsnests all died off from this.

Anyone who how effective Hydrogen peroxide is and how to apply it? I don't want go take all my encrusting corals off their rocks to do this. Seems to come back within two days after I do intense manual cleaning.

Phosphate below .08
Nitrate 0
Calcium 440
Magnesium 1350
KH - 8
pH - 8.1

 

[Reefing Madness]

Have you tried the 3 day lights out yet?

 

[ahmed.boomer]

Have you tried the 3 day lights out yet?

I've tried that but it seems to just be a temporary fix to the bigger problem.

 

[swk]

I used peroxide for Dino's at 1ml per 10 gal. Worked great. You can go a little higher too. I was dosing 10ml in a 80 gal system. Only noticeable side effect was some browning of my caulerpa.

 

[ahmed.boomer]

I used peroxide for Dino's at 1ml per 10 gal. Worked great. You can go a little higher too. I was dosing 10ml in a 80 gal system. Only noticeable side effect was some browning of my caulerpa.

What was the percent of peroxide. I have 50% peroxide but I feel that's overkill. Should I dilute it down?

 

[swk]

Yes! What I used was just generic walgreens peroxide. I think it was 3 or 5%

After I get my kid to sleep, I'll check for you.

 

[swk]

The stuff I used was 3%

Hope that helps!

 

[dbg]

Stupid question, but what is the H2O2 being used to do? Get rid of cyano?

 

[swk]

Stupid question, but what is the H2O2 being used to do? Get rid of cyano?

Not for cyano, but can be used for other types of problematic algaes.

Cyano is actually bacterial

 

[ahmed.boomer]

Stupid question, but what is the H2O2 being used to do? Get rid of cyano?

Some say it can be used for cyano that's why I put up this thread. This was regarding a specific type of cyano that resembles Dino. I'll start dosing today. Post my results here.

 

[KCSUMPS]

What was the result of our dosing 4 years ago?

 

[kendavjac]

I have used H2O2 successfully for algae. I have used it 2 different ways.

Most effective way: If you can remove the rock, then take it out and put in a large bowl. Spary it down with H2O2 and let it sit a couple of minutes. Quick rinse with Saltwater and put back in the tank. I did a rock a day with no ill effects to my tank. Didn't bother my candy canes, birds nest, or zoas that got hit with the H2O2. To be honest, they were more ticked off before the dip because of the algae.

Second way is to target dose in the tank. Turn off your pumps. Fill a syringe with H2O2 and squirt a little of H2O2 on a clump/clumps of Algae. I usually used 10-15mL per gallon. I kept my pumps off for 10 minutes. Repeat daily until algae is gone. I didn't see any ill effects on my tank.

With in a day, you will notice that the algae will start to turn white. My crabs loved it and went after it with a vengeance after I treated it.

 

[KCSUMPS]

Excellent. Thank you!