How safe is Hydrogen Peroxide

[RavenSF]

Isn's it always the way, my tank was going along wonderfully and then out of nowhere a pest. In my case it's a horrible bout of bryopsis. I haven't a clue where it came from and spread like wildfire before I could attack it. I've raised the mag using Kent Tech-M and the stuff has withered a lot and doesn't grow back very fast after pulling it out but it's still there.

Im starting to see negative effects in my corals and snails, so I'd like to end the high mag ASAP. I was thinking that I'd take out each infected rock and rinse or soak it briefly in Hydrogen Peroxide, then return it to the tank. I tried this on one small rock and it cleared it of bryopsis.

I'm worried that hydrogen peroxide left on the rocks will harm my tank when I put them back. Is this a safe plan? Will rinsing the rock after the dip in RO/DI water be enough to prevent harm? I'd be dipping about 1/2 - 2/3 of my rock and may only dip a portion of a rock if the bryopsis is only in one area.

Mods: I put this in the chemistry section since I'm mostly concerned with the effects of hydrogen peroxide, but feel free to move it to the pest section if it's more suited to that forum.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I think if you rinse the rock after treatment, the transfer effects of residual hydrogen peroxide will be minimal.

 

[RavenSF]

Thanks

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

You're welcome.

Happy Reefing.

 

[TankRazr]

You can dilute your Hydrogen Peroxide with tank water, left over from a water change for example. 1: 1 or even less and it will still be effective. Then rinse the rocks in more undiluted left over wc water if that makes you feel more comfortable. Or just put them straight back in the tank. Or equally effective but less harmfull to the life forms on the rocks just make a small batch of diluted hydrogen peroxide and use a disposable paint brush and just baste it on in a shallow container to catch the runoff. It will kill off the bryopsis but could potentially spare some life forms tucked in the recessed parts of the rock.

TR

 

[Gooburz]

Another suggestion would be to starve the bryopsis of light and do a total blackout for at least 3 days. I've done this before in the past and it did wonders. Don't worry about your corals, they will be fine for that period. Once you've completed the blackout period ease your tank back into your lighting cycle. For example I run mine for about 10 hours a day but they start out at 20% and go up to 90% then go back down throughout the day. After a blackout period I'd only run them for 6 hours the first few days and increase it by an hour each day after that until they were back on their normal schedule.

 

[Russ265]

ive heard of bryopsis dying to 1500 mag.

 

[RavenSF]

With the elevated levels of mag in my tank now, everything is stressed and I don't want to do a black out. I'm going to try to kill the bryopsis instantly with the peroxide while maintaining high mag for a little while longer to keep it from returning.

 

[Russ265]

With the elevated levels of mag in my tank now, everything is stressed and I don't want to do a black out. I'm going to try to kill the bryopsis instantly with the peroxide while maintaining high mag for a little while longer to keep it from returning.

can you note the "stress"? i havent heard of this before, but your experience may speak volumes

thanks

 

[RavenSF]

My Acans are shrunken and I'm getting some bleaching in my SPS. Not to mention all my snails keep falling down.

 

[nova65ss]

Tech M put a hurting on all of my corals too didn't touch the bryopsis. I lost a bunch of corals trying that method.

 

[nova65ss]

Haven't tried it but people actually dose peroxide so I cant see the residual from dipping the rock having much affect on your tank?

 

[Russ265]

Tech M put a hurting on all of my corals too didn't touch the bryopsis. I lost a bunch of corals trying that method.

good to know. thank you for sharing that.

 

[jonbar1]

I just spray the algae with peroxide and let the rock sit outside the tank for a few minutes. Definitely rinse the rock off with non-peroxide water before putting it in the tank. If you have cleaner shrimp, they will not tolerate any peroxide left on the rocks and die quickly after the rock is put back into the tank.

 

[RavenSF]

Yikes I wish I'd read that earlier. I dipped my rock and rinsed in RO/DI., then did a large water change. I also changed my carbon and GFO. Hopefully my shrimp pull though, one seemed stressed. My wrasses seemed entertained watching the rocks move around.

 

[reefndude]

I've dosed peroxide directly many times.

 

[d_adler]

I've dosed peroxide directly as well when I had a horrible hair algae out break. If done correctly it won't have any noticeable effects on your corals or fish. Would only recommend as a last resort

 

[edosan]

Hello, I use HP for dip and algae removal sometimes. Works great, it kill almost all pest (including flatworms, they die and if you toch them the get desintegrated, brown ones at least) and almost all invertebrates (bristle worms bye bye, they float). I use 10 volume HP in a 10% dose (app.).
With some corals with soft tissue (Euphylias and Hairy Mushrooms so far in my experience) HP acts very strong and bubbles get into the tissue...It looks very strange, but after a cuple of days they are back to normal with no signs of stress. I have tryied with almost all corals.
(that is my experience with HP)

 

[RavenSF]

Wanted to give an update. One cleaner shrimp died overnight, the other one, along with my peppermint shrimp seem fine. Fish are fine. The SPS that got peroxide on it while dipping look bad, but there no recession of tissue. The algae looks thoroughly dead though.

 

[Gooburz]

Yes the Peroxide will work and I've dosed as well directly to the tank but I strongly recommend doing the black out period, it's not going to hurt your corals. The peroxide will only scratch the surface of the problem you are having. You need the blackout period to starve it completely out.