Peroxide dosing

WIReefer · Nov 3, 2019

So my tank is about 4 months old and my Dino’s and cyano is getting slightly worse everyday and am starting to grow hair algae on my rocks and sand. I recently turned my lights down another hour but I’ve been reading that people have been dosing with peroxide to eliminate this problem does that work? Or is the tank still new where I should leave it alone?

AllSignsPointToFish · Nov 3, 2019

Alex Pete said:
So my tank is about 4 months old and my Dino’s and cyano is getting slightly worse everyday and am starting to grow hair algae on my rocks and sand. I recently turned my lights down another hour but I’ve been reading that people have been dosing with peroxide to eliminate this problem does that work? Or is the tank still new where I should leave it alone?

The tank is still new. I've used peroxide to treat the cyano, but the dinoflagellates are not affected by it as far as I know.

Are the brown growths snotty/bubbly or are they on the sand and powder when hit with a turkey baster or powerhead? The reason I ask is that the brown could be diatoms or dinoflagellates, but the treatments are different.

What are your nitrate and phosphate levels?

WIReefer · Nov 3, 2019

AllSignsPointToFish said:
The tank is still new. I've used peroxide to treat the cyano, but the dinoflagellates are not affected by it as far as I know.

Are the brown growths snotty/bubbly or are they on the sand and powder when hit with a turkey baster or powerhead? The reason I ask is that the brown could be diatoms or dinoflagellates, but the treatments are different.

What are your nitrate and phosphate levels?

They are not powder when hit with a turkey baster more stringy and like gooey substance that is on the sand but the rocks have like a brown hairs on them short hairs.

AllSignsPointToFish · Nov 3, 2019

Sounds like dinoflagellates. If you can get your nutrients down and possibly do a blackout, maybe you can get rid of them. Are they in a area of high flow?

WIReefer · Nov 3, 2019

AllSignsPointToFish said:
Sounds like dinoflagellates. If you can get your nutrients down and possibly do a blackout, maybe you can get rid of them. Are they in a area of high flow?

The low flow areas are the worst but the rock I have on top of my scape is also growing hair like algae as well I have two mp40 on my tank and it’s a 55 gallon if I turn them all the way up it will blast water out of tank. Lol. I I think I have plenty of flow.

AllSignsPointToFish · Nov 3, 2019

What are the nitrate and phosphate levels?

WIReefer · Nov 3, 2019

AllSignsPointToFish said:
What are the nitrate and phosphate levels?

My nitrates are around 1.5-2 and I don’t have a phosphate checker yet I need to get one

AllSignsPointToFish · Nov 3, 2019

I was fighting the cyano with peroxide. I finally broke down and used Chemiclean. That wiped out the cyano, and I haven't really had any problems with it since....that was about a year ago.

Diatoms usually come from silicates. GFO will remove both phosphates and silicates, so maybe you could try that to clean up the water and starve out the dinoflagellates.

There's a really long R2R thread on dosing bleach to kill dinoflagellates. I don't know if I'd go that far...that seems pretty extreme.

You could also just give it some time and patience and see if the issue resolves itself with good husbandry.

WIReefer · Nov 3, 2019

AllSignsPointToFish said:
I was fighting the cyano with peroxide. I finally broke down and used Chemiclean. That wiped out the cyano, and I haven't really had any problems with it since....that was about a year ago.

Diatoms usually come from silicates. GFO will remove both phosphates and silicates, so maybe you could try that to clean up the water and starve out the dinoflagellates.

There's a really long R2R thread on dosing bleach to kill dinoflagellates. I don't know if I'd go that far...that seems pretty extreme.

You could also just give it some time and patience and see if the issue resolves itself with good husbandry.

Okay I might try and wait it out and go from there there are you talking about the chemi clean in like the red tube?

WIReefer · Nov 3, 2019

I meant like the powder?

actik · Nov 3, 2019

im still pretty new myself but i dose 3% peroxide, only 1ml per 10 gallons it slowly breaks down my green hair algae

i wouldnt know about any other issues sorry. But fish and my softy corals are fine. Also snails/cleaner shrimp.

AllSignsPointToFish · Nov 3, 2019

Alex Pete said:
I meant like the powder?

The one I used was in the blue box:

AllSignsPointToFish · Nov 3, 2019

actik said:
im still pretty new myself but i dose 3% peroxide, only 1ml per 10 gallons it slowly breaks down my green hair algae i wouldnt know about any other issues sorry. But fish and my softy corals are fine. Also snails/cleaner shrimp.

Man, my zoas did NOT like the peroxide.