Reef2Reef Pest algae challenge thread hydrogen peroxide

[djbetterly]

So here is an update, and things are looking really good!! The first few pics are the concentrator I made. It worked really well! The others are what left and some of what is gone. I would say 80% of the algae is gone. In all honesty there is only one part that I'm worried about. There is a piece on the edge of my green monti. I wasn't sure if I could spray that directly or if I should just clip off the edge of the monti. In terms of coral death due to GHA, the monti's are the only things that suffered. Very very pleased!

 

[brandon429]

Such great detail documentation I w link that excellent concentrator mod back to friends at large nano-reef.com peroxide thread

I would treat the edges, montis aren't notoriously sensitive. That spot of algae w die off and they can try to regrow. Without a little cheat or the happenstance of a passing parrotfish, in the wild that algae would hold typically in that spot until something made it leave. This process we see unfolding here is the catch up, so that nobody has to over strip to get algae to leave. Your corals are healthy and doing well so robbing their feed balance was never my first go, within just a little while the algae w die back massively, independently of nutrients.

Then, any changes to nutrients w be preventative, not the remover, and that's safe cheat for low level algae dealings.

 

[Coralz]

I have a 210 gallon with 40 gallon sump that's been plagued by algae. GHA and cyano mostly. I have a phosphate reactor that I got and a nitrate reactor that I got. After a week of the phosphate reactor my corals all bleached. After 5-6 weeks of the nitrate reactor my algae exploded again.

I'm looking to try this method on my whole tank. Can someone give dosing instructions. I'll post pictured in a while.

 

[Coralz]

The tank has about 175lbs of live rock and the sump is at about 20 gallons. Here is a picture from last week. Since then cyano has grown on top of the GHA.

 

[brandon429]

Alexei thanks for posting that too above is quite workable and the pics reveal some good details


Initially I'm looking and the sandbed and corners of the tank where sand and glass meet, they are clean. That tells me, adding a bit extra detritus retention in the rear due to the rock stack, what most of your sandbed sink looks like and it's good. Whatever detritus regimen you have works so far...no accumulations and clearly the tank is kept clean. Recent posts in other threads show pictures I could not remark the same, so far no enduring nutrient pockets are in your tank.

external treatments will be impactful

 

[Coralz]

Thank you for the response. What % peroxide do I want to use for the treatment externally and internally?

 

[brandon429]

3% from a pharmacy or grocery store is right, a brand new bottle so that it's undegraded full strength.

another key detail in my opinion is to check other tanks work before subjecting our own risks, at least 5-7 pages from each of the example threads linked on page 1 should be read to look for comparable tanks before beginning just to pick up all possible details before your in tank run. Even if external isn't the sole mode you use, that initial test run external vs the compared kill time for the internal test spot factor together to tell us what to expect from the in-tank dose. I've found that a simple test between the external vs internal treatment type is specifically the best way to gauge grow back as well before jumping into the whole tank, first go.

 

[Coralz]

I ran the external test on one rock. I don't have a way to target an area underwater for the underwater test but here's a picture of the rock immediately after peroxide and being placed back in the tank. It has turned a lighter shade of green already.

 

[brandon429]

Hey how is it looking now

So far the indications are that its receptive

We can do an underwater test too before taking off on whole tank how are the test areas looking now?

 

[Coralz]

Well. It's looking exactly the same as in the picture I posted above. Maybe there has been a small decrease in the lengths of hair that look a bit grey in the picture but at first it's not noticeable. Perhaps the peroxide wasn't strong enough. I used a bottle we keep to clean cuts and it had been opened previously but it was strong enough to kill a few things hiding in the algae. Not sure if I should try a stronger dose. I did get rid of all of the cyano with chemiclean though. The first time I used it really didn't do anything but this time it wiped it all out.

 

[brandon429]

Hard to say if it degraded enough to not be useful, but this is why a spot test is the right approach. If a brand new unopened bottle treated externally doesn't bleach the algae white in about 3 days then nothing else treated underwater would respond, so no harm done and a new method could be utilized (myriad po4 removal approaches or plant filter systems)

An underwater spot treat can be allowed to attempt a regrow before the full effort is done in tank, our method is handy because it's not a large initial commitment or $ to get an idea of outcome.

The earliest peroxide threads were a mix of so many variables we couldn't get a repeatable takeaway, so to control variables the only way to be certain is to start with an unopened bottle. If you have a green colored low level algae growth that can remain green after an external spot treat three days later, it's the first one we've seen in a while. Amoos tank we worked on via pm had an unresponsive strain, rare but they do occur.
It's the grow back that ranges and determines who likes the treatment and who doesn't, but green targets tend to bleach out fast at least initially unless something is amiss



still trying to figure out why I've had no regrowth in 4 yrs of GHA...I think my initial high percentage burns (I use only 35% reagent grade, high chemical burn risk) simply killed it so thorough it's DNA isn't present in my tank, plus I had one single spot (early action upon detection before holdfast system sets in)

When I get lazy w feeding and water changes, greenish and reddish cyano certainly do form but not any GHA and that's fascinating, it has been bested.

 

[Coralz]

I'll dose with a brand new bottle tomorrow doing the external test and let you know the results.

 

[Coralz]

I just went downstairs to check on it and the algae has started turning white now that it's been three days. I'd rather not redose it and let it continue to die off slowly even if it takes a day or two longer with the reduced strength peroxide I have. So far this is looking good. I have a replacement tank coming as mine has a clam shell crack in it and I will have to remove all of the rocks and fish to the other tank. During this time I will dose all rocks with new bottles of peroxide and post pictures.

 

[brandon429]

excellent, so glad its creeping along

these minor invasions are usually mos in the making, so a few weeks to fix up isn't bad return at all, thanks tons for your input! surprise us w after pics if you can, good detailing so far
gracias
B

 

[mvm]

I've got a 100 gallon that I plan to spot treat what I believe is bryopsis. Unfortunately, my rock is 2 huge structures so moving is not an option. I plan to drain half of the water and treat the areas that are exposed. I have a brand new bottle of 3%. I do have cleaner shrimp, but no fish currently in the tank. Pics to follow.

 

[mvm]

I have already tested on a small frag plug and after 4 days the algae was completely gone.

 

[mvm]

 

[mvm]

 

[brandon429]

thank you for posting
those zonathids are perfect health, compact and tight connections this should clean out the interstitial areas between the polyps nicely. we think zoanthids are the toughest peroxide resistant soft corals out there, forgiving of pretty much any treatment method

some are closed for a day then open back up. typically if a bryopsis strain is really set in, the holdfasts will burrow into rock substrates and create a growback source, the higher percentage mixes directly lessen growback from this event if applicable. The porosity of the substrate is directly related to growback potential imo (algae stuck on top of zoanthid flesh low to no growback after clearing, live rock is higher potential growback)

 

[brandon429]

http://reefbuilders.com/2015/11/09/seychelles-scientists-natures-cleanup-crew/


When reading this, I'm thinking:

How would water from this location test on our API nitrate and po4 kits?

why are they having to clean algae off anything, isn't this water better than our tanks water?

This gem is a little hidden facet of proof as to why algae grows in perfect condition tanks. hence the need for cleaning. I don't think we have to use peroxide on everything lol just that once cleaning is required, independent of tank nutrients, a whole new ballpark of options opens up and formerly that was -never- the case, if you had algae, you had nutrients eluding you.

Many present nowadays with the opposite, decent nutrient control -before- the invasion and that leaves many people in awe as primary production slowly takes over. If we all had matched grazers, no one would need peroxide. Of course its prudent to keep ideal nutrients, but where my offers differ is to simply attain a target range, then you simply exclude algae independent of that, so you don't bleach out your corals via water starvation. If you find working grazers for the strains you've imported, this is the time they'll do real work

There are degrees of nutrient reduction that will kill/hinder algae, its ok to strive for a balance.

But for the tanks where there aren't really nutrient issues per tests, and the growths are low lying, my recommend is to simply be the cheat grazer and leave the major water chemistry as-is, a nice option to consider to be algae free vs risky nutrient detailing past the safe points.