Why does h202 dosing make reef tank clear?

Miami Reef · Nov 7, 2021

Thank you for answering.

DCR · Nov 7, 2021

It is a powerful oxidizer that breaks down dissolved organic compounds that cause yellowing in the water.

Miami Reef · Nov 7, 2021

Thanks. I read a lot of people that said they had this results. But when I dosed it I had zero effect. I will admit that I run a lot of GAC, 1 micron filter socks, and protein skimming.

vetteguy53081 · Nov 7, 2021

Peroxide enriches water with oxygen in which the environment is split into oxygen and hydrogen causing the oxidation of organic matter formed from living cells or protozoa such as bacteria, algae, polyps.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Nov 8, 2021

Hydrogen peroxide does all sorts of known and unknown things to seawater.
When you talk about making it clear, do you mean less yellow or fewer suspended particulates?

sixty_reefer · Nov 8, 2021

The o2 should be doing a similar effect as ozone.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Nov 8, 2021

sixty_reefer said:
The o2 should be doing a similar effect as ozone.

Hydrogen peroxide has effects that are different than ozone. For example, it lowers ORP, possibly by reducing Cu++ to Cu+. Ozone does not do that.

sixty_reefer · Nov 8, 2021

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
Hydrogen peroxide has effects that are different than ozone. For example, it lowers ORP, possibly by reducing Cu++ to Cu+. Ozone does not do that.

I was referring to the o2 only I don’t have a doubt regarding the other effects.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Nov 8, 2021

sixty_reefer said:
I was referring to the o2 only I don’t have a doubt regarding the other effects.

OK, then I will disagree even more. lol I thought that was just your shorthand for hydrogen peroxide.

The small rise in O2 when using hydrogen peroxide is not likely to be what reduces organics in the water. Hydrogen peroxide is much more reactive than the small amount of O2 that forms from hydrogen peroxide breaking down to O2.

Mechanistic studies of hydrogen peroxide oxidation of organics do not typically involve formation of O2, with the O2 doing the oxidizing of the organic.

For example, this paper shows that hydrogen peroxide combines with bicarbonate to form peroxycarbonate, and it is that peroxycarbonate that proceeds to react with carbon-carbon double bonds (typical yellowing compounds in a reef tank).

https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/ja993935s

sixty_reefer · Nov 9, 2021

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
OK, then I will disagree even more. lol I thought that was just your shorthand for hydrogen peroxide.

The small rise in O2 when using hydrogen peroxide is not likely to be what reduces organics in the water. Hydrogen peroxide is much more reactive than the small amount of O2 that forms from hydrogen peroxide breaking down to O2.

Mechanistic studies of hydrogen peroxide oxidation of organics do not typically involve formation of O2, with the O2 doing the oxidizing of the organic.

For example, this paper shows that hydrogen peroxide combines with bicarbonate to form peroxycarbonate, and it is that peroxycarbonate that proceeds to react with carbon-carbon double bonds (typical yellowing compounds in a reef tank).

https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/ja993935s

I don’t have a doubt on the paper, i don’t think I can argue with you on chemistry. But is we’ll know that the söchting oxydator uses a catalyst to break the hydrogen peroxide into water and Oxygen in a controlled way. And many oxydator user do claim that that helps with more Cristal clear water. Could the same happen in is tank as many elements could work as a catalyst in a reef? Just not in a effective and controlled way as a oxydator?

Randy Holmes-Farley · Nov 11, 2021

sixty_reefer said:
I don’t have a doubt on the paper, i don’t think I can argue with you on chemistry. But is we’ll know that the söchting oxydator uses a catalyst to break the hydrogen peroxide into water and Oxygen in a controlled way. And many oxydator user do claim that that helps with more Cristal clear water. Could the same happen in is tank as many elements could work as a catalyst in a reef? Just not in a effective and controlled way as a oxydator?

It's a false premise to assume everything that happens from use of an oxydator happens because of released O2, even if (and that's a big if) no H2O2 leaves the internal compartments.

By simply analogy, if O2 can leave it, organics and trace metals can enter it, and known reactions between the H2O2 and the trace metals and organics can all take place inside it and still give all of the effects noted by users.