Dosing Hydrogen Peroxide

aninjaatemyshoe

New member
I remember reading on a forum somewhere about a guy that dosed his aquarium with hydrogen peroxide. If I remember correctly, he dosed it directly into his protein skimmer somehow. The reasoning was that it raised the ORP of the water, much like ozone does. Does anyone here do that? Do you think that this would be at least somewhat as effective as using an ozone generator?
 
Hey shoeless,

For what its worth, I had begun an informal study of peroxide and its potential benefits on aquarium water - I have access to 7% H2O2, and had done some work on ozone before, so I thought I'd see what it would do. I set up a series of qualitative tests, and to tell you the truth, I wasn't impressed. It did little or nothing in regards to reducing gelbstoff (yellow coloration) and it had too long of a residual activity for my tastes (ozone oxidants break down much faster). I couldn't get it to do anything for nitrate or phosphorus. It does have strong antibiotic activity, but that isn't always a good thing<grin>. It does raise ORP, but then so does chlorine BLEACH! In the presence of a catalyst, it will give off copious oxygen, but that is simply not a limiting factor for most marine aquariums. I even experimented with using catalase (an enzyme from cattle) to break down the peroxide - it worked but was very expensive. I believe that platinum also is a catalyst?
I didn't even bother trying any quantitative testing on it, since I could not see any benefit for its use in tanks. I do use it to bleach micron filter bags - as it is much easier to rinse away than is the aforementioned bleach.

Jay Hemdal

p.s. - I wrote about peroxide in my Advanced Marine Aquarium Techniques book, here is the excerpt:


Hydrogen peroxide: With the chemical formula H2O2 this compound has some unexplored uses in marine aquariums. Hydrogen peroxide is available over the counter in pharmacies as a 3.5% solution. At this level, it is not reactive enough for most potential uses. Available through some home water treatment services, a 7% concentration solution of hydrogen peroxide is stronger and has more uses. Do not use this product until you have read and fully understand the MSDS for it. Although stronger concentration of H2O2 are available, they are very reactive and their use entails too much risk. In addition, these products have had stabilizers added to them which may not be suitable for use in and around aquariums. Perhaps the most immediate use for hydrogen peroxide is as a disinfectant / oxidizer. Filter elements and other aquarium items that have been fouled with organic materials can be soaked for 24 hours in a 7% solution of hydrogen peroxide. It is much easier to rinse off than bleach is, and does not leave a toxic residue like some other disinfectants might. Knowing the propensity for this compound to give off an oxygen atom in oxidizing reactions, some people have experimented with using it to raise the ORP level of aquariums, or to temporarily enhance the dissolved oxygen level in water. Remember, like ozone, too much hydrogen peroxide can pose a threat to the animals themselves. Some researchers have shown that protozoans can be killed by doses of hydrogen peroxide ranging from 12.5 to 25ppm. Because this is in the range that some fish have shown sensitivity, more study is required.
Testing for this compound can be done using a standard DPD chlorine test, at least in terms of presence or absence.

Copyright 2006 TFH Publications
 
Jay,

What concentration H2O2 to you use to bleach your micron filter bags and for how long?

I've used H2O2 in aquaculture for years. We would typically use the 35% at 75ppm for prophylactic treatments.

Thanks!

Christine
 
There have been some experiments testing H2O2 for use treating marine velvet. Here is the relavent passage from this article,
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-07/sp/feature/index.php

"This is one of the newest ideas for treating Amyloodinium ocellatum and, in my mind, one of the most interesting and promising as well. The first study used 20 juvenile Pacific Threadfin (Polydactylus sexfilis) suffering with an infection of Amyloodinium ocellatum. They were randomly divided into four open water tanks. One tank was the control and received no treatment. The control fish were examined and found to have a mean of 16.6 ± 16.2 trophonts per gill biopsy. The fish that were to be treated with varying levels of hydrogen peroxide were also examined and found to harbor a mean of 35.6 ± 38.7 trophonts per gill biopsy. Water flow to the three treatment tanks was stopped and they were dosed with hydrogen peroxide at concentrations of 75, 150, and 300 ppm. The fish were exposed for thirty minutes and then the water flow was returned to rid the tanks of the hydrogen peroxide. Within one hour of treatment, all the fish exposed to 300 ppm hydrogen peroxide had perished, but the fish exposed to only 75 and 150 ppm tolerated the treatment without any deaths. The surviving fish were examined immediately after treatment and found to harbor no more parasites. They were re-examined the following day. The treated fish were still infection free while the untreated fish were found to have an increase in the trophonts counted.

Another test was set up at the facility where the sick fish were obtained. Scientists used a grow out tank that contained fish infected at a rate of 16.3 ± 13.0 trophonts per gill biopsy. These fish were exposed to 75 ppm hydrogen peroxide for thirty minutes. One day after exposure, the trophonts' count dropped to 4.7 ± 0.6. After six days, the count was down to 1.0 ± 1.0. At this point, the fish were retreated with 75 ppm hydrogen peroxide for another thirty minutes. The day after the second treatment, no trophonts could be found. Because the study's participants were unsure of the effect of hydrogen peroxide against tomonts, they transferred the fish to a clean tank at this time.

Some of these same people then prepared an experiment on Mullet (Mugil cephalus) fry. They first studied hydrogen peroxide's effect on healthy fish. Three groups of ten healthy fish were exposed to 75, 50, and 25 ppm hydrogen peroxide for thirty minutes. After 24 hours, the survival rates were 20, 50, and 70% respectively. They then decided to test 25 ppm hydrogen peroxide on a large larvae-rearing tank. This tank held 3000 liters of water and approximately three fish per liter. The facility had been experiencing 200-1000 deaths per day from Amyloodinium ocellatum for one week prior to the test in this vessel, while the standard daily mortality should have been 0.002%. The fish were treated for 30 minutes with 25 ppm hydrogen peroxide. Within three days of the exposure, mortality dropped to less than 10 per day.

Now before you all go running off to the medicine cabinet, please remember that this treatment is experimental at best. It can easily be overdosed and cause mass mortalities. I would wait until further research has been performed to test the tolerance of various marine ornamentals to hydrogen peroxide exposure. Just to be clear, I am not currently recommending the use of hydrogen peroxide. If you choose to experiment and use it, you could very well be risking the lives of every inhabitant in your aquarium. I mention it only because it is promising, and as something to keep an eye out for in the future, after additional testing has been done. If you wipe out your aquarium with this treatment, don't come crying to me later."
 
Hey Jay,

I figured that the drug store solutions might be a little weak for this application. Earlier on I had tried using it a little to see if it would affect my skimmate at all... no difference. The test was hardly scientific though and I did not go much further because I was afraid of the damage it could have done to my fish.

Its funny that you replied to my message. I have been considering buying your book. I saw it at a LFS, but they charged $70 for it when you can buy it on amazon for half that. I am definately buying your book now that I know it deals with these kinds of topics.

Cheers
 
Steven,

One problem with those studies is that they were flow through, and from what I can tell, hydrogen peroxide will wipe out the nitrifiers in a static tank.

Jay
 
Christine,

We use 7% H2O2 for 24 hours to bleach out the filter socks. The product that I've been using has come from Culligan, and is made for potable water treatment systems. I used to use a bulk 7% product, but gave it up when I could not get an MSDS for it, and had heard that some products were using metals (tin?) as stabilizers. That is the same thing that I heard about the 35% active product - they use organic and mettalic stabilizers in it. Also - at 35% you start to get into the realm of dangerous reactivity.


Jay
 
Jay, have you thought about using sodium percarbonate? As I understand, it is a relatively safe, granular product that when added to water produces hydrogen peroxide.
 
Steven,

No, I hadn't heard about that. I guess long term, I'd be afraid of disrupting the ionic balance in the system. Isn't that the stuff in "Oxy-Clean"?

Can you see it now - a new infomercial:

"Step right up folks, see the brightest new chemical for aquarium use on the market....only $19.95, but wait, theres more!"


Jay
 
I've used it for years to clean plastic/nylon plants, filter socks etc. Never had any problems, just rinse and your good (unlike bleach). Raising ORP with it.....

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8490951#post8490951 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Steven Pro
Jay, have you thought about using sodium percarbonate? As I understand, it is a relatively safe, granular product that when added to water produces hydrogen peroxide.
 
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