Dose Peroxide affect pH?

[Rybren]

I started following Twillard's peroxide dosing protocol in an attempt to rid my tank of cyano. His protocol calls for 1ml peroxide to 10G of system volume, dosed twice a day. I've been dosing 10ml morning and night for about 6 days now.

Prior to starting the dosing, my pH ranged from a low of ~ 8.05 to a high of ~8.15. Since I started dosing the peroxide, that range has been lowering on a daily basis. Now the range is between 7.95-ish and 8 to 8.5

Could this drop be caused by the peroxide or is it merely coincidence?

Thanks

 

[Rybren]

Oops. Can't edit the the title. Does is what I meant to say.

 

[Marquiseo]

If I remember correctly the pH of H2O2 at for 3% concentration is in the slightly above 5 pH which makes its acidic. Also, the lower the pH the more stable the H2O2 is which means the more you go up in the concentration that lower the pH will be. That would affect your tank when you dose it but not so much to make a huge decline unless you dosed it directly next to your pH probe. On the other hand, once it breaks down and releases the byproduct, water and oxygen, it should up your pH a little bit.



Edit: I just remember, I did an experiment in a lab a long time ago while in college that tested around a value of 5 for the pH.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I started following Twillard's peroxide dosing protocol in an attempt to rid my tank of cyano. His protocol calls for 1ml peroxide to 10G of system volume, dosed twice a day. I've been dosing 10ml morning and night for about 6 days now.

Prior to starting the dosing, my pH ranged from a low of ~ 8.05 to a high of ~8.15. Since I started dosing the peroxide, that range has been lowering on a daily basis. Now the range is between 7.95-ish and 8 to 8.5

Could this drop be caused by the peroxide or is it merely coincidence?

Thanks

The peroxide itself won't impact pH. The degradation of dead organisms that it causes could lower pH a bit by producing CO2.

 

[Rybren]

Thanks Marquiseo and Randy.

Happy Reefing!