Reef2Reef Pest algae challenge thread hydrogen peroxide

[brandon429]

we have a way for that, drain access.
still the pumps and drain off some water to re pour back in nbd

while in the air, do this operation: one section is rasped with a pocket knife blade such that the algae is removed by force in that section alone, representing the worst case scenario handling required to kill it elsewhere. apply peroxide on the spot and dab clean with a paper towel after light abrasion, to remove all algae in that test spot. 2nd spot is pour peroxide only lightly across the target, enough that unremoved patches of algae soak it up for a sec. this represents the lightest possible application scenario.

refill

we want those two spots for regrowth characters, before you do the big job on the rocks and clean out your whole sandbed to rid clouding waste if any. we'd only do that big job after knowing what works, and this is safer for corals than sustained parameter attacks to try and harm algae.

most peroxide threads show that 1 mil per 10 gallons of tank water is safe, we aren't dosing into the water but that's a known threshold to consider. When the water is drained down, you're putting way less on two test spots...still, the sensitive creatures to this treatment are lysmata cleaner shrimp and hermodice fireworms, all else wouldn't mind the trace runoff

 

[stefanm]

Ok, since I treated the rocks 3 months ago for hair algae I've now had turf algae on many of the rocks, also the rocks I didn't treat I still had the hair algae growing well, a little had spread to other rocks.

So today I removed all of the rocks and treated again with peroxide, I did leave some out for over 45 minutes as I wanted to treat every rock, I also have a slight outbreak of grape calupera which hitch hiked on a coral, hoping that the peroxide will help with that too.

The process took around two hours and lots off seawater spilt, as the tank is on a balcony wasn't too much of a problem to clean up.

Fingers crossed I'll get good die off of algae, now I've finally got some good coralline growth on the glass hopefully the rocks will establish some coralline growth to prevent/reduce future outbreaks, in a couple of days I'll scrape some coralline off hopefully should seed the rocks.

 

[brandon429]

Did you do the rasping test and portions for the rocks it’s literally as important as the peroxide step

Also, what about the completeness portion where all clouding is removed, none from the sandbed and not one single rock can be swished or shaken in tank and produce a cloud, two steps that come before the peroxide portion for the whole tank...this helps us see the big picture regarding regrowth also can you post a white light only full tank shot showing the sandbed cross section (meaning just a standing back shot of the system, we w be able to see sandbed pigment details if any from the little front cross section part of the pic)

We’re interested in the full picture full tank details along with the regrowth characters that way we can see how the feed (detritus clouding in rocks or in sand) may be contributing

Doing all those steps won’t guarantee a one treatment kill agreed, they just help hedge rework details the best we can get.

 

[hotashes]

@brandon429 just a picture of my reef today as I did a 100% full break down, rasping, 5 minutes of 3% peroxide out of the tank, swooshed and basted in bucketed tank water, replaced in tank and new scape

Oh I added the pods back which I found in waste water from rocks after workings, glad they survived the blast, yet again.

I had got a little disgruntled with vermetid worms which began to look a little shabby, so this was initially why I broke the tank down and whilst I ejected them I also dosed my rocks to rid of any algae growth

Below is picture of rocks sitting 5 minutes with peroxide soaking, also bucket left is from rock scrape prior to peroxide

Below is amphipod post treatment

FTS

Side shot

Duncan showing good response from overhaul

For previous tank workings have a look at my thread

Many ways to skin a reef, this is mine. (54 Litre/14 Gallon)
https://r.tapatalk.com/shareLink?sh...ne.-(54-Litre-14-Gallon).376872/&share_type=t

A.

 

[brandon429]

Score! Thanks tons you know that's what we enjoy seeing, this one team is repeat access work. Hotash's tank and reef is arranged in such a way as to allow repeated access into the system without causing a recycle

The frequency and depth of required work varies tank to tank, we run it when we see fit because rip cleaning isn't harmful it's regenerative, pore-un clogging, redox fixing, full water change fringe reef action plus targeted grazing. There's a reset button for reef tanks that is the key to indefinite life span, regardless of luck


If this was 1998 we'd have watched the first iteration of your reef go straight green. we had the same tools then, but were never told to use them and in fact told not to, fear of systemic upset ruled the day. The decade.

my own bowl, red gelidium algae would've taken it over

Who cares how often or how deep someone cleans, at least we have a way now to arrest takeover and keep an investment online by simply choosing to act with reliable steps. Twenty years ago the only option was to accept the invaded condition or start over, a few times with all new $ gear

After a deep clean we are free to implement any number of preventive measures including precise nutrient tuning-at least the substrate is ready to not contribute to nutrient issues

Thank you for showing when it's time to act, we just pull up the boot straps and go

 

[brandon429]

At no time did we dump peroxide into the tank full of water that's so 2007

 

[brandon429]

Guess how much trouble we have wrestling tanks into shape here


Not much

What cha got as of June

 

[brandon429]

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/what-is-smothering-my-liverock.618852/page-2#post-6238604


Very thorough target kill, after pics and calculated water dose. No takedown required

 

[Llorgon]

Hey Brandon,

Adding my tank to the mix. I'm new to reefing, tank has been up for under a year. The gha is a result of battling dinos. I had a bad case of dinos and to beat them I outcompeted them by growing other algae. Now I'm left with this.

I have taken rocks out and scrubbed them with a stiff brush, it worked a bit. I have been pulling out gha every night and scrubbing the rocks when doing a water change. Recently tried using boiling ro/di water to kill the algae. Which works, but with the amount I have will take forever.

I also tried various snails, urchin, tang and sea hare, but none of them will touch it.

I know the reason for the algae is the high phosphates which I am slowly lowering using rowaphos.

 

[brandon429]

hey sorry for late reply, thanks tons for offering some pre work pics I am confident any incremental testing using our little cheat will make that growback tame, as your greater system looks rather clean and well-kept

could we get a little time lapse comparison of two simple test rocks, lifted out, one is rasped using the knife trick from page one, dental-detail work like a plaque- arresting dentist...debride the surface free of algae first then dump 3% peroxide from a new bottle across that clean surface. no wire brush, but the tip of a steak knife used and angled to scrape/debride/dislodge and unanchor, then rinse away with saltwater. this rock takes time unfortunately, but models the harshest kill that will work, and will not cause any type of recycle.

That peroxide step when the rocks were barely getting invaded would've headed off the whole buildup, but we can work retro pretty fast our testing will show, and you wont have to repeat as much

the other test rock is less worked; its the representation of just lifting out a rock, pour the 3% across it avoiding any nontargets creatively, drench the target, let it all sit for 3 mins outside the tank baking chemically lol then rinse that test rock in saltwater lightly, don't dislodge the algae at all, and set it back.

in a few days we compare results they'll both probably look the same/that tufty one will be ghost white I bet or getting there. you can even get really creative in modeling the kill; put yet another test rock in a 5 gallon bucket, hit it daily with one mil of peroxide and see how fast a water dose kills it.

from these methods, we increment prove what works for your tank before we experiment with the whole tank. this is the #1 thing we do differently in this work thread vs other aquarium work threads, we pre model the proof before work.

like ReefMiser's tank at nano-reef.com, here are matching before n afters:

 

[brandon429]

You know whats interesting about peroxide

it was literally hated at the start. I'm banned in two places solely due to peroxide work... and defense of course but nonetheless its a permanent reefing tool now and any author that doesn't mention it in a repertoire list is leaving out something critically helpful to many, but not all. Its a tool, and can be replaced with something else along the way.

But the battles we face now are the same ones we faced in 2011

given all this time

why has the hobby not self-corrected

what are they all doing to perpetuate the same results, over and over and over such that we have to topically kill an invader?

 

[Llorgon]

hey sorry for late reply, thanks tons for offering some pre work pics I am confident any incremental testing using our little cheat will make that growback tame, as your greater system looks rather clean and well-kept

could we get a little time lapse comparison of two simple test rocks, lifted out, one is rasped using the knife trick from page one, dental-detail work like a plaque- arresting dentist...debride the surface free of algae first then dump 3% peroxide from a new bottle across that clean surface. no wire brush, but the tip of a steak knife used and angled to scrape/debride/dislodge and unanchor, then rinse away with saltwater. this rock takes time unfortunately, but models the harshest kill that will work, and will not cause any type of recycle.

That peroxide step when the rocks were barely getting invaded would've headed off the whole buildup, but we can work retro pretty fast our testing will show, and you wont have to repeat as much

the other test rock is less worked; its the representation of just lifting out a rock, pour the 3% across it avoiding any nontargets creatively, drench the target, let it all sit for 3 mins outside the tank baking chemically lol then rinse that test rock in saltwater lightly, don't dislodge the algae at all, and set it back.

in a few days we compare results they'll both probably look the same/that tufty one will be ghost white I bet or getting there. you can even get really creative in modeling the kill; put yet another test rock in a 5 gallon bucket, hit it daily with one mil of peroxide and see how fast a water dose kills it.

from these methods, we increment prove what works for your tank before we experiment with the whole tank. this is the #1 thing we do differently in this work thread vs other aquarium work threads, we pre model the proof before work.

like ReefMiser's tank at nano-reef.com, here are matching before n afters:

Ok so 3 rocks.

1. Rasped with the knife
2. Dipped in peroxide and let stand outside the tank for 3 mins
3. Added to a tank of saltwater with 1ml peroxide per 10 gallons.

For the last one, how long should it stay in for? Just leave it in and add peroxide every day until all gha is gone?

I'm assuming you want all 3 of these test rocks started on the same day?

 

[brandon429]

any arrangement is ok but the main goal is we're modeling what peroxide does in varying degrees of work. start date np either way, they'll all die initially, we're charting what stays dead best

on the first one, it gets peroxide in the crevices you had scraped clean.

the algae was 99.9% gone visibly via steel, metal, and dental quality detailing of your $ live rock, to edge pick and debride that anchored invader right out.

peroxide in the clean spot represents the most thorough you could be

that scraping is only slightly better than brushing. it is more directed vs wide-swath, allows you to work around and in between corals and coralline zones, but without peroxide there are still microscopic leftover anchors that regrow. This is the cause of the problem, the biology of that plant in the way it anchors. this is why it would perpetually grow on any reef, if allowed, by lack of grazers. params don't affect it all that much, but direct kill sure is about to.

 

[Llorgon]

Ok. That makes sense. Last question before I start, does it have to be a fresh bottle of peroxide? A half used, 7-8 month old bottle won't work?

 

[HCl+NaHO=]

Ok. That makes sense. Last question before I start, does it have to be a fresh bottle of peroxide? A half used, 7-8 month old bottle won't work?

Peroxide is cheaper than bottled water

 

[brandon429]

It goes flat like coke that's why I like that little disclaimer new opened bottle


Lol in 2011 in reefcentral peroxide thread here somewhere we had people using flat peroxide and I couldn't figure out for pages why the algae wouldn't respond dangit


http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2082359&page=62

I'm not saying someone should go give that thread the worlds most awesome lifter bump, I'm saying that rascal is the teeth cutting of peroxide work in reef tanks discovering sensitives vs tolerants and many overdoses track the true nature of filtration bacteria impact (hard to impact, even in overdoses)

 

[hotashes]

You know whats interesting about peroxide

it was literally hated at the start. I'm banned in two places solely due to peroxide work... and defense of course but nonetheless its a permanent reefing tool now and any author that doesn't mention it in a repertoire list is leaving out something critically helpful to many, but not all. Its a tool, and can be replaced with something else along the way.

But the battles we face now are the same ones we faced in 2011

given all this time

why has the hobby not self-corrected

what are they all doing to perpetuate the same results, over and over and over such that we have to topically kill an invader?

Banned, really. May I ask from which sites?

Don’t give up b, people will see the light someday.

A.

 

[brandon429]

Reefcentral and trying to remember the other one where Reefin'Dude is the mod / thinking remembering

Board politics works out about as well as real life politic reviews lol

Agu Mod from reefcentral and the whole nanos forum are my friends, it was chemistry forum battles with me defending peroxide in my usual way (baiting detractors that they don't have any work threads with two seventy-page work threads lol) that got me the stage left escort. It was sheer social noncompliance on my part admitted. About a molecule. Admit that's funny
If I'd stayed in the nanos forum I could still be kicking that thread up

 

[brandon429]

Thereeftank

exact same progression of events...certain management styles handle anecdotal science better than others. Sometimes anecdotes lead to great science, I wish I could tell them. The occasional questions that reference peroxide use on both places, perpetually, make me smile like a little permanent reef tool the big wigs never wanted to accept but their people still being to work everyday.

 

[hotashes]

Reefcentral and trying to remember the other one where Reefin'Dude is the mod / thinking remembering

Board politics works out about as well as real life politic reviews lol

Agu Mod from reefcentral and the whole nanos forum are my friends, it was chemistry forum battles with me defending peroxide in my usual way (baiting detractors that they don't have any work threads with two seventy-page work threads lol) that got me the stage left escort. It was sheer social noncompliance on my part admitted. About a molecule. Admit that's funny
If I'd stayed in the nanos forum I could still be kicking that thread up

Thereeftank

exact same progression of events...certain management styles handle anecdotal science better than others. Sometimes anecdotes lead to great science, I wish I could tell them. The occasional questions that reference peroxide use on both places, perpetually, make me smile like a little permanent reef tool the big wigs never wanted to accept but their people still being to work everyday.

Do you know what, I will stand firm ground and vouch for you in the fact that you’ve never been anything but reasonable and in fact, true to your word in my books. It’s merely that when vloggers are building their platform they need ideas. I see that by blocking you, it enables them to act like it’s the next new discovery to their followers. Now I’m not implying this is the reason behind their actions, however just voicing a possible outcome on that. I guess it’s time to get involved b.

We will speak again,

A.