# H202 Water Treatment



## BarryH (14 Sep 2020)

Just watched one of the videos on Mark's Shrimp Tanks channel. In the video he talks about adding a percentage of H202 to the tank water and lists the advantages this can bring. Does anyone on here use H202 in this way at all?


A number of people asked How Often Mark used the H202 but for some reason he never got around to answering that particular question.  Again does anyone know how often it can be done, I've even read bits on the internet where H202 is added during water changes. As always, any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.


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## lilirose (14 Sep 2020)

I have Soching Oxydators in my shrimp tanks- they're a reactor filled with H2O2. I've got a lot of time for Mark and he uses them in all his tanks as well. As far as I know he doesn't currently recommend regular dosing with straight H2O2. He has said that he considers any video he released more than a year ago to be obsolete, shame that he leaves them up if he considers the info outdated.
'
Other than that I have used H2O2 as a spot treatment for algae. Discovered the hard way a couple of weeks ago that Micrantheum 'Monte Carlo' will die back when exposed.


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## dw1305 (14 Sep 2020)

Hi all,





lilirose said:


> I have Soching Oxydators in my shrimp tanks


We have a <"few threads about them">.

cheers Darrel


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## milla (14 Sep 2020)

lilirose said:


> I have Soching Oxydators in my shrimp tanks- they're a reactor filled with H2O2. I've got a lot of time for Mark and he uses them in all his tanks as well. As far as I know he doesn't currently recommend regular dosing with straight H2O2. He has said that he considers any video he released more than a year ago to be obsolete, shame that he leaves them up if he considers the info outdated.
> '
> Other than that I have used H2O2 as a spot treatment for algae. Discovered the hard way a couple of weeks ago that Micrantheum 'Monte Carlo' will die back when exposed.



Do it wrong and you will also kill fish & shrimp.  Be carefull learn from my mistake.


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## BarryH (14 Sep 2020)

Thanks for the help, really appreciated.

I initially thought of using one of the  Soching Oxydators but all the usual stockists seem to be struggling to get hold of them at the minute.


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## lilirose (15 Sep 2020)

milla said:


> Do it wrong and you will also kill fish & shrimp.  Be carefull learn from my mistake.



Yes, I actually managed to kill an Amano that way long ago, but the poor thing pretty much got a direct squirt.  

To be honest I've always been a bit skeptical of the comments on the videos which claim that dosing H2O2 straight into the water column won't change your water parameters at all- but I am a little slow in the area of chemistry.  That said. I've also seen him dose it into Crystal shrimp tanks and it doesn't seem to bother them.


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## Oldguy (15 Sep 2020)

BarryH said:


> Just watched one of the videos on Mark's Shrimp Tanks channel. In the video he talks about adding a percentage of H202 to the tank water and lists the advantages this can bring. Does anyone on here use H202 in this way at all?



It is difficult to comment without knowing the reason for the addition of H2O2. If it is for oxidation of metabolic wastes then an alternative approach could be with UV.

See Wilki:-  '*Advanced oxidation processes* (*AOPs*), in a broad sense, are a set of chemical treatment procedures designed to remove organic (and sometimes inorganic) materials in water and wastewater by oxidation through reactions with hydroxyl radicals (·OH).[1] In real-world applications of wastewater treatment, however, this term usually refers more specifically to a subset of such chemical processes that employ ozone (O3), hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and/or UV light.[2] One such type of process is called in situ chemical oxidation.'

With UV you cannot over dose. Ozone is of great use in marine system but s difficult to balance for freshwater tanks.

I have only used H2O2 for spot treatments of algae.

Hope this is of some help.


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## jaypeecee (15 Sep 2020)

Hi @Oldguy


Oldguy said:


> If it is for oxidation of metabolic wastes then an alternative approach could be with UV.



Do you have any first-hand experience of using UV for this purpose? I'd be very interested to learn more from you. I have dabbled with this but UV-C seemed not to do much to dissolved organic matter (DOM). I monitored the tank water ORP but I could run another experiment.

Please enlighten me!

JPC


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## Dr Mike Oxgreen (15 Sep 2020)

I have been dosing my tank daily with 3% H₂O₂ for the last few weeks, because I suspected some of my blue velvet shrimps were showing signs of chitinolytic shell disease. In fact I had one female whose carapace went almost entirely brown, but she is now looking miles better (and has been carrying eggs in the last four or five days). Her carapace is looking less brown and more blue every day, and the other adults with mild indications are now looking 100% normal.

I dose about 1.5ml per gallon, so around 7.5ml in my 25 litre tank.

As it happens I also installed a UV steriliser about two weeks ago. I was given an Eheim Reeflex 500; it‘s much more powerful than my tank needs, and the gentle water flow from my Eheim Classic 150 must give really good exposure time through it. I have _definitely_ noticed an improvement in water clarity, not that it was bad before but now it is stunningly clear. I have it on a timer so that it switches off for twelve hours on micro-nutrient days. I don’t notice any visible precipitation of chelated nutrients.


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## ian_m (15 Sep 2020)

I got a tour round the water purification plant for a zoo's penguin pond once. They claimed they used no chemicals in notice board outside the filtration plant until I pointed out that bags of calcium chloride and flasks of hydrogen peroxide are in fact chemicals.

Calcium chloride was mixed with the filter sludge to liquefy for disposal (I think) and hydrogen peroxide was automatically dosed to the pond water to oxidise organics.


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## Oldguy (15 Sep 2020)

jaypeecee said:


> Please enlighten me!



I do not think that  I can enlighten anyone. From personal experience water clarity is greatly improved with UVC  see @Dr Mike Oxgreen above.

 I use rain water in my water change regime which is often discoloured due to tannin leachate and microscopic leaf and seed particles from the roof gutters. With UVC you can almost watch the water clarity improve. My conclusion is UV photo degradation. Colloidal fragments and dyes  (TOC) pass through the normal filters in aquarium use. TOC are subject to microbial consumption but this takes time.  

Irradiation on liquid water and ice by ultraviolet light in the range of 150–200 nm (UVC) can create volatile OH radicals which react with other organic and inorganic molecules actively. However, the mechanism for OH radical formation in the condensed-phase water in this energy range is still unclear. 

Never had the equipment to monitor ORP so I cannot comment.

The effectiveness of UVC will depend on flow rate, tank volume, turnover and power of the UV unit.

Hope this is of some help.


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## Dr Mike Oxgreen (15 Sep 2020)

ian_m said:


> They claimed they used no chemicals in notice board outside the filtration plant until I pointed out that bags of calcium chloride and flasks of hydrogen peroxide are in fact chemicals.


I‘m always amused by claims of “no chemicals”. What do you think water is? It’s a chemical! Oxygen? It’s a chemical! How about any of the proteins that make up your body? Chemicals!


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## Oldguy (15 Sep 2020)

Dr Mike Oxgreen said:


> “no chemicals”.


The Royal Society of Chemistry once offered a £1M reward to any one who came forward with a substance with 'no chemicals in it'. They were required to lay off the liability with insurance. I despair at the lack of scientific and technical education. What happened to the 1944 education act.

I am now weary of the claim ' no chemicals'. So what is it made from! Always a blank look. More chlorine in the gene pool or will I be shot. I can not pull any more hair out.  However always willing to learn. Onward and upward. 

I am now going to fire up the TARDIS and go for a short holiday in the 1940's. See you all after the war.


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