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Etidronic acid in hydrogen peroxide

bjkalley

bjkalley

New Member
Joined
29 Jan 2017
Messages
3
Location
France
Hi,

I have a mild cyanobacteria problem on the side glass, under the substrate. It can't reach over substrate because of Ramshorn snails. I want to inject h2o2 and cover side glass to limit the incoming light. My question is, in the hydrogen peroxide I have, there is also etidronic acid. I read it is also an oxidizer like h2o2. Can I use it?

Kind regards,
 
Hi @bjkalley
You are best trying to treat the cause first.

Cyanobacteria are often caused by very low nitrates.
It is fairly common to have it growing in the substrate against the front glass from where it can spread.
Sometimes it appears with new setups that have had light and ammonia present at some point.
Dirty substrates and filters may also bring it on.
Poor water circulation is another possible cause.
Cheers
hoggie
 
I have had some cyano under the substrate next to the glass in my oldest tank for years and it's never appeared in other places. On two occasions I've had it in a HOB longterm, but not in the tank. One of them just had cyano in the HOB forever, and in the other it mysteriously disappeared when I wasn't paying attention. My point is that it can inhabit little niches in the tank and not go anywhere else, as long as the rest of the tank is unfavorable to it. I like hydrogen peroxide as a temporary measure against it, but it'll be relentless without a system correction. When it is unhappy it disappears quickly though.
 
Thanks for your valuable advice.

A bit of history of the tank then. It is 5 months old.
Size, 100x50x50. have 2 eheim classic led (2x13W) that comes with eheim aquarium. 1 JBL LED Solar 44W, twinstar 100G+ 55W. They are all waterproof lights since I need to keep them under the lid.
pH controller with disposable co2 tube, R/O water, weekly 20% water change.
NPK were very low, nitrate was 1-5 mg/L, potassium < 2, phosphate was below detectable level, kH was 0-1. CO2 was around 20 mg/L.
I observed holes in plant leaves, especially at ludwigia super red.
I increased fertilizer doze, I use Tropica specialized nutrition. Since I have Ammania gold I did not want to increase potassium a lot that's also why I chose this fertilizer.
I also added some seachem equilibrium for having some calcium since I have nerite snails. Now gH is 4 but potassium increased a lot (compared to N and P) with Seachem eq., it is around 15 - 20 mg/L
Now, nitrate is 5-10 mg/L phosphate 0.5 mg/L. CO2 is 30 mg/L (I use drop checker)
Last month I bought microbe lift plants N to increase nitrate without increasing potassium further. I used it once, then I checked and saw it has sodium nitrate. How can they sell it, I don't understand. At least they could have used calcium nitrate.

About cyano, that right side of the aquarium was exposed to direct sunlight for 2 hours a day, I think that's why there is cyano here. I closed that side with a black background material. This side is the only part where substarte is also a bit deep (6 cm), I can see trapped gas bubbles in the substarte, hopefully covering it will solve the problem. I did not inject the hydrogen peroxide, I siphoned it as you suggested. Let's see when it will reappear. I think best way is to destroy it with other kind of organisms like bacteria or yeast, but I do not knwo what can compete with it or eat it orher than Ramshorn snail.

Kind regards,
 
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