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Re: Possible In-tank Bleach Process
<many details snipped>
>I guess that's it for what I can report at this stage. I would
>recommend caution if anyone wants to try this technique but I thought
>it was worth posting to see if anyone else has used hydrogen peroxide
>as a bleach for algae eradication, or if anyone could comment on the
>effects of silver in aquaria. The peroxide itself will decompose to
>water and oxygen, neither of which is a problem, so the technique
>should lend itself to in tank use if there are no longer term
>problems with the silver. I wonder what the effects of ordinary
>hydrogen peroxide without silver would be.
Hydrogen peroxide has been suggested as a control for brush algae here
before, so this isn't anything new. I would like to caution the use
of it in an aquarium, because if you overdosed, it would definitely
irritate/injure the gills of your fish, and may also damage your
plants. I have also heard of the use of H2O2 as a treatment for ich,
but I have no personal experience. I do not have the foggiest idea
what "stabilized" hydrogen peroxide is, but I suspect it is marketing
hype.
Silver is a known antibiotic (note silver nitrate has been used by
physicians to treat mouth ulcers, as antibiotic eye drops, and as a
disinfectant), so they add silver to their product for that
purpose--they mention Hy-san is useful for sanitizing (sterilizing)
nursery potting mixes, and I do not doubt them. The H2O2 is also a
good disinfectant.
As far as eradicating algae, though, silver would be ineffective,
except possibly for blue-greens. The colloidal silver would
eventually oxidize and drop out of solution as insoluble silver
chloride, or some other insoluble salt. For aquarium use, the silver
is not necessary, and only makes the hydrogen peroxide expensive to
use.
I recommend using plain old hydrogen peroxide for eradicating algae,
instead of Hy-San.
Kind regards,
Mark