hydrogen peroxide 3% in fish ponds ??

[Abe]

Hey Pondies
Run into this article and wonder if anyone ever tried this and if and how did it work?
I'm usually very suspicious at hidden commercial / marketing angle lurking in the shadows
of many such articles - but this is just run of the mill every day product, so no paranoia on
that front - but still worried as the article is very shallow - are there any side effects ?
I would hate to wake up to a hang over the morning after.
Here is the link:
https://www.hunker.com/13424261/how-to-use-hydrogen-peroxide-in-fish-ponds

 

[Jhn]

No, never tried it, as it is treating the end result,(algae) not the source of the problem ..excess nutrients. It is a bad idea to use chemicals of any kind to treat a problem that can be solved with a well thought out, balanced pond...

 

[Lisak1]

I've used hydrogen peroxide in my pond - it's harmless. You would be hard pressed to overdose a pond with 3% peroxide.

I agree that it's really only addressing the symptom and not the problem, but if I have stubborn string algae on my waterfall there are times when it's helpful to have an easy solution. I will say it's not the most effective thing I've tried though. We also use sodium percarbonate when the string algae gets too thick - which is basically a hydrogen peroxide and soda ash compound. Also harmless and very effective against string algae on rocks and waterfalls.

 

[IPA]

Why would you be using hydrogen peroxide, I mean what is the condition that exist in the pond? Another old school oxidizer is potassium pemanganate, I never used either but have read a lot about their use in ponds.

 

[bettasngoldfish]

You have to be very careful using potassium permanganate. If not dosed correctly you can kill your fish. It's powerful stuff and you should wear gloves and eye protection when using it.

It's used to treat parasites and bacterial infections. Usually they recommend to have hydrogen peroxide on hand to neutralize it.

 

[Faebinder]

Problem with hydrogen peroxide is that it kills algae and if you kill enough, you will get an ammonia spike.

 

[Abe]

Why would you be using hydrogen peroxide, I mean what is the condition that exist in the pond? Another old school oxidizer is potassium pemanganate, I never used either but have read a lot about their use in ponds.

Well we all strive to a natural balanced pond, but there are some bumps of
unbalance along the way , and maybe some tweaking will help , if it is harmless .
We had couple cold weeks (5-7 C nights) and I assume beneficial bacteria is dead
already , yet last days are very sunny and maybe algae is more affected by sun
than by cold temperatures. In any case water turned murky dark and I cant see
much bellow few inches.
Did water tests and all came out good with 0 ammonia, nitrite & nitrate.
Another reason I thinking about it is that I use barley bales to control algae , which
was working fine when waterfall worked all the time , but now I cut it to only
few hours. I thought barley is a natural way of controlling algae - and than read
that the active ingredient in the decomposing barley is hydrogen peroxide !?
Maybe i should not read too much...

 

[Abe]

Well we all strive to a natural balanced pond, but there are some bumps of
unbalance along the way , and maybe some tweaking will help , if it is harmless .
We had couple cold weeks (5-7 C nights) and I assume beneficial bacteria is dead
already , yet last days are very sunny and maybe algae is more affected by sun
than by cold temperatures. In any case water turned murky dark and I cant see
much bellow few inches.
Did water tests and all came out good with 0 ammonia, nitrite & nitrate.
Another reason I thinking about it is that I use barley bales to control algae , which
was working fine when waterfall worked all the time , but now I cut it to only
few hours. I thought barley is a natural way of controlling algae - and than read
that the active ingredient in the decomposing barley is hydrogen peroxide !?
Maybe i should not read too much...

Actually I might been barking at the wrong tree all along, and it is not algae at all .
Let the waterfall circulate the water now for few hours and it does seem to clear up
quite a bit. I can see bottom now. Wonder what else it could be.

 

[Lisak1]

Why are you turning your waterfall off?

 

[Lisak1]

Problem with hydrogen peroxide is that it kills algae and if you kill enough

True. When we have had overgrowth of string algae on the waterfall, I dose it with sodium percarbonate with the water off and let it sit for 20 or 30 minutes. When I turn the waterfall back on I stand at the base and collect it as it falls off. It also pulls off the rocks much easier when it's been treated. Again - not a solution, just a way to deal with it when it gets out of hand. And always with the thought in mind that there's an underlying cause that needs to be addressed.

 

[Meyer Jordan]

I assume beneficial bacteria is dead
already

Water temperature must be 0C/32F or below to kill bacteria and even then some survive. Their growth rate, however is reduced as water temperatures drop. They continue to function albeit at a lower level.

 

[Abe]

Actually I might been barking at the wrong tree all along, and it is not algae at all .
Let the waterfall circulate the water now for few hours and it does seem to clear up
quite a bit. I can see bottom now. Wonder what else it could be.

Now I suspect it's spawning, and the brief warm weather was the trigger.

 

[Abe]

Why are you turning your waterfall off?

Well, I did plan to stop the waterfall once it gets really cold, and than have only the
aerator with 2 blubbers go on all winter. But than stuff happened - had a visit one
night by raccoons , maybe the waterfall sound attract them , and since the water
course was not finished properly yet (run out of stones and pickup truck) knocked
over part of it held by toothpick and next morning water level was down by about
15-20%.
I'll finish the water course next spring - maybe by than I'll manage to hook up with
a girlfriend that have a pickup truck...
Waterfall splash into shallow part of pond which probably will make it useless once
it goes bellow 0.
Also i suspect that my skimmer, which is feeding the pump through a hose is actually
swallowing air baubles (by vacuum?) and once there is too much air in the hose, it trigger
a dry-run safety shut-off in the pump, and all stops dead. So for the moment I don't
operate them together - skimmer+ pump + waterfall & filter during days , aerator all night.
And all this project was aimed to simplify my life.

 

[Abe]

Water temperature must be 0C/32F or below to kill bacteria and even then some survive. Their growth rate, however is reduced as water temperatures drop. They continue to function albeit at a lower level.

Thanks Meyer for telling me that - I think I read about bacteria dying off at 10 C in a very respectable
book - maybe the late K. Fisher monumental book on ponds. I remember the book said also you
can wash off your bio filter in late fall with the garden hose as bacteria is on death row anyway.

 

[IPA]

Stupid raccoons. The aesthetics of your pond is nice, hope you can get it worked out. Is the skimmer an Oais and all of the plumbing is in-pond with just the one pump?
Is it possible to make a bypass to the waterfall so in the future you can let the water circulate longer into the cold season without the concern of the falls freezing?