My b.i.l. wants to buy two gallons of 15% Hydrogen Peroxide to use as a chemical additive for his salt-water aquarium.
I’ve been looking around, and not finding it. Is there a good place to buy this stuff?
Is “Baquacil” right for this purpose? It looks as if it has additional anti-fungal chemicals.
Does it make any sense to get “food grade” H2O2 – 35% strength – and dilute it? The prices I’ve seen – like $8.00 for four ounces – suggest this is a rotten idea.
Just to clean an empty tank? Better than other disinfectants.
I would fully avoid that pool cleaner or any industrial grade stuff. Contaminants, dead fish.
Diluting it down is easy enough. Food grade is probably pure enough, but reagent grade would be better.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Hydrogen-Peroxide-18-ACS-Reagent-Grade-1000ml-32oz-/121090323693?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1c318bb4ed
Edit: if he is taking about adding it directly to fish water, the 3 % stuff is strong enough.
Just a note that “food grade” 35% hydrogen peroxide means that the stuff is intended to be used to clean food processing equipment, not imply safety for living things.
This fact has escaped aficionados of drinking the stuff as a supposed cure for AIDS, cancer etc. (it’s also dangerously caustic to the human body when consumed undiluted).
Fishtar: that 18% stuff looks like it would be good. My b.i.l. knows more chemistry than I do, and diluting from 18% to 15% sounds within his reach. Thanks!
Jackmannii: in my searching online, I’ve discovered some really dismaying things that people have said about H.P.
(My papa was a believer in its “magical” antiseptic properties. He believed that the foam it generates – household 3% stuff – was a sure sign of it killing bacteria. So I boiled up a handful of rust flakes, and poured H.P. over that. Plenty of foam, but there couldn’t be any bacteria, as the rust had been boiled. Sometimes, science really is that easy!)
what if your hands aren’t rusty?
No worries on that account. I have not forgotten thee, O Jerusalem!
(Well, it’s better than the masturbation joke…)
Or you could let it sit open for a couple hours. But adding a measured amount of water is more scientifical.
It isn’t the foam, it’s the tamarind extract. I thought everyone knew that.
Slightly more on-topic, six-percent or higher hydrogen peroxide plus OxyClean and UV light is great for turning yellowed, old computers back into their original off-white.
High concentration H2O2 (Hydrogen Peroxide) is available at beauty supply stores. It’s used for lightening hair.
I’ve bought it there to do the ‘elephant toothpaste’ experiment/demonstration, which I’m overdue in actually doing with my daughter.
butler1850: thanks! I’ll make a few phone calls! (I’d sort of given up hope; you’ve restored it!)