Of the methods provided herein, is a method comprising: providing a treatment fluid comprising an aqueous base fluid, an inorganic oxidizer and an activator selected from the group consisting of N-acyl caprolactam based activators, substitutes benzoyl caprolactam based activators and mixtures thereof are provided; and preparing the treatment fluid for use in a down-hole operation, where the down-hole operation is either a gel breaking operation or a formation conditioning operation.