Dosing sodium ascorbate (vitamin c) via auto doser?

[Southsid_reefer]

So I started dosing nutralife sodium ascorbate (vitamin c) today. Following pufferpunk's instructions, I see everyone using this method by manual dosing twice a day.

Has anyone come up with a mixture where powder is diluted in a certain amount of water and hooked up to a auto doser?

 

[Dre59]

She was totally against using it via-ATO and had to be manually dosed .. I guess it became diluted and didn't do it's purpose if used via-ATO.

To bad she was banned from here! She was very helpful IMO. Meet her so many times..lol!!

 

[Decadence]

I believe it immediately begins to break down in water. If you want to automatically dose it, perhaps you could build some sort of a hopper to drop metered amounts into a high-turbulence, low-flow through chamber in order to mix it up?

 

[tmz]

Dilution at some level may result in bacterial activity in the dosing solution and a degradation of the ascorbate before it gets to the tank. Personally, I don't dose ascorbate, fwiw.

 

[disc1]

Once it is dissolved into water it's lifetime is limited. If you want to dose vitamin C then you'll need to dose the powder every day.

 

[Southsid_reefer]

Thanks for all the responses. I spoke to pufferpunk last night and everything was broken down to me on hoe the vitamin is only good in the water for 8 hours. And for best results should be dosed every 8 hours. Any of you technical masterminds. Can come up with a hopper idea of some sort. I saw a guy on YouTube using a auto fish feeder. Also found. A powder doser but it's way to expensive and make out of glass. My daughter would break it. Lol. Any ideas would be great

 

[bertoni]

Well, you might be able to find a reef-safe preservative if you looked around. I can't think of any other solution. Alcohol might prevent decay, for example.

 

[tmz]

Remember the vitamin C is an organic carbon source so be careful not to overdose it whatever dosing method you choose.

 

[Southsid_reefer]

Dosing sodium ascorbate (vitamin c) via auto doser?

Thanks for the heads up tmz. I am actually starting the dose lower than what pufferpunk recommends. And slowly working my way up. I am still running carbon and have a oversized skimmer on the system. I'm taking it nice and slow.

 

[Bilk]

I believe it immediately begins to break down in water. If you want to automatically dose it, perhaps you could build some sort of a hopper to drop metered amounts into a high-turbulence, low-flow through chamber in order to mix it up?

I'm curious about the idea that sodium ascorbate breakes down in liquid. It's utilized as a food preservative. I actually added it to my pappone recipe and was hoping it would serve two purposes - as a carbon source vs sugar, which is called for in the standard recipe and as a preservative for the pappone in liquid form and stored in the refrigerator. Can anyone point to a source of information on the claim that it degrades?

 

[disc1]

Can anyone point to a source of information on the claim that it degrades?

The reason it works as a food preservative is exactly because it breaks down. It is an antioxidant. How it does that is by sacrificing itself and being oxidized rather than the food you put it in to protect.

 

[disc1]

The ascorbate ion is the predominant species at typical biological pH values. It is a mild reducing agent and antioxidant. It is oxidized with loss of one electron to form a radical cation and then with loss of a second electron to form dehydroascorbic acid. It typically reacts with oxidants of the reactive oxygen species, such as the hydroxyl radical. Such radicals are damaging to animals and plants at the molecular level due to their possible interaction with nucleic acids, proteins, and lipids. Sometimes these radicals initiate chain reactions. Ascorbate can terminate these chain radical reactions by electron transfer. Ascorbic acid is special because it can transfer a single electron, owing to the resonance-stabilized nature of its own radical ion called, semidehydroascorbate. The net reaction is:

RO "¢ + C6H7O6− → ROH + C6H6O6"¢ -

The oxidized forms of ascorbate are relatively unreactive and do not cause cellular damage.

However, being a good electron donor, excess ascorbate in the presence of free metal ions can not only promote but also initiate free radical reactions, thus making it a potentially dangerous pro-oxidative compound in certain metabolic contexts.

That's from the wikipedia article. It's kind of a short explanation but it should get you going if you want to understand the mechanism.

 

[Bilk]

That's from the wikipedia article. It's kind of a short explanation but it should get you going if you want to understand the mechanism.

Thanks for the wiki blurb. Now if I you could translate that for me

Is anything remaining from the sodium ascorbate after it oxidizes? At the very least, do you think it's achieving one of the goals of preserving the mix of seafood for an extended period? So far I've only seen positive results from utilizing it in the mix.

As for mixing it with pure H2O, what causes it to degrade? Does it react with the O? I wish my chemistry was stronger

 

[disc1]

Thanks for the wiki blurb. Now if I you could translate that for me

Is anything remaining from the sodium ascorbate after it oxidizes?

Yes:

It is oxidized with loss of one electron to form a radical cation and then with loss of a second electron to form dehydroascorbic acid.

At the very least, do you think it's achieving one of the goals of preserving the mix of seafood for an extended period?

As it is being oxidized, it is consuming the oxidizing agents that were put up with the food. Most all of the work is done right up front. The package is sealed up so no more gets in. If you were to leave the package open, eventually all of the ascorbate is used up and oxidation sets in.

So far I've only seen positive results from utilizing it in the mix.

As for mixing it with pure H2O, what causes it to degrade? Does it react with the O? I wish my chemistry was stronger

Yes, mostly with O2.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

If you had a solution with no O2 in it, the ascorbic acid would be pretty stable, except to bacterial growth and consumption, but making such a solution will be more trouble than it is worth.

If you are crazed to do it, you might load the solid powder into a dry food feeder.