Treating with Vitamin C

[madadi]

some of my sps seem to have insane polyp extension today. i just dosed 1000mg once in the morning and in the evening. i usually have good polyp extension though. keeping my fingers crossed because im still worried about that ORP. it did climb back up to normal levels by night time. now it was at 330 but drops to well bellow 150 every time i drop a pill in. weather ORP is good or bad who knows but im worried such a big fluctuation is noticeable by the corals and it might stress them in the long run. either way Jeni's tank looked great so i will continue to add it and see what happens.

i just threw in a 1000mg pill, i don't know if thats considered starting of slow in a 110g water volume system.

 

[Pufferpunk]

Gosh, I didn't know I had a real reefgeek at my house yesterday!

 

[madadi]

can anyone chyme in if the silica thats in the vitamin C pills is the same one were trying to filter out of the tap water so it wont grow nuisance algae in the tank?

 

[madadi]

why did i look cool? i hide it well. lol

 

[Pufferpunk]

I have not a single algae strand in my tank after 3 months of treating. I sure wish it would kill off that red turf algae though.

 

[madadi]

ya i have some of that turf algae too.

i just heard that silica can feed algae but im no expert on algae. obviously, my tank is algae dominated, mixed reef. i just noticed that silica was one of the ingredients in the vitamin C tablets. someone mentioned vitamin C powder, maybe thats a better alternative? i payed 14bucks for 250 1000mg pills.

 

[jdieck]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11437049#post11437049 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by madadi
can anyone chyme in if the silica thats in the vitamin C pills is the same one were trying to filter out of the tap water so it wont grow nuisance algae in the tank?

Althouogh excess silicates may promote diatoms, some are needed in aquaria as it is needed by snails and others to build up their shells, I would not worry much about it as far as your nitrates and phosphates are under control.

 

[jdieck]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11437055#post11437055 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Pufferpunk
I have not a single algae strand in my tank after 3 months of treating. I sure wish it would kill off that red turf algae though.

Try some real Mexican Turbo snails.

 

[Pufferpunk]

I keep adding them & they keep disappearing. I have an order in for another 25 of them.

 

[jdieck]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11437037#post11437037 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by madadi
some of my sps seem to have insane polyp extension today. i just dosed 1000mg once in the morning and in the evening. i usually have good polyp extension though. keeping my fingers crossed because im still worried about that ORP. it did climb back up to normal levels by night time. now it was at 330 but drops to well bellow 150 every time i drop a pill in. weather ORP is good or bad who knows but im worried such a big fluctuation is noticeable by the corals and it might stress them in the long run. either way Jeni's tank looked great so i will continue to add it and see what happens.

i just threw in a 1000mg pill, i don't know if thats considered starting of slow in a 110g water volume system.

What you see is the antioxidant properties of the vitamin C, what it tells is that when recently added you have more reduction potential than oxidizing potential as the vitamin give up electrons the ORP starts to rise, by the time the ORP is back to normal the vitamin is gone.
As you can see unfortunately most of the vitamin reacts very quickly with water compunds so little is really taken up by the critters.
In addition it will consume some of your alkalinity (thus the drop in PH) just keep an eye on the alkalinity level and you will be OK.

If you are not adding Kalk with your top off, you may want to try adding the vitamin via your RO/DI top off so you have a more continuous (less spiky) availability.

 

[Pufferpunk]

So in your expert opinion, do you thing this regular dosing is a good thing or just another snake oil?

 

[jdieck]

I really do not know one way or the other. I add some vitamin drops (which include vitamin C) to the fish food and sure some get into the water column but vitamin C is so unstable once added to the water and reacts so fast to the higher alkalinity of the salt water that I'm sure corals may not get much.
By the way, if adding I would recommend getting it either in powder or capsules, not pills as the pill fillers shorten the life of the vitamin so chances are that even before the addition the vitamin in the pill might already started to loose effectiveness.

 

[flyyyguy]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11437259#post11437259 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jdieck
I really do not know one way or the other. I add some vitamin drops (which include vitamin C) to the fish food and sure some get into the water column but vitamin C is so unstable once added to the water and reacts so fast to the higher alkalinity of the salt water that I'm sure corals may not get much.
By the way, if adding I would recommend getting it either in powder or capsules, not pills as the pill fillers shorten the life of the vitamin so chances are that even before the addition the vitamin in the pill might already started to loose effectiveness.

interesting. this would account for why people are having to put entire bottles of pills into their tank to see any positive effect.

I have the pills.....but cant quite yet bring myself to do it, even though there have been no negative accounts...........

hmmm........

 

[madadi]

thanks jdieck, so which are the real turbo snails?

im going to start dissolving the vitamin C in a small jar of tap water and just dose it over an hour or two directly into the main tank with a medical dosing pump. it did drop my alk by almost 2dKH and thats not very good for sps i thought. pH dropped from 8.2 to 7.9 in the evening.

 

[jdieck]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11437343#post11437343 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by madadi
thanks jdieck, so which are the real turbo snails?

The largest of them all (1 to 2 inches)
Notice the split in the foot, they advance by moving one half forward and then he other.
I would recommend one for every 30 to 50 gallons.

 

[Pufferpunk]

I know I have at least 2 in my 90g that I've seen but they are just touching the surface of the turf algae problem I have in there.

madadi, I'm surprised with the little you have dosed & the short time you've been dosing, that you see such a jump in chemistry. I've not seen any. I bet you test way more often than I do though.

 

[madadi]

my aquacontroller shows any drop in pH or ORP right away. i am a reefgeek after all i hate testing with chemicals, its like doing laundry!

 

[madadi]

ya i figured does were the turbos but sometimes others are called turbos also, usually the astrea snails.

ok here is what i found:
Vitamin C, also known as ascorbic acid, is a water-soluble nutrient. Although fairly stable in acid solution, it is normally the least stable of vitamins and is very sensitive to oxygen. Its potency can be lost through exposure to light, heat, and air, which stimulate the activity of oxidative enzymes. It is easily oxidised in air. thats why it drops ORP so quickly.

and my theory: lol
might be good for the corals if it gets to it before it reacts with oxygen in the water. it might drop levels of O2 in the water. thats why it might be dropping the pH because its shifting the O2 - CO2 concentration to the acidic side by reacting with oxygen. NOT SO GOOD IN OUR CLOSED SYSTEMS. at some point, in high doses, it might react with so much oxygen that it might suffocate the animals in the tank?

im going to dose it SLOWLY in the main tank hoping that it will get absorbed better by the corals because it has to travel trough less water from the sump. also, if i dose it slow instead of dropping a pill in at once, it might avoid shifts in the O2 concentration or bicarbonates, whichever vitamin C is reacting with.

 

[b16drag]

Wonder if the skimmer skims some of it out...

 

[geoxman]

I am not using a pill I am using pure ascorbic acid from GNC in powder form. 1 Tsp is 2200mg. an 8oz jar was $14 and there is no other ingredient other than rose hips. It is dissolved within seconds in the aquarium.