Treating with Vitamin C
- Thread starter JohnL
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Jeff
Premium Member
I would think that there is something else going on simply based on the fact that dozens of people are using the same product without the same side effect of raising alk (including myself). I cant imagine the sodium ascorbate raising alk to that level in a single dose especially without raising ph to extreme levels at the same time. It mixes to a ph of 7.1 which would lower ph if anything.
You have a 55 gallon tank, correct? How much of the product are you dosing twice a day? Around a 1/4 tsp diluted in ro water right?
You state that had used something called proper ph to raise the ph to 8.2 in the past. Isnt that acne medicine? You stated that your ph in the morning was 8.2 and 7.8 at night which is very unnatural. usually the ph ramps up on its own during the day not the other way around.
Are you sure that you are not using any other products in your tank that could be causing the alk and ph problem? Buffers? 2 part? Is your hydrometer or refractometer properly working? Are you sure that you are testing correctly?
Just trying to help.
You have a 55 gallon tank, correct? How much of the product are you dosing twice a day? Around a 1/4 tsp diluted in ro water right?
You state that had used something called proper ph to raise the ph to 8.2 in the past. Isnt that acne medicine? You stated that your ph in the morning was 8.2 and 7.8 at night which is very unnatural. usually the ph ramps up on its own during the day not the other way around.
Are you sure that you are not using any other products in your tank that could be causing the alk and ph problem? Buffers? 2 part? Is your hydrometer or refractometer properly working? Are you sure that you are testing correctly?
Just trying to help.
Pufferpunk
New member
What test kit are you using? There have been huge problems with Salifert alk testing way higher than the alk really is.
SnoopJerryJer
New member
I have not had any issues, however I have noticed that my alk has increased from around 7-8 dKH to about 10-11 dKH since I've started dosing sodium ascorbate (about 1000 mg of vitamin c twice a day in my 65 gal reef).
I've been trying to figure out why it might be this way and I am thinking that it might have something to do with the pKa of the vitamin c itself, but it doesn't seem to fit as its pKa values are way over or under the 8.2 pH we generally see.
But whatever the reason, I am seeing a definate increase in dKH.
I've been trying to figure out why it might be this way and I am thinking that it might have something to do with the pKa of the vitamin c itself, but it doesn't seem to fit as its pKa values are way over or under the 8.2 pH we generally see.
But whatever the reason, I am seeing a definate increase in dKH.
Pufferpunk
New member
Hmmm... 1,000mg is barely anything in a 65g system. I'm dosing over 2x that in my 40g.
jdieck
New member
Right, PH buffers are in reality alkalinity buffers that contain a higher level of borate alkalinity which does nothing for our reef tanks as most of the time our salt mixes have adequate amount (if not slightly higher) of borates and our low PH is due to higher CO2 dissolved in the water and not due to low alkalinity (borates and carbonates).
SnoopJerryJer
New member
I have been using Instant Ocean, and I am just currently switching to Tropic Marin, however the change in dKH was noted before I started the switch. The only supplements I've used besides the Sodium Ascorbate is Calcium Chloride to get my calcium up from the low IO level and I drip limewater. However none of these things changed from the point where I was having 7-8 dKH and now 10-11 dKH.
SnoopJerryJer
New member
I just had an idea, I'm not really sure if it would work like this but...
It appears the the Vitamin C is somehow increasing the growth rate of bacteria (due to the increase in skimming, clarification of water, and lowering of other nutrients) And with this increased growth I imagine there is an increase in CO2 production. And since I am dripping CaOH there might be more CO2 present to react with the OH- and form carbonate.
I'm sure someone out there knows enough chemistry to say if this is a possible reason, for me its just a crazy guess.
It appears the the Vitamin C is somehow increasing the growth rate of bacteria (due to the increase in skimming, clarification of water, and lowering of other nutrients) And with this increased growth I imagine there is an increase in CO2 production. And since I am dripping CaOH there might be more CO2 present to react with the OH- and form carbonate.
I'm sure someone out there knows enough chemistry to say if this is a possible reason, for me its just a crazy guess.
Pufferpunk
New member
I have never seen a nitrate level of 0 before dosing VC. Even though I have a extremely large bioload (tank packed with corals, many fish, lots of feedings), the test registers at 0! I started adding VC to my mantis shrimp tank, because of the higher nitrate & poor skimmer function. I'll be curious what it does in there. Skimmer is already pulling stuff out.
Evidently my API calcium test kit is wrong. I took water sample to LFS to test and with my kit it was over 600. They tested it twice at 280. They said that is why dkh is so high. Told me to add calcium and it would go down. I was by no means blaming Vit C for the high dkh. Just was trying to figure out what was going on. And yes I did add PH buffer which I realize raises alkalinity as well but that was like 2 weeks ago.
Evidently my API calcium test kit is wrong. I took water sample to LFS to test and with my kit it was over 600. They tested it twice at 280. They said that is why dkh is so high. Told me to add calcium and it would go down. I was by no means blaming Vit C for the high dkh. Just was trying to figure out what was going on. And yes I did add PH buffer which I realize raises alkalinity as well but that was like 2 weeks ago.
Pufferpunk
New member
I see it is killing off the red turf algae scourge my tank has been suffering with for the past year--it's turning brown. I've always had algae problems in my other tank but it's right in front of a window.
loyalrogue
New member
I've been trying out the VC dosing for about two weeks now.
Started low and slowly worked up to 5ppm over the first week.
Didn't see any noticable difference in a small colony of PPE that had been getting more and more pinched so I worked up to 10ppm over the next week.
Still no improvement on the palys, but after reaching the 10ppm mark I did notice an immediate and adverse reaction in my 2 colonies of GSP and my 3 RBTAs.
The GSPs fully retracted all polyps and refused to come out, and the 3 RBTAs completely wilted, and remained in that state all day and night.
I stopped dosing and within 24-30 hrs the anemones came back to health and the GSP is just barely starting to reappear.
After that brief scare I think in the future I will confine my VC/zoa experimenting to an isolated species specific tank seperate from my regular livestock.
Has anyone else noticed any reaction in either GSP or anemones to their own VC dosing?
Started low and slowly worked up to 5ppm over the first week.
Didn't see any noticable difference in a small colony of PPE that had been getting more and more pinched so I worked up to 10ppm over the next week.
Still no improvement on the palys, but after reaching the 10ppm mark I did notice an immediate and adverse reaction in my 2 colonies of GSP and my 3 RBTAs.
The GSPs fully retracted all polyps and refused to come out, and the 3 RBTAs completely wilted, and remained in that state all day and night.
I stopped dosing and within 24-30 hrs the anemones came back to health and the GSP is just barely starting to reappear.
After that brief scare I think in the future I will confine my VC/zoa experimenting to an isolated species specific tank seperate from my regular livestock.
Has anyone else noticed any reaction in either GSP or anemones to their own VC dosing?
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