Pufferpunk
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That's good, then after 4 days raise it to 1/2 tsp & 4 more days, 1 tsp, all 2x/day. Please take lots of "before" pics!
Treating with Vitamin C
- Thread starter JohnL
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Has anyone had any negative effects on their mushrooms from dosing VC? Our mushrooms have closed up on us. I am also trying to increase our magnesium at the same time. Two days ago it was at 1150. Raising it around 18/day. Should be around 1200 by now (testing tonight). Calcium was 400, alk is 3.5 mg/l. We also add b-ionic two part balance to maintain levels. Adding one 64 oz cap of calcium to try and spike calcium up to 420.
Could I be dosing the tank too much?
Could I be dosing the tank too much?
Pufferpunk
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I have never had ANY negative affects from dosing & in my frag tank have been using 100ppm on it to treat zoapox.
twelvejewelz
New member
sorry i made a whole new thread to ask this so you someone can delete it and hopefully you can aswer here. so i read the entire thread about dosing vitamin c and i want to start doing it. so i went to a local cvs to pick some up and i read the labels.all of them contain silica isnt this bad?wont it cause algae?is the celluose bad for the reef as well?
Pufferpunk
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If you read the entire thread (all 94 pages) you'd realize that the only thing we have deemed safe to use is pure, buffered sodium ascorbate (calcium or magnesium ascorbate is also ok but sodium is cheapest).
As far as the Kent brand, please check into the amount of that product it would take to dose even 5ppm for your tank (the minimum).
As far as the Kent brand, please check into the amount of that product it would take to dose even 5ppm for your tank (the minimum).
I have been dozing for 5 or 6 weeks now and I have noticed some weird stuff with a few corals. My pipe organ coral has been closed a lot more. Before dozing it was thriving. I also have observed a couple of rica and mushrooms that don't expand as much. Some others seem fine? One of my gorgs has not fully opened for weeks. Recent test have shown my alk to be spiking well over 11 in both tanks I'm dosing. This may be a coincidence??? Anyway, I've been dosing extra ca and the alk has been coming down and those corals that had look bad are begining to look better.
Pufferpunk
New member
Have you tested your Mag? I believe your issues may be coming from the high alk. VC hasn't done this to my corals, even at high doses. Are you feeding that gorgonion a ton? They have a very low sucess rate in tanks.
Mag is about 1200 ppm; so a little low but not terrible. PH is hovering around 8-8.1. Ca was stable around 380 but I knew it should be closer to 420-450 -- hence the push on calcium.
The gorg is nobby sea rod, it is very photosynthetic and very easy. I've had it over a year with no problems. I actually have 5 different species of gorgs that do very well. They key is finding truly photosynthetic ones. That said I do feed them a couple of times a week.
I promised pics of my sea horse color improvement since dosing, but my computer has been "at the shop" so I couldn't post.
Here is a before picture:
And an after
Another before:
And After:
I guarantee that at least 50% of the brown was diatoms on the before pictures. Also, the real key is that the seahorses have consistently remained yellow like this since after the first week of dosing. They occasionally we lose some of the diatoms, but nothing like this.
A complete gallery of pics of my seahorse tank can be found here (http://gallery.me.com/tonymutti#100054 ), though they are a bit out of chronological order. The last pictures are the most recent ones.
The gorg is nobby sea rod, it is very photosynthetic and very easy. I've had it over a year with no problems. I actually have 5 different species of gorgs that do very well. They key is finding truly photosynthetic ones. That said I do feed them a couple of times a week.
I promised pics of my sea horse color improvement since dosing, but my computer has been "at the shop" so I couldn't post.
Here is a before picture:
And an after
Another before:
And After:
I guarantee that at least 50% of the brown was diatoms on the before pictures. Also, the real key is that the seahorses have consistently remained yellow like this since after the first week of dosing. They occasionally we lose some of the diatoms, but nothing like this.
A complete gallery of pics of my seahorse tank can be found here (http://gallery.me.com/tonymutti#100054 ), though they are a bit out of chronological order. The last pictures are the most recent ones.
Pufferpunk
New member
That's really cool how the horsey responded to the C!
what sort of dosing regimen should i use seeing that i only have a 30 gallon tank with no sump? Where should i start and where should i end up at? I plan on buying some Vit. C once my student loan money arrives on Monday. Thank god for student loans buying all my stuff for my reef tank....haha.
Pufferpunk
New member
Do you have a skimmer on there? On my smaller tanks, I lift the skimmer cup & dose under there, so it mixes well before it enters the tank. You can start at 1/8 tsp & after 4 days go up to 1/4 & leave it at that or go up by 1/8 tsp until you get to 1/2. Dose 2x/day.
Pufferpunk
New member
Yes, it is important that your paramaters are good & that they are stable, before dosing anything else to your system.
Merfin70
Premium Member
OK, I took the plunge and started dosing today on my 39g. 1/8 tsp x 2 each day going up to 1/4tsp in a couple of days. I've got my "before" pics taken so we'll see how this goes. Only thing I've noticed so far is that my Birdsnest polyps are much "tighter" than they normally are. Seems fine, just holding the polyps closer to the branches. My water also seems clearer for some reason. Wish me luck.
Pufferpunk
New member
Water clarity is one of the many great benefits from VC.
anyone have a problem with pH getting low? My alk is still @ 10 but my pH is getting lower. its down to 7.8 now and pre vit c it has always stayed 8.2-8.3. so, how do you raise pH without dosing more buffer? i've never had to do that before. . . . . . yes i'm using buffered vit c.
Pufferpunk
New member
It's because the windows are closed up for so long in your house. Causes pH to go down. Has nothing to do with the VC, if you are using the buffered product recommended.
Sorry, can't help you with the calurpa. I keep picking mine off too.
Sorry, can't help you with the calurpa. I keep picking mine off too.
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