Treating with Vitamin C

[cybrsufr]

Well I took the plunge a week ago. I ordered using the coupon code from Pufferpink at iHerb.com and stared dosing my system 6 days ago. I have 273G total water volume taking into account for live rock and sand. I started the fist day at only 1000mg just to see the effects when combined with my 11ml a day vodka dosing and saw no ill effects except for the Redox plummeting temporarily which is expected since ascorbic acid is a strong reducing agent. After about 2 1/2 - 3 hours the Redox was back up to 350 or so. I have increased every day and am now at 4000mg a day which would roughly be around 15ppm if I calculated correctly. I have seen no ill effects at all, and starting to see positive effects on my zoas as well as colors of my LPS and SPS. I will probably bump it up one more time to 6000 a day which should put me around 20ppm. I plan on staying at that level for a while and see how it all plays out. Sorry I did not get any before pictures, but will keep you all updated on how it goes.

 

[Jeff]

THAT is a great plan you put together cybrsufr. Our tanks are almost the same size and I am dosing around the same amount but I started adding 1/4 tsp sugar last week and am up to 1/2 tsp now. The sugar and your vodka are supplimenting carbon is much the same way. I too have had great results but I am getting nervous about upping my sugar amount. I really dont want the bacteria bloom that people talk about when overdosing vodka/sugar/vinager. The reason I started the sugar is because my nitrates had climbed after stopping vitamin c for a month. The telltale signs of high nitrates in the water have almost disappeared even though I have a high bioload and feed extremely heavy. If you have any problems or improvements, let us all know.

 

[Pufferpunk]

I don't get it. If you guys are dosing VC & VC reduces nitrate, why also dose another nitrate reducer? Especially if both drops your ORP?

 

[cybrsufr]

Vodka does not drop my ORP at all only the VC does, But I have been dosing Vodka for over 2 months and it is not something you can just stop or it can crash your system completely and cause massive algae outbreaks and other horror stories that are out there. Also I do not plan on continually dosing VC. I am just doing it to help a couple pf Zoa colonies that were struggling. Once they improve I will probably just do something very similar to Genetics and only dose about 1ppm of VC strictly for fish and coral health not for the other effects of maintaining a large dose. Vodka is much cheaper (one $7 bottle lasts 4 months vs. $12.00 a bottle of VC at at my tanks size I will go through this bottle in less than 30 days), does not drop the ORP, and requires a fraction of the amount than VC if using it for a NO3 limiting factor.

 

[Jeff]

When I get my nitrates down to around zero, I will ween my reef off of sugar dosing. I still want the benifits of vitamin c other then nitrate/phosphate reduction so I will continue on with it.

 

[Genetics]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14248453#post14248453 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by cybrsufr
Well I took the plunge a week ago. I ordered using the coupon code from Pufferpink at iHerb.com and stared dosing my system 6 days ago. I have 273G total water volume taking into account for live rock and sand. I started the fist day at only 1000mg just to see the effects when combined with my 11ml a day vodka dosing and saw no ill effects except for the Redox plummeting temporarily which is expected since ascorbic acid is a strong reducing agent. After about 2 1/2 - 3 hours the Redox was back up to 350 or so. I have increased every day and am now at 4000mg a day which would roughly be around 15ppm if I calculated correctly. I have seen no ill effects at all, and starting to see positive effects on my zoas as well as colors of my LPS and SPS. I will probably bump it up one more time to 6000 a day which should put me around 20ppm. I plan on staying at that level for a while and see how it all plays out. Sorry I did not get any before pictures, but will keep you all updated on how it goes.

I also started dosing 6 days ago! I've noticed in my 200g total water volume that 0.05ppm VC will drop my ORP over 100mV. Have you noticed that your redox is taking longer to get back to 350 every additional day you add? It took a little over an hr the first day and now I come home and it still isn't above 350. May be a unrelated cause I have yet to find.

 

[cybrsufr]

Yes I have been noticing the same thing. I wish mine was only 100mv. When I add the VC my orp plummets to -65mv for about 5 minutes, then slowly creeps back up over the new few hours. It takes a little longer each day. As I said I only plan on running the 14 Day course, then dropping back to just a minimum dosage to be a benefit to the fish and corals biological processes, I am not interested in changing from Vodka to VC for my nitrate/phosphate control. Not that there is anything wrong with it as far as I can see from reading and so far in my experience, but prefer the vodka for its simplicity and it does not affect the ORP at all. While a lot of other do not care about ORP, I do and that is what matters. I am a scientist at heart and a conservationist by hobbies (diving doing fish and coral counts and reef tanks) so I do not want to add too many variables to my tank. I think the study here on VC has very strong merit and great results, I am only interested in the part of the original research into it that shows that it helps with Zoa revival and health not long term maintenance with it.

 

[Pufferpunk]

If you read vodka articles, they claim it does affect the ORP. I'm afraid dosing both will reduce it much further & do not recommend it. After dosing for 18 months though, it certainly hasn't affected my system negatively:

 

[Genetics]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14250675#post14250675 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Pufferpunk
If you read vodka articles, they claim it does affect the ORP. I'm afraid dosing both will reduce it much further & do not recommend it. After dosing for 18 months though, it certainly hasn't affected my system negatively:

I don't believe that is true about vodka. ORP is not directly affected by vodka. However, you add too much at one time and you will have a decrease in ORP observed over a few hours. VC as an anti-oxidant effects ORP directly.

Nice tank btw. It's amazing how stable parameters can cause such growth. How long has the tank been setup?

 

[OCEAN SIZE]

Magnificent corals. Then need a bigger tank.

 

[ricordia nut]

i started dosing vitamin C 2 days ago any ever see thier fish start to go crazy its like u are adding fish food to the tank

 

[Pufferpunk]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14252110#post14252110 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by OCEAN SIZE
Magnificent corals. Then need a bigger tank.

don't I wish! I'm very adept at fragging to keep everyone in their place & very good at placing them so no one is touching a neighbor that will sting them.

As far as fish going crazy, are you dissolving the VC in RO water or placing it in your sump somewhere where it will get mixed, before entering your tank? Even if you throw dirt in there, the fish will think it's food at 1st.

That 90g tank was upgraded from a 55g in October of 2006.

 

[janes_mw]

Pufferpunk - after reading this loooooonnnnnggggg thread, I am sold! I started two days ago with Calcium ascorbate while I wait for the Sodium ascorbate. I have about 30gal and started at 500mg (1/8tsp) twice a day. Have already noticed my palys extending more. I'll take some after pics in a month or so.

 

[Pufferpunk]

I hope you took "before" pics. Try to remember the settings on your camera, so the "after" pics are true to their color. Too many pics look different to me because of different camera settings. I need to see the true difference in the corals from dosing, especially in healthy ones--it's harder to tell sometimes. What I'd really love to see is a colony of melted ones that have come back strong!

 

[janes_mw]

Will do, I have a zoo colony that is pretty much down to a few. I will pay special attention to them on the pics.

 

[bob1968]

does it matter if i mix it with tank water.took before pics will post after in about a month

 

[Jeff]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14254694#post14254694 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by bob1968
does it matter if i mix it with tank water.took

Thats how I do it. But remember not to mix it up ahead, do it at the time of dosing.

 

[Pufferpunk]

I add it to my sump where when it goes thru the pump it seems to get mixed well before it enters the tank.

 

[ricordia nut]

know im mixing it with my tank water in a cup then it goes im my sump

 

[r-balljunkie]

Ouch! day 2, 1tsp/ day, 150 gallons total system volume. all looks good except my ORA green birdsnest colony.....not so green, kinda brown. NO RTN, but have never seen it like this. think i will skip a day,see what happens. will post pic later.