Treating with Vitamin C

[fishnu]

Thanks. I am looking for guidance. I was unsure whether it was cyano, dinoflagellates or something else but Jeni asked if it was the usual brown slime (Randy called dinoflagellates brown slime, and this stuff grows FAST like DF) but I don't have a clue what it is.

I am trying a combination of things; reducing lighting period, increasing pH, cutting the VC in half and trying to skim as much as possible. I will post a close up pic tomorrow.

 

[Jeff]

It may be simple diatoms. Its really hard to tell. One thing they all have in common is that you will need to siphon out as much of it as possible out of the tank.

 

[fishnu]

Am doing. I started using a net to remove clumps but then realized I was dumping spores/free cells.

 

[Logzor]

I want to double check. Has anyone experienced cloudy water after dosing vitamin c?

I believe I am still dealing with some lime slurry that was sucked into my system but I wanted to make sure it was not the vitamin c causing the issue.

Also, has anyone noticed that they do not really have to clean their glass when dosing vitamin c?

 

[Jeff]

It's possible that it's vitamin c but highly unlikely. A page or two back you talked about your topoff container getting low and possibly sucking up some kalk slurry. Before getting a kalk reactor I used to make up limewater and dump it into my top-off container. I never ran the risk of doing what you may have done. If you add kalk powder directly to your top-off container then think about raising up your top-off pump off the bottom of the container.
In regards to glass cleaning, I have been dosing vitamin c for over a year and used to get a patch or two of cyano and diatoms and I needed to clean my glass daily. I only clean the glass every 5-6 days now and dont have any cyano.

 

[Logzor]

Well I simply have a tube that sticks into the reservoir that is connected to the spectrupure ATO unit. I was guessing that the tube got clogged and then sucked in a bunch of encrusted kalk or is simply sucked up some slurry that was floating on the top of the water.

It cleared up for a day or so but now the tank is slightly cloudy again. I decided to totally rinse out my topoff container and there was a ton of white goop at the bottom. I cleaned it out really well, filled with fresh RO/DI and dosed the proper amount of kalk. The fresh limewater in the topoff container seems a lot less murky.

I am hoping that this was the issue.

Should I test and stop dosing vitamin c for a day? Would there be any harm in suddenly ending my dosing regimen?

 

[r-balljunkie]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14343189#post14343189 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Logzor
Well I simply have a tube that sticks into the reservoir that is connected to the spectrupure ATO unit. I was guessing that the tube got clogged and then sucked in a bunch of encrusted kalk or is simply sucked up some slurry that was floating on the top of the water.

It cleared up for a day or so but now the tank is slightly cloudy again. I decided to totally rinse out my topoff container and there was a ton of white goop at the bottom. I cleaned it out really well, filled with fresh RO/DI and dosed the proper amount of kalk. The fresh limewater in the topoff container seems a lot less murky.

I am hoping that this was the issue.

Should I test and stop dosing vitamin c for a day? Would there be any harm in suddenly ending my dosing regimen?

if you accidentally dosed the precipitate, or the white stuff from kalk mixture, dont add anymore kalk to your reservoir. you will be ok with just straight water. your alk will probably be sky hi. check it, and let it settle for a few feeks.

dosing kalk is not a must, just supplemental.

vitamin C has nothing to do with this issue.

i had same problem, i give my 2 year old waaaay to much access to my setup. he dumped a whole cup of kalk mixture in my sump. it didnt do any harm, but i for sure didnt add kalk for awhile.

c

 

[Logzor]

I just tested my alk calcium and mag. all with salifert test kits. I am pretty sure the alk reading is correct as I just switched to a new salifert test kit (my old one ran out) and they both have read 9.6.

ALK: 9.6DKH
Calcium: 420
MAG: 1200

I asked Randy in the reef chemistry forum about this issue and he said it would take up to four days to clear and that my test kits would be off because the precipitate in my tank would dissolve in the test kit reagent and give me a bad reading. The thing is I do not think there is enough undissolved kalk in my system to throw it off.

I guess I will just give it some more time. It is just cloudy enough to irritate you.

 

[Jeff]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14343254#post14343254 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by r-balljunkie

vitamin C has nothing to do with this issue.

:thumbsup:

 

[Logzor]

Thanks, this is good to rule out. I hope the kalk thing clears itself up soon.

 

[Woodward6288]

I have a biocube 29 and i just ordered some VC. I have read most of this tread, but just wanted to make sure. How much should I start with and for how long? Where do I dose it in my tank? I have a tunze 9002 skimmer. Do i just lift the cup and put it in there? thanks.

 

[Jeff]

Your dose will be around 1/8 tsp twice a day for improved health, color, and spread. This will give you around 7-8 ppm. You can go higher if needed for other problems but start low and work your way up as needed. You can add the product to a high flow area of the tank, under the skimmer cup, or dissolved in tank water and poured in, I personaly dont think it matters where you add it.

 

[Merfin70]

What's the general consensus on other forms of chemical filtration along with V-C? I know you shouldn't use two carbon source routines together but what about GFO and regular Carbon? Does doing V-C along with both GFO and Carbon risk nutrients getting too low?

My SPS are a little pale so I'm wondering if I should cut down on my carbon & gfo now that I'm dosing V-C.

 

[Genetics]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14350498#post14350498 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Merfin70
What's the general consensus on other forms of chemical filtration along with V-C? I know you shouldn't use two carbon source routines together but what about GFO and regular Carbon?

Why so? I am currently doing three, in fact many products you buy contain multiple carbon sources.

Does doing V-C along with both GFO and Carbon risk nutrients getting too low?

My SPS are a little pale so I'm wondering if I should cut down on my carbon & gfo now that I'm dosing V-C.

I run small amounts of both without issue. Though when I change out my GFO, my sps don't seem to like it very much. Any possibility that you can use more food during feeding to help offset the paleness?

 

[Merfin70]

I probably didn't phrase that well as dosed in smaller quantities I can see your point on the carbon and gfo. Guess I'm thinking/asking if I need to decrease some of my other sources. Since starting the V-C, my Cheato growth has completely halted if not started to croak. Its starting to turn white and bits of it are breaking off. My ugly caulerpa that rode in on my rock is also dying out so I'm thinking my nutrient levels are getting too low (though my bubble algae is still doing OK).

I have started to feed more and also am throwing in a little coral frenzy and rods food for the corals at night now. Before the V-C, I wouldn't have dared to do so as it would cause an algae issue within days.

Your thought is to just feed more and use the carbon and gfo in smaller quantities? I see the same thing with my SPS when I change the GFO. That day they go a couple of shades lighter and stay that way for a couple of days.

 

[Jeff]

Its common for chaeto growth to slow way down and/or stop. I have the same size ball of chaeto that I did a year ago. i should really just throw it out. Without nutrients, the chaeto stops growing which is not a bad thing. As long as you dont go too low you will be ok. Keep an eye on sps color. I agree with Genetics when he says to feed more if this happens. Its the same thing when dosing v/s/v/, ZEO, Prodibio, etc with the ULNS (ultra low nutrient system) people, the drop in color is caused by nutients actually being too low.
The use of GFO and carbon has no real impact on this, they dont effect nutrients in the same way.
I feel that this is a good indicator that you may be dosing a bit too much and that dropping down to around 5 ppm might be the way to go if not there all ready.

 

[Merfin70]

Thanks Jeff. I was above 5ppm for a bit as I was trying to revive my po'ed LOTR palys. They have since bounced back into shape and so I am going to cut myself back to an 1/8th tsp (x2) for my 39g tank. My SPS have paled so I was probably a bit too low and my feeding not enough. I only feed my fish every 2-3 days and then its mostly mysis and a bit of Rods. Given my water volume, I'm really careful that the fish eat everything that goes into the tank.

For lack of anything else on hand in my house, I started putting in some Coral Frenzy to see if that helps the SPS color back up.

 

[Logzor]

if you accidentally dosed the precipitate, or the white stuff from kalk mixture, dont add anymore kalk to your reservoir. you will be ok with just straight water. your alk will probably be sky hi. check it, and let it settle for a few feeks. dosing kalk is not a must, just supplemental. vitamin C has nothing to do with this issue. i had same problem, i give my 2 year old waaaay to much access to my setup. he dumped a whole cup of kalk mixture in my sump. it didnt do any harm, but i for sure didnt add kalk for awhile. c

Ok. My water has clouded up again overnight. The lights are not on yet but I can see that it is worse than it was last night. Corals are happy as ever - fish acting normal - parameters same as posted before.

I made sure to add extra water before I went to bed from my normal reservoir so that the top off would not have to turn on. I should have just disconnected it. Im pretty sure it did not engage, though.

It was the same situation as before. I fed in the late evening, the heavy spot feeding I do 2x a week, then dosed 3/4tsp in my 90g of vitamin c.

I do not know if it is coincidence or what but both times my water has clouded up after doing this. Ill try and get a picture.

I brewed up a new batch of limewater and cleaned the tubing so even if it did dose then it should not have added any slurry.

What the heck is going on? I have also noticed that my alk has increased from 9.6 to 9.9 even after not having dosed any limewater (I tested last night).

I will test it again this morning and see what it reads...

 

[Logzor]

I just calibrated my refractometer. Running 1.023. Cant believe I missed that. Could that have anything to do with my water getting cloudy? Maybe more alk/calcium is being allowed into the water since the salinity is lower and thus causing the precipitation. Or is that crazy sounding?

 

[Jeff]

I have run an ULNS system and am gradually going back to it using sugar dosing with a low dose of vitamin c and can say that you may be getting too low. In the Zeo forums, the normal advice in a situation like this is to feed heavier. My advice has always been to feed as much as humanly possible without causing a huge spike in nutients. I feed a mix of Rods, cyclops, oyster eggs, Coral Frenzy, and Reef Roids at least 3-4 times a week and I feed way heavy. The person who taught me to feed this heavy is Pufferpunk. I learned it when taking care of her tanks the first time when she got a knee replacement and couldnt do it herself.
The more you feed, the faster your corals will grow IMO.
Anywho... if your sps have paled and you are sure your nutrients are really low then my suggestion is to feed more often.