Treating with Vitamin C

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Yes, a lot of people have luck with sugar and reducing their nitrates to zero in relatively little time. The problem I keep finding is people continue to dose well above what is needed and eventually have problems with their tanks around week 4-6. If it took a few weeks to get down to zero, then that dose doesn't sound too bad. Some sps dominated tanks mention RTN with their corals at the start also.

Did you happen to notice anything with algae so far?

Zman42, yes your skimmer has pulled out about as much as it is going to at that dose. Cutting down may not stimulate further skimmate removal to the same degree. That is about the color I get from vodka but the amount differs usually by how much I feed during the week.
 
No algae issues. I am starting to ween the reef off of sugar but I am taking my time. I'll continue on with the sodium ascorbate as I am having a huge growth spurt right now on a few colonies.
 
does anyone see a benifit to dose vit c in a vat that has curing live rock, that the nitrates are through the roof.
 
ok I'm kind of lost in the math
i have a 155bow with a lot of rock and a 75g sump/fuge 48x18x14 area is full with water
how much Vc do i use
started 1/7/9 with 1/4 now im up to 1tsp in the am 1.5 pm
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14365838#post14365838 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by JACOXVIII
ok I'm kind of lost in the math
i have a 155bow with a lot of rock and a 75g sump/fuge 48x18x14 area is full with water
how much Vc do i use
started 1/7/9 with 1/4 now im up to 1tsp in the am 1.5 pm
You should be dosing around 1 tsp twice a day for improved health, color, and spread.


Here you go:
Use this product:
http://www.iherb.com/ProductDetails...7697039798&at=0
$5 0ff coupon code: LUL789 (good for first purchase).

To figure out how much to use, decide if you want to simply improve coral growth, spread, and color. If so, then you should dose around 5 ppm twice daily. If you are having problems with coral or fish health, dose up to around 30 ppm twice daily.

Calculate the total net number of gallons in your tank (minus rocks, sand, etc). Enter that number here ______.

You will now need to do a little math. The amounts below are for 100 gallons of water so if you have 50 net gallons, cut the amounts shown below in half etc.

Dosing amounts using Iherb product:
1/4 tsp=1112 mg.

For every 100 gallons:

5 ppm ----- 1892 mg VC
10 ppm ---- 3785 mg VC
15 ppm ---- 5677 mg VC
20 ppm ---- 7570 mg VC
25 ppm ---- 9462 mg VC
30 ppm ---- 11355 mg VC

After you have figured out how much you want to dose at each dosing, enter that number here _____. This is your dose to be used twice a day.



Notes:
*Be sure your pH and alk are within normal reef limits before starting. Adjust if needed. Monitor weekly.
*Shoot for a ppm of around 5 if only dosing for improved coral growth, coloration, and spread. Shoot for higher amounts up to 30 ppm if you are having melting zoas or closed zoas and look for the causes of your problems as you dose. Check for high nitrates, pests, zoa pox, predators, and unstable water conditions.
*Dose low amounts and increase the amount slowly over the course of a few days to a couple weeks.
* If you notice an algae bloom or increased skim on your glass then cut back by half until it disappears.
* Watch your skimmer, it will start to skim more.
* Dose the amount twice a day in a fast moving area of your sump or overflow. You may dilute the vitamin c in ro/di water for a minute then pour into my overflow. If adding to sump, try and add the vitamin c after filtration such as skimmers and reactors.
* If you have a question, ask here. I checks this thread daily.
* The instructions in this guide and throughout this thread are based on using pure Sodium Ascorbate, not vitamin c pills and other non-buffered forms of vitamin c.

Be sure to take some "before" pics!
 
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<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14364509#post14364509 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ryno212
does anyone see a benifit to dose vit c in a vat that has curing live rock, that the nitrates are through the roof.
If by curing you mean cycling, then no. I dont think there is any benefit to using vitamin c for that. The rock itself should bring the nitrate down. A skimmer and water changes will help the process along faster. Patience...
 
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Update: So my water cleared up yesterday. Ultra-crystal clear. All parameters perfect.

I decided to dose 1668mg vitamin c in my 90g system and noticed the slightest haze in the tank. Still looks extremely clear, though.

Im going to test again at a higher dosage and see if this is really causing cloudy water. Kalk has been completely cut off for days.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14370853#post14370853 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Logzor
Update: So my water cleared up yesterday. Ultra-crystal clear. All parameters perfect.

I decided to dose 1668mg vitamin c in my 90g system and noticed the slightest haze in the tank. Still looks extremely clear, though.

Im going to test again at a higher dosage and see if this is really causing cloudy water. Kalk has been completely cut off for days.

Ok, stopping the kalk addition is good, it sounds like there was a problem with the slurry getting suked into the tank. I noticed you have been having other problems of late with Tech B alk problem and the Dictyoda algae problem. Are things cleared up with them? Again, not to be rude, and please dont get insulted, but maybe get things settled down for a month before dosing sodium ascorbate so as not to skew your results. Also, can you take some pictures of your setup?
 
The dictyota and tech b has nothing to do with this. Not sure why you bring this up. I mentioned that I noticed possibly cloudiness from dosing nothing but vitamin c. There is no proof yet that it was originally caused by kalk.

Are you stalking me? :lol:

Pictures!!

SideShot01_by_Logzor.jpg

Right_Tank_Shot_01_by_Logzor.jpg

Cali_blue_tort_by_Logzor.jpg

middleshot01_by_Logzor.jpg


older FTS - every bit of algae you see is gone:
Dec_19_FTS_by_Logzor.jpg



Under the stand when constructing:
Stand_Comps_2_by_Logzor.jpg
 
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I am on a 17 day furlough from work and have been at my desk for most of it studying for a promotional exam and wasting a lot of time on the RC forums and saw a couple of your posts. My point about the other two threads is that it may be hard to determine any effects of vitamin c if there are other things going on in your tank at the same time.
Im, not stalking you although you sound hot. What are you wearing? KIDDING!!!! :lol:
 
Update: All parameters stabilized, sg issue taken care of, and I am starting to top off with kalk again. So far everything is normal and corals are getting some color back. No clouds or anything.

I plan on keeping the system running like this for 3 more days or so then begin dosing @4ppm vitamin c. I am hoping to see if vitamin c caused any clouding or if it was actually the kalk issue. I still have no proof which is was.

Would it be possible if my PH got too high it would cause a cloudiness in the water?

Also, aside from getting a aqua controller, what is the best way to constantly monitor PH?
 
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