Pufferpunk
New member
It is a buffered crystal form of Sodium ascorbate. I add it to my sump or under the skimmer cup for smaller, sumpless tanks.
Treating with Vitamin C
- Thread starter JohnL
- Start date
Pufferpunk
New member
That is common when 1st dosing. Treat as usual by blowing it off & adding more flow. I have used Chemiclean to treat also.
ludnix
New member
There's a new discussion on Vitamin-C going on in the Reef Chemistry Forum asking about the role of vitamin-C in corals.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?p=16653679
Also something I hadn't read before, Aquatic Community's article on leather corals suggests vitamin-C is a good substance to dose for propagating leather corals.
http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/corals/leather.php
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?p=16653679
Also something I hadn't read before, Aquatic Community's article on leather corals suggests vitamin-C is a good substance to dose for propagating leather corals.
http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/corals/leather.php
Pufferpunk
New member
Wonderful, I'll be reading those.
Pufferpunk
New member
Not necessarily...
lbaldrey
New member
Ive stopped dosing temporarily as the cyano is really taking over my tank and corals...Its not the vitamin C for sure.
Im dealing with a bigger problem of 2 fish that have begun mowing down my corals, A siganus corallinus and a regal tang...Ive had to feed extra nori just so they would leave the coral alone but that too didnt work out cause they ate all the extra nori and mowed down my zoanthids and hence the extra bioload has cause the outbreak...
I will begin dosing again in 2 weeks or so...be very careful with the fish you add to your tank...
Im dealing with a bigger problem of 2 fish that have begun mowing down my corals, A siganus corallinus and a regal tang...Ive had to feed extra nori just so they would leave the coral alone but that too didnt work out cause they ate all the extra nori and mowed down my zoanthids and hence the extra bioload has cause the outbreak...
I will begin dosing again in 2 weeks or so...be very careful with the fish you add to your tank...
Pufferpunk
New member
BAD fishies!
ceci1357
New member
some thoughts
some thoughts
I just thought I would post some ideas I've gathered along the way. Dosing carbon sources is one thing many have tried including me. The info here is my personal experience and not reefer gods law. First, when single source carbon dosing you are primarily feeding one type of bacteria. This may lead to a monoculture developing in your tank that may stop functioning over time. This is the reason people dose vsv or some other multi make up of carbon components, to keep more strains active. I have been wary of that for no other reason than intuition.
Second, DSB's present a different set of circumstances when carbon dosing.They are a treasure trove of nutrients,locked up in layers of the sand bed. The bacteria love this food so they accumalate there often. Since the water column is void of nitrate and phosphate its like a picnic in the park. In some of the pictures posted here you can see evidence of that.Brown slimy looking growths. Also since the nutrient equation has shifted, this sometimes brings on cases of cyano and/or dinoflagellates which usually disappear. Chemicals move from an area of high concentration to an area of lower concentration usually I think, so those locked up nutrients are diffusing back into the water column on a continuing basis. If you stop dosing the nitrate will return sometimes in force because you have stopped feeding the limited strain of bacteria you have and no one is home to process it.
In my case I had to lower the sand bed level over time. Then we come to alkalinity. Under higher akalinities some people have complained about acro's losing tissue at the bases and lightening or bleaching of tips.Hence the UNLS guru's use low alkalinity salts to combat this danger. They say that lower Ph and alkalinity have shown no detriment in corals overall health. While running a ULNS and controlled addition of nutrients of different types lead to more color, ect. In that mix somewhere is carbon dosing.
some thoughts
I just thought I would post some ideas I've gathered along the way. Dosing carbon sources is one thing many have tried including me. The info here is my personal experience and not reefer gods law. First, when single source carbon dosing you are primarily feeding one type of bacteria. This may lead to a monoculture developing in your tank that may stop functioning over time. This is the reason people dose vsv or some other multi make up of carbon components, to keep more strains active. I have been wary of that for no other reason than intuition.
Second, DSB's present a different set of circumstances when carbon dosing.They are a treasure trove of nutrients,locked up in layers of the sand bed. The bacteria love this food so they accumalate there often. Since the water column is void of nitrate and phosphate its like a picnic in the park. In some of the pictures posted here you can see evidence of that.Brown slimy looking growths. Also since the nutrient equation has shifted, this sometimes brings on cases of cyano and/or dinoflagellates which usually disappear. Chemicals move from an area of high concentration to an area of lower concentration usually I think, so those locked up nutrients are diffusing back into the water column on a continuing basis. If you stop dosing the nitrate will return sometimes in force because you have stopped feeding the limited strain of bacteria you have and no one is home to process it.
In my case I had to lower the sand bed level over time. Then we come to alkalinity. Under higher akalinities some people have complained about acro's losing tissue at the bases and lightening or bleaching of tips.Hence the UNLS guru's use low alkalinity salts to combat this danger. They say that lower Ph and alkalinity have shown no detriment in corals overall health. While running a ULNS and controlled addition of nutrients of different types lead to more color, ect. In that mix somewhere is carbon dosing.
ceci1357
New member
some thougts part2
some thougts part2
Also, when dosing, you can create situations that are detrimental to certain inverterbates. The six yea old maxima clam in my tank gave up the ghost. I think this was because of the lack of nitrates suspended in the water column. I also lost a six year old bubble coral at the same time. I think someone else in the post experienced that. This is just conjecture on my part.
I personally believe that many of the improvements described here come from the benefits of carbon dosing,lower nutrient levels, increased light penetration/water clarity,lower water column load levels of nutrients. In UNLS systems you are kinda starving things in a way, so naturally they are going to open more/extend more, to say "hey give me that light" or passing morsel of food.The actual vitamin portion probaly does have curing effects, but I would bank more on the low nutient levels.
Well, I'm off my soapbox now. Hope these help. My overall advice is to go slow and be prepared to dose a very long time if you have a DSB.
some thougts part2
Also, when dosing, you can create situations that are detrimental to certain inverterbates. The six yea old maxima clam in my tank gave up the ghost. I think this was because of the lack of nitrates suspended in the water column. I also lost a six year old bubble coral at the same time. I think someone else in the post experienced that. This is just conjecture on my part.
I personally believe that many of the improvements described here come from the benefits of carbon dosing,lower nutrient levels, increased light penetration/water clarity,lower water column load levels of nutrients. In UNLS systems you are kinda starving things in a way, so naturally they are going to open more/extend more, to say "hey give me that light" or passing morsel of food.The actual vitamin portion probaly does have curing effects, but I would bank more on the low nutient levels.
Well, I'm off my soapbox now. Hope these help. My overall advice is to go slow and be prepared to dose a very long time if you have a DSB.
ceci1357
New member
oops, I forgot
oops, I forgot
Also, there is the recycling of nutrients. On a reef nutrients are recycled over and over and over. The urge to feed, feed, feed, may not be a good thing. Most reef systems are middlin' at best at removing nutrients. While the dosing is excellent at converting these nutrients to biomass(bacteria), you will actually be adding a large bacterial load to support if you overfeed. Systems that use zeolith based stones attempt to recycle nutrients and cut nitrate production at the source of ammonia and ammonium.
oops, I forgot
Also, there is the recycling of nutrients. On a reef nutrients are recycled over and over and over. The urge to feed, feed, feed, may not be a good thing. Most reef systems are middlin' at best at removing nutrients. While the dosing is excellent at converting these nutrients to biomass(bacteria), you will actually be adding a large bacterial load to support if you overfeed. Systems that use zeolith based stones attempt to recycle nutrients and cut nitrate production at the source of ammonia and ammonium.
Pufferpunk
New member
Same here. My clam & all my LPS only improved with dosing. Never seemed to harm anything.
