Treating with Vitamin C

Thanks for the translation, I was just trying to figure that out. I'm used to dkH. Although I've never had any issues with an parameters changing in my tank, even with extremely high dosing of buffered, sodium ascorbate daily, I do see folks here who have noticed high alk from this.
 
I currently dose 1ml of VSV (per the r33fbuilders guide) in my 24g Aquapod. (not sure why that edited, just wanted to provide the make-up of my dosing formula)

Recently I've noticed some zoas do not open fully, especially some new additions, while others are finicky. I thought it was the aging MH light but since that has been replaced with a new Phoenix 14k (150w HQI in a Sunpod), I have not seen them improve. They're not melting away (yet) just not opening.

What would be a recommended amount of the Iherb supplement to complement my current dosing regimen? I have noticed nothing but improvements from my SPS corals with the VSV dosing, but LPS and zoas haven't shown much change, and it's annoying to have lots of "fancy" zoas sitting there looking like grey bumps...
 
au01st said:
I currently dose 1ml of VSV (per the r33fbuilders guide) in my 24g Aquapod. (not sure why that edited, just wanted to provide the make-up of my dosing formula)

Recently I've noticed some zoas do not open fully, especially some new additions, while others are finicky. I thought it was the aging MH light but since that has been replaced with a new Phoenix 14k (150w HQI in a Sunpod), I have not seen them improve. They're not melting away (yet) just not opening.

What would be a recommended amount of the Iherb supplement to complement my current dosing regimen? I have noticed nothing but improvements from my SPS corals with the VSV dosing, but LPS and zoas haven't shown much change, and it's annoying to have lots of "fancy" zoas sitting there looking like grey bumps...
Click to expand...
I have only dosed VC with sugar, not vinegar and vodka but I think I can help out here. What I did when I started sugar along with the vc is cut the sugar back to about half a dose and then start the vc at around 2 ppm and over the course of a couple weeks I upped the dose to around 4-5 ppm. Keep a close eye on your tank and see if things appear normal and adjust from there.
 
I will try that. I'm lucky I have a scale that will let me measure 150mg, lol (actually came out to 151.360 since I estimated 20g of water). That's not very much, I guess the container from iherb.com will last quite a while. It was $2 more for 2-day shipping vs. ground, and since I saved $5 with the coupon code, I sprung for it. It should be here today, so I can get home, double check starting parameters, and add my first dose tonight. I do my VSV dosing in the mornings (7-8am), so I will try to keep them separate by 12 hours.

Here goes nothing!
 
hey puffer

i was dosing quarter tspx2 a day in a 65G and was getting a massive algae bloom

so i backed off for 2 weeks and did 2 water changes and resumed with half of quarter teaspoon once a day and again big algae bloom..my skimmer is skimming good though..

What do you think is going on? PO4 is around 0.2 Elos

dosing the iherb sodium ascorbate
 
Alright, so re-read the directions, I see that it's twice daily.


Well, I thought I had a scale that went that low, but it's broken, now my lowest one does grams...not mg. I saw that you can't mix up a big batch like dosing 2-part, but I could mix up from the 1/4tsp recipe.

I calculated that 1/4tsp is approximately 7.3467 x the amount I needed for a dosing at 2ppm. Can I mix in the 1/4tsp of sodium ascorbate in a 50ml bottle with RO/DI, then dose 6.81ml (I know I have diabetic syringes that will let me get that precise) to give me the correct dosing? How fast does it dissolve? And how long would that bottle be good for (given that's it's good for 7 dosings max), like could I mix it up in the evening for the dosing, then use it again in the morning, then make a fresh batch every evening? Or would a fresh batch be needed for every dosing? It seems like a lot of work, but I'm at my wits end with some of these zoas...
 
So your current lowest scale only goes down to 1g? It doesn't happen to do tenths or even hundredths of a gram does it? If so you could do 0.15 grams, but you probably already knew that.

If you have a harbor freight near you, you can get a mg scale for about $10
 
I was thinking about the issue with vitamin C breaking down and how we don't really know how quickly it really breaks down aside from the very original document suggesting the dosage of ascrobic acid.

If we wanted to test the vitamin C concentration in a solution of saltwater, we could do a relativistic sort of test by using iodine and corn starch. Since Ascorbic Acid will cause iodine to lose it's color we could try an experiment in which we make a solution of saltwater and vitamin C, add it to a solution of cornstarch, water and iodine, and then try it again to a second solution either several hours later or the next day and see if it has the same effect.

If the Ascorbic acid is breaking down in the water or when exposed to light the second test should change the color of the solution significantly less than the first which had freshly mixed vitamin C. If there is something else occuring chemically with the Vitamin C, where it's still ascrobic acid but it's no longer usable than this test may not show any results, but it would be an interesting starting point for getting some actual evidence behind Vitamin C dosing.

Alternatively we could just use an Ascorbic Acid test strip as well, they usually come in 50-400ppm ranges, so it would have to be an excessively high dosage in the test water, but I imagine the results should be the same.

I would do this myself, but I need to get a new bottle of the Vitamin C first, I gave my last bottle away before I went on vacation so another local reefer could try it. I encourage anyone who's interested to give the testing a go though.
 
VC is totally broken down within 8 hours. You really don't haave to be that exact. I just use my 1/4 tsp measuring spoon & fill it about 1/2 way for my 15g frag tank.
i was dosing quarter tspx2 a day in a 65G and was getting a massive algae bloom
Click to expand...
Are you sure it's algae & not brown diatoms?
 
Haha, well I figured out another way. I took one of the measuring spoons from an Elos test kit, which measures both .15 and .4ml.

There's 4.92892159 ml in a tsp

I just broke down the original specs to ml.

So, 1/4tsp = 1.23223ml

I know I wanted 1/5 of that for my 20 gallons of water, and 2/5 of that for my 2ppm vs. 5ppm, which gave me .0986ml for my dosing. I measured the spoon, mixed with 15ml RO/DI water, and then dosed 10ml.

I guess 3 years of engineering school does a number on your approximations...

Anyways, I'm off. Took some "before" pics...here's hoping!
 
There's a harbor freight back home, and I'll probably pick up another scale when I'm there, just because I'm going to look for a wet band saw or tile saw anyways. And what's $10 on top of the price of one of those...

I really appreciate the info here, hoping I can save a few different "hornets" and some other cool zoas, like my colony of 50+ tubs blues...
 
First dose: 3-17 @ appx 6:30pm

Second dose: 3-18 @ appx 8:00am
Also dosed 0.5ml of my usual VSV mix.


Tubs colony was open today for the first time in a week. Still waiting on the hornets.

Skimmate being produced was much darker and thicker than usual. I'm now getting coffee as opposed to green tea. Only took about a minute to mix up the dose using the formula I figured out, not too bad.
 
au01st said:
First dose: 3-17 @ appx 6:30pm

Second dose: 3-18 @ appx 8:00am
Also dosed 0.5ml of my usual VSV mix.


Tubs colony was open today for the first time in a week. Still waiting on the hornets.

Skimmate being produced was much darker and thicker than usual. I'm now getting coffee as opposed to green tea. Only took about a minute to mix up the dose using the formula I figured out, not too bad.
Click to expand...

Sounds good. Let's hope the hornets open soon.
 
I get lighter coloured skimmate after dosing VC....but more of it. I guess it depends on your skimmer. I have a AquaC Remora.


au01st said:
First dose: 3-17 @ appx 6:30pm

Second dose: 3-18 @ appx 8:00am
Also dosed 0.5ml of my usual VSV mix.


Tubs colony was open today for the first time in a week. Still waiting on the hornets.

Skimmate being produced was much darker and thicker than usual. I'm now getting coffee as opposed to green tea. Only took about a minute to mix up the dose using the formula I figured out, not too bad.
Click to expand...
 
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