Vitamin C - Data Thread

[sellout007]

Vitamin C - Data Thread

This thread is intended for the sole use of keeping track of data for hobbyists who are using Vitamin C in their tanks. Please keep discussion to a minimum or out of the thread completely. If you want to talk about your experience or find out what the heck I am talking about, please refer to the origonal thread PufferPunk started in the zoa forum.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/s...20&pagenumber=1


Again, this thread is simply to record data. Now to help us better understand the effects Vitamn C (VC) has on our tanks I have come up with a simple form for everyone to fill out with some simple data.

Hopefully this will help us figure out a few things.

1) What VC is actually fixing/accomplishing when we dose.
2) What types of issues have been resolved.
3) How much VC is needed to fix said issues.
4) If there are any Ill effects of using VC.

And any other questions that may arise. So everyone that is currently using VC, please fill out this form as best as you can.

********************

Tank Size: (size of tank)

Live Rock: (yes/no & quantity)

Filtration: (type of filtration, wet/dry, berlin, refugium, skimmer, reactors etc etc.)

Lighting: (type & quantity)

Fish: (type & quantity)

Corals: (types & quantity & empty/heavily stocked)

Water Quality: (Am, Ni, Na, Ph, Ca, Alk, Mag, Phos)

Length of VC Use: (how long have you been using VC)

Type of VC: (buffered/unbuffered, Calcium/Sodium, pill/powdered etc)

Amount of VC: (how much VC (mg AND ppm & how often daily)

Reason for VC: (Why did you start dosing VC. What problems, if any, were you having before dosing VC.)

Improvements/complications: (What improvements have you seen, what complications have you encountered.)

 

[LiveRock27]

I did my first dose this morning w/Sodium Ascobate of 200mg VC. I thought I would add a section for what people dose in their tank and how often.

Tank Size: 14g Biocube

Live Rock: 13lbs in DT and 3lbs in 2nd chamber

Filtration: Skimmer, live rock rubble, purigen, and carbon

Lighting: 3x24watts of pc (2x10K, 1xActinic)

Fish: 2 ORA misbar True Percs

Corals: Zoas/Palys frags and 1 acan lord frag

Water Quality: Am 0, Ni 0, Na 0, Ph 8.2, Ca 500, Alk 10, Phos 0

Type pf VC: Sodium Buffered in the pill form(1000mg).

Amount of VC: started w/200mg VC twice a day and work up to 1500mg VC twice a day.

Reason for VC: Zoas are not opening and some have died off.

Improvements/complications: First day, so no change. Did notice this afternoon that my Acan lord has its feeders extended. This maybe from the the VC particles that were in the water though.

I took lots of before pics and will try and post them later on the other thread.

 

[sellout007]

Tank Size: 55g with 30g sump. (total water volume of about 60g).

Live Rock: 40-50lbs

Filtration: Refugium w/ Miracle Mud, ER skimmer, Occasionally run RowaPhos and Carbon. Will be adding a DeNitrate reactor.

Lighting: 8 Bulb T5 Tek Light.

Fish: Fu Manchu Lion, Filamented Devilfish, Purple Tang, Purple Psudeochrome.

Corals: Majority Zoa dominated, few SPS frags, plate coral, clam. Still plenty of space left.

Water Quality: Am-0, Ni- 0, Na-10, Ph-8.1 Ca-420, Alk-12, Mag-1200, Po4-0

Type of VC: Calcium Ascorbate (buffered/powdered)

Amount of VC: 1640mg (10ppm) - 2x daily

Reason for VC: No reason. Heard people had good experiences and decided to give it a try.

Improvements/complications: My purple tang had Ich, its tail fin was deteriorating and had the beginnings of LLE for about a month prior to dosing VC. Within a week the Ich had visibly gone away, within two weeks the fins were back to normal and LLE went away.

 

[driftin]

Tank Size: 70 gallon plus equipment sump

Live Rock: Yes, ~50 lb?

Filtration: Skimmer, small fuge, phosban reactor

Lighting: (2) 175W Iwasaki, 96W PC actinic

Fish: (2) Clown, (2) PJ Cardinals, (1) Clown Goby, (1) Starry Blenny

Corals: lightly stocked -- Zoos, LPS, limited montipora, clams

Water Quality: pH - 8.3, Ca - 390, Alk - 8.6dKh, haven't checked others recently

Type of VC: buffered Calcium Ascorbate

Amount of VC: 1250 mg (5 ppm) 2xdaily into sump

Reason for VC: Why not? Curious.

Improvements/complications: Too early to say. One section of a wall-hammer died second day of dosing, probably coincidental? Very rapid but no further spread although the whole coral is stressed. I'm watching that and a new clam that was stressed on arrival.

 

[Caleb Kruse]

Here is my in depth study on the effects of Vitamin C on fragged soft corals

http://www.calebkruse.com/Lab Write-Up.html

 

[RoyalEnchntrss]

Tank Size: 30 gallon with a 10 gallon fuge

Live Rock: yes and Im not sure how much but I think its a lot.. haha

Filtration: Fuge, Skimmer, Hang on filter on fuge

Lighting: 250 20K MH

Fish: Clownfish pair, Bangaii Cardinal Pair and a 6 line wrasse

Corals: Zoos mostly now, I had a bunch of SPS and they died ( from a sudden loss of calcium)... i think I have 3 SPS left, a feather duster, mushrooms.. GSP of course lol

Water Quality: Am - 0
Ni - 0
Na - 0
Ph - 7.8
Ca - 450
Alk - 10


Amount of VC: I started at 500mg and I'm up to 2000mg twice a day.. Its been about a month

Reason for VC: Zoos were closed up and melting/dying away

Improvements/complications: Zoos are opening and slowly getting better, Corals are open more, happier looking. Algae is going away?? Ph is dropping a little so I'm switching over to the buffered powder form once it arrives..

 

[jjmcat]

Tank Size: 110 with 55 gallon sump

Live Rock: 100lbs

Filtration: Refugium ,skimmer,sponge,and xenia

Lighting: X3 250 watt MH

Fish: 2 percs,PB tang,Aussi Sailfin tang,Coral beauty1 chromis,6 line wrasse


Corals: SPS,Lots of LPS,Zoas

Water Quality: calc 400,Alk 9,Mag 1300,PH 8.1

Type of VC: ascorbic acid

Amount of VC: 500 mg X1 daily going to increase to 1000mg

Reason for VC wanted to see what it would do.

Improvements: Zoas and Palys are looking much better

 

[iairj84]

Tank Size: 20 Gallon

Live Rock: about 30lbs

Filtration: Sump/fuge as well as a ps75 skimmer

Lighting: 150watt de 20k MH

Fish: A pair of Ocellaris clowns

Corals: Mainly Softies, zoo's as well as some LPS.

Water Quality: To be honest I only check for DkH as well as PH and occasionally Nitrates... DkH is 10-12 and Ph is pretty steady at 8.0

Length of VC Use: About a month now

Type of VC: Regular old pill for now, I bough the bottle before I heard about the buffered mix.

Amount of VC: 1000mg 2x a day

Reason for VC: Just to see what it would do. I had one zoa frag that had been closed for about a week and it has since opened and stayed open. Everything looks healthy

Improvements/complications: As said about just that one frag that is now open. things seem to show a little more color and seem to be a little fuller also but it could just be my eyes playing tricks on me.

 

[Vinnie71975]

Tank Size: (size of tank) 20g

Live Rock: (yes/no & quantity)Yes 23lbs

Filtration: (type of filtration, wet/dry, berlin, refugium, skimmer, reactors etc etc.) Seaclone 100, fulval 103 canister with carbon and Fiber.

Lighting: (type & quantity) 4x54watt T5 HO

Fish: (type & quantity) True Perc, Yellowtailed Blue Damsel

Corals: (types & quantity & empty/heavily stocked) Radioactive Green Zoa's GSP, 2 candy canes

Water Quality: (Am, Ni, Na, Ph, Ca, Alk, Mag, Phos) 0,0,0,8.3,500,8.4 unknown,unknown

Length of VC Use: (how long have you been using VC) 3 days

Type of VC: (buffered/unbuffered, Calcium/Sodium, pill/powdered etc)Unbuffered Powder

Amount of VC: (how much VC (mg AND ppm & how often daily)2 grams twice a day.

Reason for VC: (Why did you start dosing VC. What problems, if any, were you having before dosing VC.) Seen promising results in the thread.

Improvements/complications: (What improvements have you seen, what complications have you encountered.) Only thing i have noticed so far is that my tank has turned into a 20g green water culture!

 

[jdellman]

Tank Size: 120 plus 24 gallon sump

Live Rock: 140 pounds

Filtration: ASM-2 skimmer, DSB with 240 lbs. sand, reactor with carbon and Phosar

Lighting: Dual 250 Watt HQI, (Ushio Aqualite 10,000) with dual T5 54W Actinics

Fish: Purple Firefish, Firefish, Watchman Goby, 2 Ocellaris percula clownfish, Scott’s Fairy Wrasse, 2 Chromis, Flame Angel, Purple Tang, Green Mandarin, Midas Blenny and Royal Gamma

Corals: Zoas, Palys, softies, shrooms, rics, leathers, LPS, few SPS, clam, RBTA

Water Quality: Am- 0, Ni- 0, Na-0, Ph-8.0, Ca-380, Alk-8.6, Mag-1300, Phos-0

Length of VC Use: Started 12/15

Type of VC: Started with generic VC, switched to Sodium Ascorbate,

Amount of VC: 2000 mg twice a day

Reason for VC: Some of the zoas weren’t opening

Improvements/complications: Zoas look better and bigger. Not much noticeable improvement in the rest of the corals. Decreased pH with the generic VC.

 

[skunkmere]

Tank Size: 90g

Live Rock: yes 100 lbs
Filtration: berlin, refugium, skimmer,
Lighting: 8 x 96w PC

Fish: 1 niger trigger and 1 spiny i=urchine

Corals: 1 torch kenya tree and mushrooms
Water Quality: all good
Length of VC Use: 2 weeks low dose 2.5ppm
Type of VC: unbuffered, pill
Amount of VC: 400mg
Reason for VC: thereputic, experimentation

Improvements/complications: everthing seems ok acutally my kenya tree seems to respond really quick to my touching it. the polyps close faster thank before.

 

[madadi]

Tank Size: (90gal

Live Rock: 160lbs

Filtration: skimmer, fuge, live rock/sand, chaeto

Lighting: 8 T5s on icecap ballasts.

Fish: 7

Corals: mostly SPS frags, about 20. the rest is ricordias and zoa, some acans and blastos.

Water Quality: (Na o, Ni o, Amo o, Ph 8.2, Cal 420, dKH 8.5, Mag1400, Phos lots of algae who knows)

Length of VC Use: almost two months

Type of VC: powder sodium ascorbate

Amount of VC: 3g morning and night

Reason for VC: curious, i wanted accelerated zoa growth. bigger zoa.

Improvements/complications: clear water, zoa opening much fuller, multiplying much quicker. SPS corals so so, i had a problem keeping alk stable at first since i was using regular, unbuffered vit C.

 

[baloutang]

Tank Size: 150 gal, 30 gal sump

Live Rock: yes/ apprx 200lbs

Filtration: berlin, skimmer, calc reactor

Lighting: 4 VHO's (just switched over to 2 T-5's and 3 250w MH (14k)

Fish: Hippo, Sailfin, Kole Tang, Convict Damsel, Tomato Clown, mandarin gobi (one of each)

Corals: lightly stocked
Acro's (monti's encrusting, digita, vermiticula, birdnest, tri color valida)
Zoo's (tubs blue, green zoos, brown paly's, pink zoos)
Frogspawn
GSP
Figi yellow leather
3 brown/purple leathers
Blue/teal mushrooms
Green ricordas

Water Quality:
AM = 0
NI - not sure if this is for nitrates (NO3), but it's 5ppm
CA = 450
PH = 8.3
Alk = 12 dkh
Mag = no clue (don't have test kit yet)
Phos = 0

Length of VC Use: ~ 2 weeks

Type of VC: buffered sodium acsorbate

Amount of VC:
1000 mg/day roughly 5ppm

Reason for VC: No problems, outside that my Ricordias were not doing too well.

Improvements/complications: Within 1 week of dosing all corals have amazing PE. I started to dose twice a day, but noticed blue/teal mushrooms getting pinched so went back down to once a day. I've never gone beyond the 1000 mg dosage. Alk/ph are remaining stable

 

[Puffalicious]

Tank Size: 40G

Live Rock: 65lbs

Filtration: 20G Fuge w/Chaeto&Caulerpa, Aqua C Urchin Skimmer

Lighting: PC Lighting 2X55W

Fish: Tomato Clown, Coral Beauty Angel, FireFish, Purple Firefish

Corals: Zoas, Shrooms, Xenias, Finger Coral, some LPS

Water Quality: Am-0, Ni-0, Na-10, Ph-8.0, Ca-450, Alk-10, Mag-?, Phos-0

Length of VC Use: Use for about 4-5days

Type of VC: Calcium Ascorbate

Amount of VC: 1000mg 1-2x daily

Reason for VC: Zoas, Kenya Tree, Xenias didn't look healthy and stopped growing.

Improvements/complications: Kenya Tree opened up, Zoas are opening up more Wider, Overall All the corals are looking healthy.

 

[dileggi]

What VC actually fixing - Initially, I started dosing because of closed zoa's. Although, my zoa's or button's didn't seem to respond right away to the dosing, my GSP showed signs within 3 days. Keep in mind, mine were closed because I burnt them accidentally with undissolved reef buffer.

Types of issues been resolved - As of now, both of my zoa colonies are open, GSP still budding and growing nicely and my lost button's, with two heads left, have now started to open.

How much VC needed - I'm not exactly sure how much was needed. I started dosing 125mg 2x's per day. One week later, I raised to 250mg 2x's per day. I never went any higher than 250mg 2x's per day.

Any ill effects - Not that I have noticed at all. I had some slight problems keeping CA above 380 and about 3 weeks in, had an issue with my PH slightly falling, but only to 8.0 from 8.2. Both have since been fixed and I can't even prove there was a correlation between the two.

Tank Size - BioCube 29

Live Rock - Yes. 30lbs, mostly Fiji, with some small Tonga Branch mixed in.

Filtration - Oceanic Skimmer, Koralia1 Power head, wet/dry with bio balls removed and changed to in tank sump/fuge.

Lighting - 144W PC's: 1 36w 10,000k daylight; 1 36w 50/50; 2 36w Actinic03; 3 .75w Lunar Moonglow/Led.

Fish - 2 Ocellaris Clowns (tank raised); 2 Green Chromis; 1 Indigo Dottyback (tank raised)

Corals - Zoa Colony (2); Button Polyp colony (2); Candy Cane, Ric Rock, Open Brain, Torch, Bubble Coral (Pearl), GSP, Hitchers...Button polyp - 2 heads.

Water Quality (as of 2/7/08-yesterday)
Amonia - 0
Nitrites - 0
Nitrates - 10
PH - 8.2
Ca - 460
Alk - 9
Mag - not testing
Phos - Test reads 0 (I have some HA though)
Temp - 78.6 - 80.3

Lenth of VC use - Started dosing 12/29/07. Stopped 1/29/08. Starting new cycle 2/9/08. Stopped when HA started growing relentlessly.

Type of VC - GNC brand - 500mg w/ Rose Hips.

Amount of VC - 250mg - 2x's/day

Reason for VC - I accidentally burnt my GSP, Polyps and Zoa's with buffer that went into display undissolved. A memeber of RC...Sk8r directed me to the dosing link in December. I had burnt the corals on Nov 11th. They were all closed for about 6 weeks when I started dosing.

Improvements - Everything that had been burnt has now re-opened. It seems that my GSP had responded better than my zoa's or polyps. The zoa's and polyps each lost some buds, but are now full again and growing nicely. Again, I'm not sure if it was the VC or time, or a combination of both.

Complications - Hair algae. While I'm aware that the HA is caused by nitrates & phosphates in my water, it really didn't start growing out of control until January 2008 - about 3-4 weeks into dosing. I stopped the dosing to see if the growth would slow down because I didn't know if the HA was also benefitting from the VC as well. It was fairly hard to tell because I had also upgraded my lights during this stoppage of dosing, and the HA really liked the new lighting too! LOL!

I hope this helps!

 

[gprovo]

Tank: 110 Gal
Live rock: approx 100 lbs mixed
Filtration: 55 gal sump/refugium
Light: 375 watts pc 10 k, 125 watts pc actinic - 2x 150 watt MH 14 k
Fish: sailfin tang, naso tang, 2 percula, 1 yelo wrasse, 1 filament wrasse
Corals: Mixed - mainly zoas, palys, some leather & sps
Water quality: Am,Ni,Na 0
Ph 8.23-8.35
Ca ? last time checked 450 ppm
Alk 9 dKH
Mag ?
Phos 0.25
Salinity 1.025
Temp 80.0
Length of use 'C' 1 month with, stopped 2 weeks, now for 2 weeks again.

Type 'C' pills unbuffered AscorbicAcid 500 mg

Reason: sounded like good idea - had no problems to start with.

Improvements/ Complications:
Started with 500mg and build up to 6000 mg over a weeks time.
Used 6000mg for about a week, The good news: sps changed from brown to pink (birdsnests) Brown leather changed to green leather, all zoas/palys looked to be brighter and bigger. pink ponci looked brighter and better polyps. The bad news: I have 2 sections of green star polyps approximately 8 inches square each. They retracted completely. Stopped using 'C'. GSP's came back after 3 days slowly and after one week came back to normal. Waited another week and am now dosing 2000mg per day for about a week. No noticeable ill effects so far. Will continue to dose 2000mg.

 

[vanceny]

Tank Size: 90g plus 55g sump

Live Rock: Yes approx 150lbs

Filtration: ASM G3, Phosban Reactor, Carbon 24x7, filter socks
Lighting: (type & quantity) 4x54watt T5 HO

Fish: Sailfin tang, hippo tang, LMB, yellow clown goby, tailspot blenny, japanese swallowtail, tomato clown, Amphiprion clarkii

Corals: Mixed, zoas, mushrooms, 4 types of plating monitpora, pink birdsnest, purple bonsia, green slimer, tricolor, plus other small sps frags.

Water Quality:
Ca = 420
Alk = 9 dkh
Mg = 1300

Length of VC Use: (how long have you been using VC) 2 weeks

Type of VC: GNC with rose hips

Amount of VC: 2000 mg

Reason for VC: Some zoa's closing or not growing.

Improvements/complications:
Zoa's opening
SPS polyp extension

Complications - algea bloom

I have discontinued use until I get a chance to purchase the sodium acsorbate. Everything seems to be doing well now even without the dosing.

 

[rkelman]

Tank Size: 90 Gal (30 Gal Sump)

Live Rock: 100lbs

Filtration: Coralife SS220 / Refugium

Lighting: 2 x 250w MH with PC's for supplimentation

Fish: Yellow Tang, Blue Tang, Occelaris pair, Coral Beauty, Royal Gramma, Aggressor, 6 Chromis

Corals: One Softie 1LPS the rest are SPS Medium Stocked

Water Quality: Nitrates 20ppm PH 8.0 Ca 440, ALK 10

Length of VC Use: 2 Weeks

Type of VC: unbuffered I think (it doesn't say) Pills

Amount of VC: 2000mg a day 1000 in the morning 1000 at night

Reason for VC: Zoas retracting

Improvements/complications: No improvements yet, Algae blooms that seem to be passing.

 

[Jeff]

Tank Size: 220 Gallon

Live Rock: Around 350 lbs.

Filtration: 40G Fuge w/Chaeto, ATI Bubblemaster 200 Skimmer

Lighting: 14 X 39 watt T5 fixture

Fish: Mixed, large tangs and clowns along with lots of little fish

Corals: Mixed reef, mostly softies with some lps and sps

Water Quality: Nitrates-0, Ph-8.0 (on a good day), Ca-420, Alk-9, Mag-1300, Phos-0

Length of VC Use: Around 5 weeks but just started dosing the correct amount a week ago

Type of VC: Calcium Ascorbate from Iherb.com

Amount of VC: Around 4000 2x daily

Reason for VC: General improvement in the health of my corals and fish.

Improvements/complications: Noted faster spread of some corals and much better coloration of some corals. Fish seem healthier and vibrant. I had some zoas that grew but didnt spread and lately they have started to spread and multiply.

 

[chris0942]

tank size: 210

live rock: yes about 450 to 500 lbs

filtration: euro reef, live rock

lighting: 3 400w mh xm 10k, 2 250w mh over fuge

corals: sps, lps, softies, polyps

water quality: 0, 0, 0, 8.2, 450, ?, ?, 0.

length of vc use: 1 1/2 months

type of vc: gnc vitamin c cystals powder

amount of vc: 4120 mg twice daily

reason for starting: read about it seen good results

improvements/ complications: seen good polyp exstentions in zoas and sps. all around good color. no complications