Vitamin "c" dosing Calling the experts...

[Jeff]

It's slow but steady with VC. Depending on your dose it could take a couple months to go from 10-20 ppm to zero. It took me a month to go from 50 ppm to zero using a low dose of sugar (and it cost a lot less).

 

[jadeguppy]

Nitrates are at 20 right now. I want to move some sps back into the tank. Sounds like vc and sugar are the way to go. Thanks for the timeline.

 

[Jeff]

 

[Pufferpunk]

Thanks Jeff for helping out with all this but you've gotta start posting the correct link in your cut/paste:
http://www.iherb.com/ProductDetails.aspx?c=1&pid=-7152293197697039798
$5 off coupon code LUL789

Also, I didn't even know the Thiel article existed until I started posting my sucess with VC (about after 3 months of dosing) & then someone linkled me to it. Been trying different amounts since that & reformulation his dosages. I mainly like linking to that article to refrence what VC can actually help with your tank. We recently found it out it helps cure zoapox in very high doses of 100ppm!

 

[Jeff]

oops

 

[LCDRDATA]

Well, I'm up to the full 30ppm dosing - I can't tell if it's helping my sick corals but it may be that it was too late for them. There's still some live tissue on the open brain and one of the frogspawns, but I can't tell on the other frogspawn. And my montipora is suffering too, with the tissue initially peeling off of one edge and spreading. Unfortunately I can't take that one out to dip without shattering it, so I guess about all I can do is keep good params (I'm about to do all my testing, so I'll post afterward) and cross my fingers. I do have some zoas that look real happy, for what that's worth.

On another note, I don't know if this is related or not, but since I started dosing I'm noticing some growths of some kind of green stuff at several locations in my tank. They're generally roundish and bulbous - here are some pics of a couple pieces I broke off and the stuff in the tank:

Pieces on a paper towel -

Lower left and upper right -

Upper center, compare snail shell (hermit crab) for size -

Any ideas regarding 1) what it is; 2) is it related to the VC (understanding time coincidence by no means equals causality); 3) is it a problem; and 4) if the answer to 3 is yes, what I can can or should do about it? Thanks!

 

[Pufferpunk]

Not related, IMO. As a carbon source, VC should actually be starving out algae. My cheato hasn't grown a thread since I started dosing. I was thinking of getting rid of it all together, except pods probably like to hang out in there.

 

[JSM]

I thought cyanobacteria and bubble algae were the two that could use carbon as an energy source??

Janna

 

[Pufferpunk]

I don't think that is either.

 

[LCDRDATA]

OK, here are my current params:

SG - 1.026
pH - 8.2
Alk - 3.5 meq (9.8 dKH)
NO3 = 0
PO4 = 0
Ca = 450
Mg = 1290

I haven't dosed the VC yet tonight but will in a few minutes (didn't want to throw off my test results). I'm debating a ~5% water change; I mixed it up and started aerating about 8 hours ago, so I think I should wait until tomorrow; any opinions?

At any rate, as you can see my nitrates and phosphates are both registering as zero. My chaeto hasn't shown any growth since I started dosing VC (good?), but there is some hair algae growing in the tank and some other generic algae growing on the sides of my 'fuge (not so good?). So I'm not sure if the chaeto isn't quite managing to suck up what's left or what. And then there's this new stuff.

 

[Pufferpunk]

Doesn't really matter. Not that this has anything to do with dosing VC but you should get your Mg up a bit.

 

[LCDRDATA]

I was planning on dosing some Mg later this evening after the VC. I generally dose it and some other supplements (Strontium/Moly, Iodine, Kent "Essential elements) once a week on Sundays.

 

[jadeguppy]

I've found hair algea starts growing more when mag drops. Raise the mag back up and it may go away.

 

[LCDRDATA]

I was planning to increase the mag anyway, so this just reinforces it.

If I can go a bit off topic for a moment - especially for pufferpunk - what's the best way to kill an aiptasia that's right smack dab in the middle of a colony of zoas? I definitely want it gone, but want as little "collateral damage" as possible. I know the standard list - lemon juice, vinegar, Joe's Juice, Aiptasia-X, kalk paste, etc. - which (if any) has the least effect on the zoas? Thanks.

 

[Pufferpunk]

I use kalk. Try your best to aim directly at the aptasia.

Stop dosing all that other stuff. We just had a lecture by Dr Ron Shimek who said dosing Strontium is a bad thing. No need for Essencial Elements with regular WC either. Iodine is a very toxic chemical & should be dosed with extrreme caution.

 

[mhaith]

Why did he say that?

No question my animals respond well to my weekly Prodibio Iodine and Strontium doses.

 

[Pufferpunk]

I don't remember exactly but from what I do remember, Strontium inhibits the uptake of something very important to corals.

 

[Jeff]

mhaith, what brand of salt do you use, how oftne do you do water changes, and what amount do yu change each time?

 

[mhaith]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14405578#post14405578 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Jeff
mhaith, what brand of salt do you use, how oftne do you do water changes, and what amount do yu change each time?

Kent, every other week, 30%, rinse Chaeto, blast sand/rocks, pull detritus from sump.

Prodibio, Modded ASM 3 & 2, Chaeto, GFO, GAC, 3ml daily Vodka, .25 tsp VC, 8" Derasa.

 

[Pufferpunk]

There are a lot of pods you are removing from your cheato when you rinse it.