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Coral Vue Hydros

Vitamin C Dosing


evilc66

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I have just started dosing vitamin C to see if it will help a small colony of zoas recover from a bout of fungus, and for overall tank health. The evidence so far seems pretty compelling, but I would like to know if anyone else has had success dosing with vitamin C. So far, it's looking pretty good, but my dose is pretty low and I need to crank it up a bit.

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For what is worth, I just started to use Reef Plus by Seachem, which is also a vitamin concentrated. So far, I just put half of the dosis and I can tell the results are amazing. Candy cane is opening wider and some zoas that I was kind of loosing are now starting to cover the LR where they were on. I know is a very short time to tell, but results are coming nicely. I can not wait to see the results with a few more dosis.

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I have just started dosing vitamin C to see if it will help a small colony of zoas recover from a bout of fungus, and for overall tank health. The evidence so far seems pretty compelling, but I would like to know if anyone else has had success dosing with vitamin C. So far, it's looking pretty good, but my dose is pretty low and I need to crank it up a bit.

 

vit C is great for softies. i suspect you have a skimmer. if not, i suggest you get one. i still dose C but usually either throw it into my skimmer chamber or put some in my fish food. it's also supposed to help w/ lateral line disease in fish and help clean livers. i noticed my fish seemed healthier (more active) after a few weeks use. if you have a skimmer, you'll notice a bunch of nog after dosing. the C seems to help pull out a lot of crap in the water. if you don't have a skimmer, you're water may develop a yellowish tinge. carbon should clear that up.

 

 

For what is worth, I just started to use Reef Plus by Seachem, which is also a vitamin concentrated. So far, I just put half of the dosis and I can tell the results are amazing. Candy cane is opening wider and some zoas that I was kind of loosing are now starting to cover the LR where they were on. I know is a very short time to tell, but results are coming nicely. I can not wait to see the results with a few more dosis.

 

i used to use reef plus too but stopped because i noticed the back label listed copper as one of its ingredients. i contacted seachem and they told me the amount in there was fine. lots of people use and like reef plus. i just figured i'd let people know about the copper in it.

 

What kind of Vitamin C are ppl dosing, how much per gallon of tankwater, and how often?

 

i use food grade ascorbic acid powder, buffered to pH 7.1. despite buffering, expect it to swallow up some of your ALK. i was using it w/o measuring ALK a while back and had my ALK drop to 80 ppm! i dose about a half teaspoon everyday into my 40 gallon system. been going at it about 6-8 months.

 

i bought mine from a health food store online and got a huge bottle for like 10 bucks shipped. this isn't mine but will probably work http://www.iherb.com/productdetails.aspx?c...p;utm_medium=f3

 

make sure it's pure, food grade, and in the powder form. there's a lot out there with fillers and other ingredients.

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I've tried it once or twice, it did help. I used off the shelf vitamin C tablets. I dosed 5mg/gallon, once or twice a day. I also removed my carbon while I was using it.

 

Now I just use it if my zoas aren't looking healthy. It does a good job of bringing them out of a deteriorating cycle. Some use it constantly and that seems to work well too.

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Deleted User 6
use food grade ascorbic acid powder, buffered to pH 7.1. despite buffering, expect it to swallow up some of your ALK. i was using it w/o measuring ALK a while back and had my ALK drop to 80 ppm! i dose about a half teaspoon everyday into my 40 gallon system. been going at it about 6-8 months.

 

How'd you buffer it?

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burtbollinger

here, I used to do it....:

 

BTW, I'm doisng vitamin C....heres the most cut/dry explaination I've seen:

 

from web:

 

You need to be careful dosing the VC. Here is a chart:

OK, in short, you should order some Sodium ascorbate or Calcium ascorbate from here: www.i-herb.com.

(you use this code: FOR500, you get $5 off at www.i-herb.com.)

You can drop it under your skimmer cup.

 

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

 

Be sure your pH is around 8.2 & your alk is around 9-10, before you start. Keep an eye on both (I test weekly, now that I notice no changes).

 

 

The method to be followed in all cases is as follows:

 

Day 1 : concentration of 5 ppm

 

Day 2 : concentration of 15 ppm

 

Day 3 : concentration of 30 ppm

 

Day 4 : concentration of 50 ppm

 

After day 4, continue treating with a concentration of 50 ppm for 10 more days to 30 more days, depending on the severity of what you are treating for.

 

The total treatment period is thus 14-30 days but can last longer if need be.

 

In real severe cases you may need to treat for an additional 7 days or more

 

During this entire period you should not be using activated carbon

 

During this entire period you should not be using any chemical filtration media either (e.g. resins or pads, SuperChem and the like).

 

The skimmer needs to continue to be in operation.

 

Note that when you use these kind of Vitamin C concentrations it really is of utmost importance that you monitor you pH and ensure that it does not suddenly drop.

 

Check the pH before you add the C but check a few minutes later also. If the pH is too low add a complete buffer immediately to re-establish your alkalinity and increase the pH of the water in the tank. This is very important indeed.

 

It is important too, to realize that your dKH must be in the 9 to 10 range to minimize the amount of cloudiness that will develop. It the dKH is high (e.g. 12 or more) you will initially have a lot more cloudiness. This will gradually disappear though as you continue the treatment.

 

Be sure to take some "before" pics!

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Thanks for the responses everyone. I'm glad to see that others have had good luck with it. I'm starting to see some results after 4 days of dosing low concentrations. A few more polyps of the colony of zoas that got hit with the fungus were a little open today. Best condition they have been in about a month. I have also noticed that my Orange Bam-Bams have better coloring now. The blue ring on the outside of the disc is far more pronounced now. So far so good.

 

Lets keep the comments rolling.

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Thunderstruck34

I use Marine C vitamin C, for my 29 gallon (4 drops a day when i do dose)...and yeah i would definitly recommend it... I only use it when fish look ill or dare i say glimpses of ich rear their nasty heads. But have had success with it and glad to see that it has a positive affect on coral too. I only dose tho when something doesn't look/act right. Good stuff tho

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To figure out how much to add, take the system volume (minus rock), multiply it by the desired concentration, then convert to liters. So, for a tank with a system volume of 100g after rock, and a 5ppm desired concentration:

 

100 x 5 x 3.785 = 1892.5mg

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The Propagator

No I am starting with gallons.

Why do we have to convert it to liters then ?

AND... how do we find or where do we find how much to dose per day so as not to over dose ?

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