Vitamin C Dosing

Pufferpunk

New member
I invest a ton of $$$ in my zoas. As many of you guys know, I have been dosing vitamin C for many years now. After running out, I was having a disagreement with the supplier I was getting it from & did without for about 2 months. Some of my zoas started melting again. I have been back dosing for only 2 weeks & the melting zoas are all coming back & I can't believe the growth spurt on the rest of them!!! I will never get lax or let myself run out again!
 
Maybe your corals are just used to the pristine water. Stopping vitamin c dosing for that time might have let the phosphates and nitrates build up a little causing your zoas to react poorly. Either way, glad they came back.
 
I just started dosing Vitamin C yesterday so i haven't really noticed any changes yet but i think its still too early. Where are you getting your vitamin C from puffer? I just ordered from iherb since that seemed to be the most popular.
 
I get it from the same place. Cheapest around & free shipping, when I buy 4 bottles at a time. Did you get the $10 off your 1st order?
 
I get it from the same place. Cheapest around & free shipping, when I buy 4 bottles at a time. Did you get the $10 off your 1st order?

Yup. Probably should of ordered more then 1 bottle but i wanna see if i notice any difference first. I tried aqua vitro fuel before this, went through a whole bottle and never saw a difference
 
PP have you tried vinegar dosing? it might be cheaper than the vit c if you get the same/similar results with the zoas.
 
Yes Kev, I realize some do not see any difference with VC but the overwhelming response of folks who DO see a difference (including myself), cannot be ignored. I have no idea why zoas struggle in both my tanks but I have yet again proved to myself, VC is the answer for ME. I have tried other carbon sources but after extended of research, VC is the only source that also helps boost the amino acids in cells, to help them heal & grow. I do not know how much VC others are dosing. i dose at around 15ppm+. Aquavitro has much less & you will use of that pricey bottle very quickly if you try. VC cannot be overdosed like other carbon sources. I will stick with dosing, even when I have issues with a supplier. ;)
 
Maybe your corals are just used to the pristine water. Stopping vitamin c dosing for that time might have let the phosphates and nitrates build up a little causing your zoas to react poorly. Either way, glad they came back.
My water is far from pristine. I only do WC about 1x/month. My other tank doesn't even have a refugium on it.
 
what type of Vit C do you use again, i am starting to have some issues with some and was using brightwells but not sure its really helping.

Thanks
 
Again, as with Aquavitro, you'd have to use 1/2 the bottle daily, to get even close to what is required for this kind of dosing. Especially, if your corals are ill.

VITAMIN C DOSING CHART
Here are the directions:
Use this product:
http://www.iherb.com/ProductDetails.aspx?pid=10178&at=0 FREE SHIPPING!!!
$10 off 1st order of $40 & up or $5 off on smaller orders, when using this code: LUL789


To figure out how much to use, decide if you want to simply improve coral growth, spread, and color. If so, then you should dose around 5 ppm twice daily (down to 2-3 ppm works also). If you are having problems with coral or fish health, dose up to around 30 ppm twice daily.

Calculate the total net number of gallons in your tank (minus rocks, sand, etc). Enter that number here ______.

You will now need to do a little math. The amounts below are for 100 gallons of water so if you have 50 net gallons, cut the amounts shown below in half etc.

Dosing amounts using I-herb product:
1/4 tsp=1112 mg.

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

After you have figured out how much you want to dose at each dosing, enter that number here _____. This is your dose to be used twice a day.

Notes:
*Be sure your pH and alk are within normal reef limits before starting. Adjust if needed. Monitor weekly.
*Shoot for a ppm of around 5 or lower if only dosing for improved coral growth, coloration, and spread, also for better health/coloration of your fish. Shoot for higher amounts up to 30 ppm if you are having melting zoas or closed zoas and look for the causes of your problems as you dose. Higher doses of as much as 100ppm (for about 2 weeks) for fish illness. Check for high nitrates, pests, zoa pox, predators, and unstable water conditions.
*Dose low amounts and increase the amount slowly over the course of a few days to a couple weeks.
* If you notice an algae bloom (white stringy stuff) or increased scum on your glass then cut back by half until it disappears.
* Watch your skimmer, it will start to skim more.
* Dose the amount twice a day in a fast moving area of your sump or overflow. You may dilute the vitamin c in ro/di water then pour into overflow. If adding to sump, try and add the vitamin c after filtration such as skimmers and reactors. *Keep your Vitamin C bottle in the refrigerator. * If you have a question, ask here. I do my best to check these threads daily.
* The instructions in this guide and throughout this thread are based on using pure Sodium Ascorbate, not vitamin c pills and other non-buffered forms of vitamin c.

Be sure to take some "before" pics!
 
This thread is for information only & because I needed to start a new thread for the LS contest. If you don't like the idea of using something that could possibly benefit your tank, I really don't care--just don't bash it in my thread.
 
I was gonna ask how much you were dosing but i saw you had posted that. Are you dosing 15 ppm twice a day or is that combined? Right now im just dosing 5ppm twice a day, figured ill start off low and maybe up the dose eventuallly.

Also maybe that was the issue with Fuel, i really wasnt dosing enough for it to make a real impact on anything, i had just heard good things about it on different forums so i figured why not give a bottle a shot.
 
2x/day, one being when the lights are out (more is absorbed). I was up to 23ppm (1 tsp/100g) but decided I didn't need to go as high as that.

It's good to start low & ramp up.
 
Hey puffer, i just recently got informed by Rich on using Vitamin C.. Looks very interesting. I think I am going to plan on dosing this. You mentioned to watch your PH and Alk. Does this have any negative effect on them? Am I required to run anything like Carbon to not get bad effects from this.? Does this only help Z's and P's or all corals?

Also is there any where I can buy this locally??
 
It has benefited all my corals, especially, LPS. I also see better PE on my SPS.

No carbon necessary. I do run Purigen, since I keep mixed reef tanks but I dose after where it's in my fuge so it doesn't absorb any of it, although from what I've read, that shouldn't matter. In my research it is recommended that your alk be stable before dosing. If you use the buffered form (sodium ascorbate, calcium ascorbate or magnesium ascorbate), it shouldn't affect your alk.

IDK where you can get it locally for near what I found it online for, especially, since you can get $5-10 off your 1st order.
 
I've been dosing a small amount (one level spoon full using an old CA test kit spoon) daily in my 10 g QT that has some zoa and Ric frags in it. Seemed to help them bounce back after dipping in H2O2. I will continue to dose it daily while they r in QT (has a CPR Bak Pak skimmer running).
 
Figured id chime in here, ive only been dosing for 4 days now, slowly ramping up, im around 7 ppm now twice a day, once in the morning before i leave work, (lights are off) and once when i get home (lights are on). I have definitely seen an improvement in my zoas. They seem to be a lot more open then they were before. Call it coincidence, but this stuff definitely works.

Puffer have you noticed that zoa's are growing faster then when you were not dosing? I plan on keeping up with the dosing but just wondering if you've noticed anything
 
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