Treating with Vitamin C

[Pufferpunk]

It hasn't affected mine at all.

[geoxman]

It did mine -as it is ascorbic acid and it will decrease PH. In addition to my two part I add a PH buffer every other day. Everything seems to be doing awesome and very healthy. I actually might increase the dose even more just to see the effect, as I have also started using carbon for the next day or so.

As for the ORP a person in our local club also had the same experience. I do not check or have ever checked for that, and most everything my tank is doing rather well. I do know my PH, Alk, and Ca are all good. I also tun a phosban reactor so phosphates are almost nothing. good luck

[Pufferpunk]

What is ORP??? (OK, guys, I think I asked 3x already... or was that another forum?)

[tmz]

Oxygen reduction potential. It's a measure of the stability of your system's oxygen level.

[geoxman]

I have never paid attention nor do I plan to do so as everything else is all good. good luck

I am also sure that some geeky reefer will tell me that I am starving my reef or messing with the water chemistry because of my not monitoring my OPR or ORP .

[b16drag]

Definitely keeping an eye on this thread.

[tmz]

Originally posted by geoxman
I have never paid attention nor do I plan to do so as everything else is all good. good luck

I am also sure that some geeky reefer will tell me that I am starving my reef or messing with the water chemistry because of my not monitoring my OPR or ORP .

It is what it is. If you don't wan't to pay attention to it that's up to you. Why bother to read it. If someone asks what it means I 'll be polite enough to answer without editorializing. Just because you don't know what it means doesn't entitle you to characterize someone else as a "geeky reefer". Frankly, I wouldn't waste my time disturbing your obviously ,arrogant, ignorant , rude state of mind.

[Pufferpunk]

Interesting... How is it monitored? Does that have to do with the dissolved O2 in the water? Why do you think the C would affect that?

I really don't think geoxman meant it that way. Remember, stuff written on forums are not always interpteted as they are meant to sound.

[tmz]

Folks monitor it with an orp monitor.Some dose ozone to improve it. I do not. I don't know the chemistry well enough to say why it happens in reaction to the vitamin C or wether the reported reductions are harmful in this situation. I'm sure the folks on the chemistry forum could help understand it better. I hope the C turns out to be the panacea many on this thread think it is. I am fond of my zoanthus and have experienced some melting from time to time. An effective intervention would be most welcome.

[jdieck]

Originally posted by Pufferpunk
Interesting... How is it monitored? Does that have to do with the dissolved O2 in the water? Why do you think the C would affect that?

I really don't think geoxman meant it that way. Remember, stuff written on forums are not always interpteted as they are meant to sound.

ORP really has to do with every reaction in your system where a chemical is either oxidizing or reducing (Gaining or loosing electrons).
Basically it has been associated with the water quality the higher it is but in reality it does not mean much other than a higher ORP means that your water has more oxidizing capacity and not necessarily because there is more Oxygen in it but more oxidizing agents.
Of course excess oxidizing kills, bleach, iodine, permanganate and Ozone are examples of oxidizers and in certain way they are all used to disinfect and sterilize if used in excess and they increase ORP
On the other hand Iron, Iodide, and antioxidants like vitamin C are reducers so they reduce the ORP.
What does that really mean? Nothing unless you are either extremely low (below 200 to 150 mv) or extremely high (above 450 mv)
Most aquariums under normal circumstances is between 250 to 375 mv.
Because all this reactions are happening all the time and involve the potential for electron transfers, ORP can be measured by using a probe that can measure the movement of those electrons in millivolts between two electrodes in the probe.
Here is a take to ORP and what it is and what it is not:

ORP and the Reef Aquarium
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/20...ture/index.php

[madadi]

some of my sps seem to have insane polyp extension today. i just dosed 1000mg once in the morning and in the evening. i usually have good polyp extension though. keeping my fingers crossed because im still worried about that ORP. it did climb back up to normal levels by night time. now it was at 330 but drops to well bellow 150 every time i drop a pill in. weather ORP is good or bad who knows but im worried such a big fluctuation is noticeable by the corals and it might stress them in the long run. either way Jeni's tank looked great so i will continue to add it and see what happens.

i just threw in a 1000mg pill, i don't know if thats considered starting of slow in a 110g water volume system.

[Pufferpunk]

Gosh, I didn't know I had a real reefgeek at my house yesterday!

[madadi]

can anyone chyme in if the silica thats in the vitamin C pills is the same one were trying to filter out of the tap water so it wont grow nuisance algae in the tank?

[madadi]

why did i look cool? i hide it well. lol

[Pufferpunk]

I have not a single algae strand in my tank after 3 months of treating. I sure wish it would kill off that red turf algae though.

[madadi]

ya i have some of that turf algae too.

i just heard that silica can feed algae but im no expert on algae. obviously, my tank is algae dominated, mixed reef. i just noticed that silica was one of the ingredients in the vitamin C tablets. someone mentioned vitamin C powder, maybe thats a better alternative? i payed 14bucks for 250 1000mg pills.

[jdieck]

Originally posted by madadi
can anyone chyme in if the silica thats in the vitamin C pills is the same one were trying to filter out of the tap water so it wont grow nuisance algae in the tank?

Althouogh excess silicates may promote diatoms, some are needed in aquaria as it is needed by snails and others to build up their shells, I would not worry much about it as far as your nitrates and phosphates are under control.

[jdieck]

Originally posted by Pufferpunk
I have not a single algae strand in my tank after 3 months of treating. I sure wish it would kill off that red turf algae though.

Try some real Mexican Turbo snails.

[Pufferpunk]

I keep adding them & they keep disappearing. I have an order in for another 25 of them.

[jdieck]

Originally posted by madadi
some of my sps seem to have insane polyp extension today. i just dosed 1000mg once in the morning and in the evening. i usually have good polyp extension though. keeping my fingers crossed because im still worried about that ORP. it did climb back up to normal levels by night time. now it was at 330 but drops to well bellow 150 every time i drop a pill in. weather ORP is good or bad who knows but im worried such a big fluctuation is noticeable by the corals and it might stress them in the long run. either way Jeni's tank looked great so i will continue to add it and see what happens.

i just threw in a 1000mg pill, i don't know if thats considered starting of slow in a 110g water volume system.

What you see is the antioxidant properties of the vitamin C, what it tells is that when recently added you have more reduction potential than oxidizing potential as the vitamin give up electrons the ORP starts to rise, by the time the ORP is back to normal the vitamin is gone.
As you can see unfortunately most of the vitamin reacts very quickly with water compunds so little is really taken up by the critters.
In addition it will consume some of your alkalinity (thus the drop in PH) just keep an eye on the alkalinity level and you will be OK.

If you are not adding Kalk with your top off, you may want to try adding the vitamin via your RO/DI top off so you have a more continuous (less spiky) availability.

[Pufferpunk]

So in your expert opinion, do you thing this regular dosing is a good thing or just another snake oil?

[jdieck]

I really do not know one way or the other. I add some vitamin drops (which include vitamin C) to the fish food and sure some get into the water column but vitamin C is so unstable once added to the water and reacts so fast to the higher alkalinity of the salt water that I'm sure corals may not get much.
By the way, if adding I would recommend getting it either in powder or capsules, not pills as the pill fillers shorten the life of the vitamin so chances are that even before the addition the vitamin in the pill might already started to loose effectiveness.

[flyyyguy]

Originally posted by jdieck
I really do not know one way or the other. I add some vitamin drops (which include vitamin C) to the fish food and sure some get into the water column but vitamin C is so unstable once added to the water and reacts so fast to the higher alkalinity of the salt water that I'm sure corals may not get much.
By the way, if adding I would recommend getting it either in powder or capsules, not pills as the pill fillers shorten the life of the vitamin so chances are that even before the addition the vitamin in the pill might already started to loose effectiveness.

interesting. this would account for why people are having to put entire bottles of pills into their tank to see any positive effect.

I have the pills.....but cant quite yet bring myself to do it, even though there have been no negative accounts...........

hmmm........

[madadi]

thanks jdieck, so which are the real turbo snails?

im going to start dissolving the vitamin C in a small jar of tap water and just dose it over an hour or two directly into the main tank with a medical dosing pump. it did drop my alk by almost 2dKH and thats not very good for sps i thought. pH dropped from 8.2 to 7.9 in the evening.

[jdieck]

Originally posted by madadi
thanks jdieck, so which are the real turbo snails?

The largest of them all (1 to 2 inches)
Notice the split in the foot, they advance by moving one half forward and then he other.
I would recommend one for every 30 to 50 gallons.