vitamin c dosing

I dose one adult tab daily of the cheapest vitamin C I can find. I am not noticing any real differences in my corals, BUT, after dosing I get a lot more skimate in the skimmer.

Mark Peterson wrote: Interestingly, in my experience just a little overfeeding with frozen live foods (not dry flake or pellet) and exposing the tank to as much sunlight as possible has practically the same effect.

So have you actually used Vitamin C, and if so, for how long? Why did you dose?

Back in the day before a cure for Zoa Pox was found, I dosed Vitamin C. It seemed to help minimize the pox. I did have a full tank of SPS as well...and it was all pretty healthy. If you do Vitamin C dosing, if you have SPS, I'd start with half the recommended dosage and ramp up slower. Also, make sure to use the buffered Vitamin C (iHerb.com is great.)

Now that Zoa Pox has a cure, I haven't found much of a use for it that dosing vinegar, vodka, or sugar can't do...at a lower cost. If I do get some zoas that are having trouble, I'll dose it. But, I was never terribly wow'd be it. It could be because I was nervous to go crazy with it due to all the SPS.

Mark Peterson wrote: Interestingly, in my experience just a little overfeeding with frozen live foods (not dry flake or pellet) and exposing the tank to as much sunlight as possible has practically the same effect.

Mark, can you clarify what the effect you are seeing in the quote above is?  I'm a little confused by the statement.  Do you mean that minimal overfeeding of frozen live foods and exposure to sunlight gives the same result as carbon dosing or do you mean the same effect as using vitamin C as a nutrient (as in relieving the outward signs of Zoa Pox)?
Thanks,
Fat

Do you dissolve it first, or drop it in your sump And let it slowly disolve?

I dosed vitamin C for a while 4 -5 years ago and really hurt my corals. I'm sure it was my own fault as it was a 10 gallon tank with little room for the vitamin C to dilute before coming into contact with the corals. I only dosed for a few weeks before this happened and saw no improvement in that short time.

I use vitamin c here and there. Not standard dosing, but part of my flake food marinade.

Adam

I dose vit c in my 12 gallon. I've never really had any luck with zoas in past tanks but so far so good in this one. I use a kroger brand I think and I just shave a little bit off from the tablet right into the tank so I'm not dosing much and I run a skimmer and ac so Im assuming more of it is getting skimmed out compared to what the corals are using. As long as my corals look happy I will keep dosing.

Disclaimer: Please don't take too seriously anything I write or say. I would like to stay out of hot water.

Fatman wrote: Mark Peterson wrote: ...I was speaking of my sunlit, slightly overfed coral farm as seeming to have the same effect as tanks that used carbon dosing. I agree sunlight is a very good spectrum for a tank (Julian Spung), but the overfeeding part confuses me as to how it provides the effects of carbon dosing.  Can you clarify?  Carbon dosing feeds the bacteria that breaks down nitrates and phosphates to simpler elements which are then skimmed off.  My understanding is that overfeeding increases nitrates and phosphates in the tank water.  Confused as to why this seems to work for you.

I see visible evidence of larger bacteria populations and vibrant colors in my well fed sunlit tanks, similar to the evidence in carbon dosed systems.
It is my understanding that the carbon delivered to the tank via "carbon dosing" is selected carbon compounds that foods already contain, but perhaps not in such quantities of single chemicals.

Bacteria populations grow larger in response to any food added to the aquarium. When there is too much food for the population of bacteria, it takes time for the population to increase enough to eat the leftovers, leading to excess nutrients/pollution in the system. Thus, whether adding carbon via carbon dosing or via fish/invert food, the additions must be made gradually in small quantities. If food/carbon is added too quickly, Nitrogen pollution may increase more than the biofiltration can handle, evident as high Ammonia/Nitrite/Ntrate test results.

This is the filtration biology of a reef tank. Of course it is more than bacteria. Algae plays a huge role too. It can seem complicated. I'm no brainy expert, just a devoted hobbyist. I welcome and enjoy discussion regarding everything I write. Of course, others can say this better than I can.

If you have not yet read it, I suggest reading the article referenced in my first post above (Probiotics Demystified). After or during reading try to keep these points in mind:
- Supplemental food is provided by the hobbyist;
- Some natural forms of food grow in a reef aquarium;
- Artificial illumination lacks the complete spectrum of energy that sunlight provides;
- Sunlight grows a plethora of natural food - more than grows in an artificially lighted tank;
- Food is a source of chemical compounds that organisms need to live and grow;
- Food contains carbon in various chemical forms, including various sugars, vitamins and etc.;
- Fish and inverts eat food and then expel the unused and modified compounds as waste;
- Waste and food contain numerous chemical compounds of Carbon, Nitrogen and Phosphorous;
- Uneaten food and expelled waste are eaten by bacteria so they can live and grow;
- Bacteria and other organisms grow together to create a healthy "biofilm" on rock/tank surfaces;
- As portions of this biofilm break away from surfaces, inverts eat it and skimmers remove it.

It seems that the quantity and type of Carbon compounds useful to bacteria growth may be missing in our artificially illuminated aquariums. Keeping in mind the point above, that natural forms of food do actually grow in our aquariums and that food contains carbon, it follows that the sun can naturally grow more diverse foods containing more diverse forms of carbon and other foods on which coral thrive.

Aloha,
Mark
808-345-1049

Just  to clarify what I think this discussion is about, cause i am not sure... are we talking about this....

Edited by rufessor - August 01 2013 at 3:10pm

I started dosing vitamin c a few months ago when I had a couple zoas not looking great. I'm not religious about it and only dose probably 1/8 tsp once to twice daily when I remember (I at least get it in there once a day) and I've loved the results. My zoas are growing like crazy. I only have a couple sps frags and they are all doing well but I have heard in an sps tank that it can hurt the corals. I also run a very large skimmer and that is very important when dosing vitamin c from what I read in the past, well a good skimmer anyway is what needs to be on there.
Granted it could be a number of things that are making my zoas grow well but I will continue to use it. Mine is the one from iherb.com