Sodium Ascorbate... another Vitamin C post

[littlebigreef]

After seeing the success a fellow reefer was having I decided to do some research and now I'm going to give it a try. I've read around the articles on r2r and get the plan. Only, I'm uncertain as to how to measure the dose. My fellow reefer doses a total of 5-10ppm per day (morning and night) based on water volume. What I don't understand is how to get that measurement. Are you taking the total volume of water (in my case ~330 gal) and getting your measurement (grams, teaspoons etc) based on that? If so is there a dosing table in existence that I just haven't found?

Follow up question; has any one established the point of diminishing return? At 330 gal its a larger system so I try to find a reasonable floor when it comes to dosing any supplements. Finally, I understand that it takes several weeks to see any potential benefit.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

10 ppm (10 mg/L; 0.051 mM) in 330 gallons is about 12.5 grams a day.

Bear in mind that a dose that high will potentially boost alkalinity (0.14 dKH per day) and will have a substantial carbon dosing/bacterial growth/nutrient reduction effect.

 

[littlebigreef]

10 ppm (10 mg/L; 0.051 mM) in 330 gallons is about 12.5 grams a day.

Bear in mind that a dose that high will potentially boost alkalinity (0.14 dKH per day) and will have a substantial carbon dosing/bacterial growth/nutrient reduction effect.

Thanks Randy, I didn't realize there's a chemistry forum so I appreciate you catching this on the zoa one. I had read about the alkalinity increase and other side effects of VC dosing. Given 10ppm is the high side (and a substantial amount of material) I'll err on the side of caution and dose the low range until I have a few week's worth of alk testing results. Hopefully then I can see how the VC plays with Bionic and then make an informed decision going forward.

 

[John3]

Keep an eye on your nitrates, they will almost certainly drop while dosing.

 

[BluewaterLa]

10 ppm (10 mg/L; 0.051 mM) in 330 gallons is about 12.5 grams a day.

Bear in mind that a dose that high will potentially boost alkalinity (0.14 dKH per day) and will have a substantial carbon dosing/bacterial growth/nutrient reduction effect.

I find it interesting that dosing Vitamin C can alter / boost DKH slightly as well as act as a carbon source.
Can you explain a bit of this for us more common folk ?
Would this depend on the source of Vitamin C added into the tank ?

 

[John3]

Some types of vc are buffered so they can raise alk slightly but won’t affect ph as much. Some vc is not buffered and it can cause ph to drop. Vc is a carbon source so it’s not much different than other carbon sources used in dosing tanks.

I think it has a use but you can’t just dump it in without watching chemistry affects and expect all good things.