Curiosity on Vitamin Dosing

[tangstank]

I have read so many posts on dosing Vitamin C to reef......How was this tried out? Trial & Error?
For us humans Vitamin C improves the immune system? what about for the reef? What is it's natural source in wild? What does VC prove to improve in your tank?
If Vitamin C has to work why not Multi Vitamins? Omega 3 (Fish extract back to fish)

[badazztealcobra]

People have been doing it for awhile from what I have read... There is an article from 1998 about using it that I read.....

http://www.athiel.com/lib/vitC496.html

It was probably someone just trying to see what kind of effect it had on their tank, mightve had good results, and talked about it, and it went from there....

Personally, I tried it, noticed no difference, stopped using it and still noticed no difference. Its not like I was ever unhappy with the results I got from my corals, but after reading how much better everyones corals were doing, etc. I tried it out...

IMO, save the money, put it towards a better brand salt if you dont use one, and do more frequent water changes.

[indydog1]

get in touch with pufferpunk. she is the one who has and is using.

[Jeff]

That article referenced by BATC is extremely outdated. The directions found in it will not yield the results that Pufferpunk and others have found using a better product and dosing regime. Vitamin c works great for most people but not everybody. I have used it for a year and a half and have found it to keep my nutrients super low and my corals and fish very healthy.
There is a 120+ page thread discussing the benefits of Vitamin C dosing here: http://reefcentral.com/forums/showth...&pp=25&page=21 (I linked the last page).
As far as how it was tried out, the answer is like anything else in this hobby. Someone had an idea and tried it and enlisted the help of other hobbyists to improve on it. There is still a lot of conjecture about how it benefits our aquariums and a little bit of science. I guess this is how we found out about live rock, sand, skimmers, etc. We tried things out.
As far as other vitamins, I don't know.

[badazztealcobra]

I shouldve posted that the link wasnt meant to let people know how to dose it, just that the idea iteself has been around awhile, and Im sure it started by someone just trying it out like Jeff mentioned....

The question is, who thought to put vodka in their tanks... Thats the one that still stumps me.

[casualreefer]

I dosed vitamin c and it did seem to increase my skimmer output but noticed nothing other than that. I just started dosing brightwell microbacter7 and their amino acids and I have noticed a deeper coloration in my sps. I am also dosing at 1/2 the starting dosage.

[mnestroy]

Yah I tried vit c, but saw no direct results... this hoby is weird... the phase of the moon could have an effect on things in your tank...

[andrewknies]

Dosing vodka scientifically makes sense...
IDK much about the nature of vitamin c or even how a coral or fish could benefit from it exactly, I try not to do things that aren't proven. I leave that for the brave reefers..

[Pufferpunk]

If you don't understand it then try reading that thread. A lot of scientists posted on there.

[tyreeftank]

I am dosing my tank with vitamin C, so far I have not seen good results yet. It might take time. I just start doing it a week ago.

[reef4mat]

So the next time you have a screwdriver, pour a drink for your tank too?

[Helter Skilter]

I think your energy and money are better spent practicing basic reef husbandry (i.e. correct water parameters, stabilty, proper flow).

[Pufferpunk]

Everyone does their tanks differently. I choose to dose VC for overall health, color & size of my corals & fish & 0 nitrate. Cheapest good thing I do for my tanks.

[Helter Skilter]

All I'm sayng is that you'll get more bang for your buck dialing in and maintaining something like your Alk as opposed to your Vitamin C or Zeovit dose, or whatever supplement you choose to add.

Practicing sound basics will always take you further than whatever today's snake oil happens to be.

[drew11588]

Originally Posted by reef4mat

So the next time you have a screwdriver, pour a drink for your tank too?

yea so u get 2 in one... vitamin c AND vodka

[livingcorals]

Hey Puffer, when did you first dosing with VC and how established was your tanks?

Years back I was always told VC is/was used to treat fish.
Now I'm hearing/reading more and more about people having crashed the reef from using it. Really never cared to research it for myself but would like to tag along in this thread and see more an.

So far more to many stories for the worse.

[Pufferpunk]

The only crashed system I've ever heard about in the 2+ years I've been suggesting dosing was a fellow who was trying to treat zoapox (VC works great for this), at 100ppm in a nano tank, without a skimmer. This is why I always recommend you have a skimmer when using VC, to export the excess nutrients, removed by the VC (giving you 0 nitrate).

When I started dosing VC (over 2 years ago), my tank was about a year old. All my parameters are always perfect. I could never find the cause to my zoas melting but after dosing for a short time, they came back & doubled in size. That's when I noticed my other corals looking larger & more colorful & PE on a leather which I didn't even know it had polyps on it. I had that leather for 3 years before that & It had never shown any polyps in it before that.

[nanonubey]

My leather is crazy happy after I started using it! Thanks Jeni!

[tangstank]

Originally Posted by Pufferpunk

If you don't understand it then try reading that thread. A lot of scientists posted on there.

No scientific explanation to VC in water / effect on corals or fish (other than it starts to look better) it is as good as Snake oil.
Seriously Scientists??????? WOW you are strong on promoting this.

With Vodka dosing there is a lot of explanation on effect on water & what is specifically does & it certainly makes sense.

[Pufferpunk]

It works in the exact same way as vodka & sugar, etc (carbon source), as far as how it removes nitrate from the tank. The reason it helps heal melting zoas & make corals/fish healthier, is because it also aids in collagen production. Read the thread. There is also a good thread in the Reef Chemistry forum. There are absolutely scientific explanations in both.

[Indelco Plastic]

I honestly think 90% of the crap in this hoby is snake oil, My tank is almost all sps and i have GREAT color and growth withoput any addition of anything, i wonder if it was the advice of beefy of VC that helped your tank so much

[Pufferpunk]

No one ever advised me on dosing VC into my tank. I really don't know how I came up with it. I was at my wit's end about losing my zoas all the time & figured it might be good for the immune system of the tank. After posting up my results, someone linked me to Thiel's article.

Beefy did help me with the balancing of my Ca & alk when I 1st started dosing those though. Thanks Beefy!

[rcgogo]

I used VC for 2 weeks and my ~40 head zoa rock, which was down to 5 heads that weren't melted, completely reopened and started thriving. I am not using it currently since I still dialing in my tank with many recent changes and I really don't have that many corals but VC worked for me. I decided on trying it after seeing Jeni's tank. Her corals are BLING BLING bright. Makes the Shedd aquarium's corals look bleached. Her tank has corals growing in every possible spot including Montis taking over the front glass using T5 lighting. I grade on results and so far she is way ahead of me so if she says VC, I VC. Jeni, whenever someone questions your advise, especially after asking for it, reply with a pic of your tank.

[Pufferpunk]

LOL, thanks! This pic is over a year old:

[nanonubey]

Take that!