The Puffer Forum

Just ordered mine today with 99 cents shipping (only until August 31st) and $5 off first time customer code--total amount paid = $8.57. It's a great deal! Thanks everyone!

What discount code did you use? They gave me a new one: LUL789

I used "FOR500" and it worked.

I get 3% off my next order with every time someone uses the new code.

Ahhh sorry I couldn't find this thread in time so I used the first one that popped up after I googled "pufferpunk vitamin C code".

I started dosing with Vitamin C a couple days ago. My tank is very white & cloudy, which I half-expected and I believe was told would happen. If I'm not mistaken, the white cloud simply implies a boom in beneficial bacteria, so it'll soon take residence in the substrate/LR, yes?

I've read that dosing Vitamin C really helps with the coraline algae growth, so I'm hoping to see some appear eventually.

How much are you dosong in what size water volume? It has been found it causes a precipitate, if raised to quickly.

I'm dosing 1/2 tsp twice a day in about 65-70 gallons of water (75 gallon tank minus some LR and about 1 inch of substrate). 1/2 tsp gets me about 2200 mg of Vitamin C (it's a 3000 mg dosing, but 800 mg is not Vitamin C), which puts me in the range of about 8 ppm or so. Should I be reducing my dosage? I've been adding the powder underneath the skimmer collection cup to maximize the agitation before it goes to my tank.

The puffers and inverts look perfectly normal, so I hope this is okay...

I can't believe it! My nitrate in both tanks dropped down so low I think it's close to zero (API marine kit) after dosing! Thank you for this awesome info!

Paul, I'd stick with that dosing. If you are only using this for nitrate reduction, then 1x/day should do. Be sure to still keep up with water changes.

Yeah, I just picked up a bucket of salt, so they'll be getting a water change this weekend.

Is there a dosing chart somewhere for how much vitamin C you need for system water volume?

Here ya go:

Dosing Vitamin C Chart

Use this product:
http://www.iherb.com/ProductDetails.asp ... 7697039798
$5 0ff coupon code: LUL789 (always good for first purchase).

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. 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 Iherb 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 if only dosing for improved coral growth, coloration, and spread. 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. 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.
*Do NOT dose at high levels (>10ppm), if you don’t have a skimmer! Especially on a nano tank.
* If you notice an algae bloom or increased skim 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 for a minute then pour into my overflow. If adding to sump, try and add the vitamin c after filtration such as skimmers and reactors.
* 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.

I'm considering dosing VC to help with my zoos/palys.. I have some nukes which have for the mostly turned brown and some Blue Eye Girls which are not as bright as when I got them. I have other zoos/palys too, but they are fine. First off, I have heard that dosing VC can help this? My no3 is 25 and my po4 is .5 down from 50+ and 1 respectively. This may help that too. I am currently dosing sugar. Would I need to discontinue that before I start VC? I have heard of tank crashes, so that part scares me. I have about 100 gallons total water volume, so from your chart you recommend 5ppm correct? Also, I have 100% vitamin crystals already, do need to use this Iherb stuff? Thanks...

5ppm is a good start but you might want to work your way to 10 in about a week. Your 100% crystals sounds like it is not buffered. The pH of acidic acid is 4. The I-herb product is buffered to 7.1. I do know of some folks dosing sugar in addition to VC but I really don't see the purpose, since VC does the same carbon dosing job of the sugar & much more in addition to that. It has been supposed, that VC helps aid in the production of collagen in cells, helping them to heal & grow better. The only crashed system i have read about from dosine VC was a fellow dosing 100ppm into a nano tank with no skimmer. It is best to have a good skimmer to remove the end results of your nitrate dropping.

I have a real concern about your test showing nitrite in a reef tank (or any tank for that matter). What test kits are you using? Are you using RO water? How much live rock is in there? Are you sure it's cured? How long has the tank been set up?