My experience with Vit C & Zoas

mrcoffee2 · Apr 29, 2016

I wanted to share my recent experience with vitamin C dosing that I used to try and save a zoa colony. The most surprising part was how much of an effect it had on another colony that I was sure was doomed, and also the amazing effects it had on pest algae in the tank.

I have recently been experiencing some problems with one of my colonies. I have roughly 30 different colonies in the tank but only this one seemed to be exhibiting these signs, since i have grown it out for 2 years I decided to act fast. The majority of them closed up tight and started to melt away. I could not spot any pests on them at night except for bristle worms.

Here is a pic when I started to notice the problem on April 22nd.

Night shot a couple days later and new placement (in case it was flow related). This pic was taken the night I started the dosing. Notice all of the algae wrapped around the zoa, mostly dead. This algae has been on them for over a year.

Here is a pic of a plug that I surely thought was a goner that I just recently received. Normally (10/10 for me) when I get new polyps in and they look strained and browning they never make it for me at least. I apologize for the pic, I did not really document these as well because I thought they were dead...

I am now on my 6th day dosing and here is how they looked this morning.

Most polyps are now open except for just a couple. But wow, look at how clean that colony is now! The algae is almost 100% gone! Amazing

The new plug I got not only all opened up, but they look like they have different color. I am assuming because they may have expelled their zoox. It is really amazing because I have never seen zoa's come back from this type of stress in the 5 yrs I have been reefing. I have lost all that tend to come in and look like that. Very rarely will they make it.

Top down so you can see how different those polyps look that were closed up.

There has certainly been a couple downsides. My filter socks, and media baskets have clogged up with this white stringy algae that I assume is just dying algae? Ive lost a lot if not all macro algae. However this does not bother me as I don't have a big fuge for macro.

Here is a pic of the stringy stuff clogging everything.

I plan to do a massive WC tomorrow and start cutting back on the dosing now that things look much better. I am sold and I will always dose a little bit of this in my tank from now on.

Thanks for looking

TheEngineer · Apr 29, 2016

I e had similar experiences with vitamin c. My filter socks clog up much faster now and I notice I don't have to clean the glass at all. I had some sponges that were growing over some zoas that are now gone.

mrcoffee2 · Apr 29, 2016

icecool2 said:
I e had similar experiences with vitamin c. My filter socks clog up much faster now and I notice I don't have to clean the glass at all. I had some sponges that were growing over some zoas that are now gone.

Yep lost the sponges I had from vinegar dosing too.

TheEngineer · Apr 29, 2016

My zoas are getting much brighter in color too actually.

mrcoffee2 · Apr 29, 2016

icecool2 said:
My zoas are getting much brighter in color too actually.

How long have you been dosing?

TheEngineer · Apr 29, 2016

mrcoffee2 said:
How long have you been dosing?

A couple weeks.

goliwala · Apr 29, 2016

What else have you been doing/dosing besides vitamin C? I have been reading up on vitamin C dosing because of some zoa not looking good and it seems like a good idea.

TheEngineer · Apr 30, 2016

I feed fuel and another food whose name is escaping me.

mrcoffee2 · Apr 30, 2016

goliwala said:
What else have you been doing/dosing besides vitamin C? I have been reading up on vitamin C dosing because of some zoa not looking good and it seems like a good idea.

Vitamin C is the main thing at the moment, once in the morning, and once when I come home. I do supplement my ATO with Lime, and add a little mag and iron throughout the week. I feed my two phantom clowns heavy with reef frenzy, and a couple drops of coral vitalizer daily which I am just testing out this month.

McMullen · Apr 30, 2016

What Vit C product are you using?

This is very interesting! Any effects on SPS?

mrcoffee2 · Apr 30, 2016

McMullen said:
What Vit C product are you using?

This is very interesting! Any effects on SPS?

For the first 5 days I was using a generic GNC vitamin C 2000MG powder w/ rose hips. Recently within the past 2 days have switched to brightwells vit c. The reason I switch was because the powder was not buffered so it was dropping my PH roughly .1-.15 every dose. Not much for a problem, but I did not like the swing so I switched to brightwells. I haven't really found the best dose yet with brightwells but I plan to do 4 drops in the morning / afternoon once things stabilize.

No effects on SPS yet, people claim they get more vibrant but I have not noticed much of anything.

TheEngineer · Apr 30, 2016

I use sodium ascorbate. The reef products don't have a high enough concentration. Brightwell is only 1500mg/oz. sodium ascorbate is 1112mg/0.25 teaspoon. With a target of 5ppm you need to use 5mg/l of tank volume.

In my 50g (~190l) tank that's ~1000mg per dose and I dose twice a day. With sodium ascorbate it only requires 1/4 teaspoon. With Brightwells you need to use an ounce per dose. That's gonna get expensive fast.

mrcoffee2 · Apr 30, 2016

icecool2 said:
I use sodium ascorbate. The reef products don't have a high enough concentration. Brightwell is only 1500mg/oz. sodium ascorbate is 1112mg/0.25 teaspoon. With a target of 5ppm you need to use 5mg/l of tank volume.

In my 50g (~190l) tank that's ~1000mg per dose and I dose twice a day. With sodium ascorbate it only requires 1/4 teaspoon. With Brightwells you need to use an ounce per dose. That's gonna get expensive fast.

Thanks for clearing up the dosage on the brightwells vs the ascorbate. The real reason I made the switch to bw was because it does not effect my PH which I am really trying to stabilize, and I do not plan to continue dosing 2000-4000MG daily. Personally I don't think I could handle using vit C as a carbon / cleaning source long term. It renders a filter sock useless in 2 days, clogged my media reactor in two days, skimmer has been going haywire and I really want my sponges back

. Now that it seems to have made my zoas healthier and given me the added benefit of eliminating most if not all the bad algae I think i'll try and go back to a tiny dose that just keeps it slightly elevated for the benefits. Perhaps start vinegar dosing again. I have to do something since I feed so heavily.

Now in the future if I EVER need to bring a zoa back, or clean GHA / algae off a plug then I will totally start dosing vit C at 1-2000MG twice a day again.

Do you plan to continually dose this at those levels? It seems you were dosing about half of what I was doing.

TheEngineer · Apr 30, 2016

mrcoffee2 said:
Thanks for clearing up the dosage on the brightwells vs the ascorbate. The real reason I made the switch to bw was because it does not effect my PH which I am really trying to stabilize, and I do not plan to continue dosing 2000-4000MG daily. Personally I don't think I could handle using vit C as a carbon / cleaning source long term. It renders a filter sock useless in 2 days, clogged my media reactor in two days, skimmer has been going haywire and I really want my sponges back . Now that it seems to have made my zoas healthier and given me the added benefit of eliminating most if not all the bad algae I think i'll try and go back to a tiny dose that just keeps it slightly elevated for the benefits. Perhaps start vinegar dosing again. I have to do something since I feed so heavily.

Now in the future if I EVER need to bring a zoa back, or clean GHA / algae off a plug then I will totally start dosing vit C at 1-2000MG twice a day again.

Do you plan to continually dose this at those levels? It seems you were dosing about half of what I was doing.

I hear you on the pH. That's why I switched from the pills to the sodium ascorbate. It is buffered so it has a pH of 7.1. I haven't seen a problem with my pH. The buffer also adds to the tank's alk level, so I don't dose for it anymore. I can't run my skimmer anymore and the plugging filter socks are annoying. Considering the increased vitality I've seen I'm going to keep dosing for a while, I think. I might cut the dose in half again and see where it goes. I'm dosing for 2.5ppm right now.

mrcoffee2 · Apr 30, 2016

goliwala said:
What else have you been doing/dosing besides vitamin C? I have been reading up on vitamin C dosing because of some zoa not looking good and it seems like a good idea.

I have read others report affects on birdsnest. You may want to look into that.

LILBUDDHA · Apr 30, 2016

icecool2 said:
I use sodium ascorbate. The reef products don't have a high enough concentration. Brightwell is only 1500mg/oz. sodium ascorbate is 1112mg/0.25 teaspoon. With a target of 5ppm you need to use 5mg/l of tank volume.

In my 50g (~190l) tank that's ~1000mg per dose and I dose twice a day. With sodium ascorbate it only requires 1/4 teaspoon. With Brightwells you need to use an ounce per dose. That's gonna get expensive fast.

N u might want to get the buffered variety . I have used this brand .