Dechlorinating water can be a tricky process. There are many factors that go into determining how much vitamin c is needed to dechlorinate water, and the best way to calculate it mathematically would be with an online calculator.
Vitamin C is a powerful antioxidant that can be used to dechlorinate water. 1000 mg of vitamin c can be used to remove chloramine from water.
Chlorine in your water may be quite damaging to your hydroponics system. In fact, it has the potential to destroy the plants over time. As a result, you must dechlorinate the water to ensure that your plants are as safe as possible.
As a result, utilizing Vitamin C to dechlorinate water is one of the simplest and safest methods.
As a result, the issue “How Much Vitamin C to Dechlorinate Water?” naturally emerges.
The quantity of Vitamin C needed is determined by the volume of water and the concentration of chloramine. To begin, determine the amount of chloramine in the water. Then divide it by the chloramine molar mass. Finally, multiply the molar mass of Vitamin C by the amount of Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) per mol. This is how much Vitamin C you’ll need.
Does that seem like nonsense to you? For your convenience, we’ve broken everything down step by step with examples. So, keep reading to learn how to dechlorinate some water!
2 Ways to Use Vitamin C to Dechlorinate Water
Vitamin C may be used to dechlorinate water in two separate ways. The first is to supplement with Vitamin C (ascorbic acid). The second method is to use Ascorbic acid (sodium ascorbate).
For your information, Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) is also known as Ascorbic acid (sodium ascorbate). There are, however, some distinctions between the two Vitamin C components. Let’s start with the distinctions. You’ll be able to determine which component is best for you in this manner.
Vitamin C (ascorbic acid)
Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) is also known as unbuffered Vitamin C (ascorbic acid). Using Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) will slightly decrease the pH of the water. We’ll see how the whole thing works as we go.
If the pH of your water is slightly higher than usual, it will be better to use Vitamin C (ascorbic acid). This is because it’ll dechlorinate the water as well as decrease the pH.
Ascorbic acid (sodium ascorbate)
The second type of Vitamin C you can use is Ascorbic acid (sodium ascorbate). It is also known as buffered Vitamin C (ascorbic acid).
Ascorbic acid (sodium ascorbate) is recommended when you don’t want the pH of the water to change. We’ll learn about this too in the next segments.
So without further ado, let’s get this party started!
What are you going to use it for?
Chlorine is added to water practically everywhere in order to kill hazardous bacteria. The level of chlorine in the water would not be a concern in certain areas.
As a result, in order to preserve the plants, the chlorine level in the water must be balanced.
As we’ve seen, there are two types of Vitamin C that may be used to dechlorinate aquarium water. The quantity of Vitamin C to use is determined by the volume of water and the chlorine level in the water.
Now, let’s see how to figure out the amount of Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) needed to dechlorinate water.
How Much Vitamin C Do You Need if Using Vitamin C (ascorbic acid)?
First, let’s see how to dechlorinate water using Vitamin C (ascorbic acid). We don’t want to sound like your grumpy high school chemistry teacher. But it is important to understand the reaction between Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) and chlorine.
C5H5O5CH2OH + HOCl C5H3O5CH2OH + HCl + H2O C5H5O5CH2OH + HCl + H2O
Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) + Hypochlorous acid → DehydroVitamin C (ascorbic acid) + Hydrochloric acid + Water
When chloramine is mixed with water, it generates hypochlorous acid. As a result, the hypochlorous acid will be used to neutralize the chlorine (HOCl).
Then if Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) is added to water, the HOCl breaks down and forms DehydroVitamin C (ascorbic acid), Hydrochloric acid and water.
Previously we said that using Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) slightly decreases the pH of the water. We already know that acids decrease the pH value of elements. Here, the newly produced Hydrochloric acid (HCl) is the reason the pH decreases.
Now, let’s calculate the amount of Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) necessary to dechlorinate water.
Step 1: Determine the mass of chloramine
First and foremost, we must determine the amount of chloramine in the water. You may accomplish so by using the following formula:
Chloramine mass = volume of treated water (L) * chlorine concentration (ppm (mg/L)
Let’s imagine you need to dechlorinate one gallon of water (3.78541 liters). In your location, the chloramine concentration is 2 mg/L.
The chloramine content may be found in your local water quality report. On Google, type in “[Your town name] water quality report.”
Alternatively, you may use these test kits to determine the pH and chlorine levels in your water.
| Image | Title | Price |
|---|---|---|
  | Hardness Testing Kits for Professionals | Get a Quote |
  | Water Chemical Test Kit for WWD POOL Swimming Pools and Spas | To learn more, go to this page. |
Multiply the volume of water by the chloramine concentration to get the chloramine mass.
As an example, consider the following scenario:
7.57082 mg = 3.78541 * 2
This indicates that if the chloramine concentration in your location is 2 mg/L, a gallon of water has 7.57082 mg of chloramine.
This implies we’ll be removing 7.57082 mg of chloramine from the equation.
If you have 40 gallons of water, first convert the volume in liters by multiplying 40 * 3.78541 = 151.4164.
Step 2: Gram-Convert the Mass
The mass of chloramine must be converted to grams in the second step. This may be done using the following formula:
Chloramine mass in grams = Chloramine mass divided by 1000
As an example, consider the following scenario:
0.00757082 g = 7.57082 / 1000
You may be wondering why we need to convert it to grams.
The mol value of chloramine must be calculated in the following step. This necessitates the use of the gram as a measure of weight.
Step 3: Determine the molecular weight of chloramine.
To get the mol value of chloramine, multiply the weight of the substance by 51.476. Because chloramine has a molar mass of 51.476 g/mol.
The formula is as follows:
Chloramine gram mass (g) / 51.476 (g/mol) = Mol chloramine
As an example, consider the following scenario:
0.000147075 mol = 0.00757082 / 21.476 mol
Step 4: Find the Value for Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) Per Mol
Now we have to find the value of Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) per mol in order to calculate the mass of Vitamin C (ascorbic acid).
Mol Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) = Mol chloramine * 1
0.000147075 * 1 = 0.000147075 mol is the value in our case.
Step 5: Find the Amount of Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) Needed
Now for the fifth and final step, we’ll find the amount of Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) to dechlorinate the water. To do that, we have to multiply the value of Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) per mole with its molar mass.
The molar mass of Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) is 176.12 g/mol. Therefore, The formula is as follows:
Mass of Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) needed (g) = Mol Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) * 176.12 (g/mol)
As an example, consider the following scenario:
So, the required amount of Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) for our example is,
0.025902806 g = 0.000147075 * 176.12
So, we get that we’ll need 0.025902806 g of Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) to dechlorinate 2 mg/L chloramine in 1-gallon water.
Simply multiply the gram amount by 1000 to get the mg value, and you’re good to go!
To save you the hassle, you can get your hands on Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) right here-
One noteworthy aspect about the process is that dechlorinating water takes less than a second!
How Much Vitamin C Do You Need if Using Ascorbic acid (sodium ascorbate)?
Now comes the second method of dechlorinating water using Vitamin c. The Vitamin C we will need for this method is Ascorbic acid (sodium ascorbate). The chemical formula of using Ascorbic acid (sodium ascorbate) with chloramine is-
C5H5O5CH2ONa + HOCL C5H3O5CH2OH + NaCl + H2O C5H5O5CH2OH + NaCl + H2O
Ascorbic acid (sodium ascorbate) + Hypochlorous acid → DehydroVitamin C (ascorbic acid) + Sodium chloride + Water
If we add Ascorbic acid (sodium ascorbate) with chlorine, it will form DehydroVitamin C (ascorbic acid), Sodium chloride and water.
As a byproduct of the prior procedure, we obtained Hydrochloric acid (HCl). In this instance, however, we obtain Sodium Chloride (NaCl), a salt. Because salt is a neutral component, it has no effect on the pH of the water.
Now let’s find the amount of Ascorbic acid (sodium ascorbate) to dechlorinate water.
We’ll use the numbers from the last example to make things easier for you. That is, 1 gallon of water with a choramine content of 2 mg/L.
The first three stages of the computation are identical to the prior method’s first three phases. We can calculate the mol value of chloramine as 0.000147075 mol.
Next, we have to find the value of Ascorbic acid (sodium ascorbate) per mole.
To do that, we need to multiply the mol chloramine by 1.11. Because the concentration of Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) is relatively less in Ascorbic acid (sodium ascorbate).
So the value of Ascorbic acid (sodium ascorbate) per mol is, 0.000147075 * 1.11 = 0.000163253 mol
For the last step, we just have to multiply the value of Ascorbic acid (sodium ascorbate) by 176.12. Because, as we said earlier, 176.12 is the molar mass of Vitamin C (ascorbic acid).
As a result, we obtain-
0.028752114 g = 0.000163253 * 176.12
This means we will need 0.028752114 grams or 28.75211416 milligrams of Ascorbic acid (sodium ascorbate).
You can get your Ascorbic acid (sodium ascorbate) from here-
| Image | Title | Price |
|---|---|---|
  | NOW Supplements, Ascorbic acid (sodium ascorbate) Powder | Get a Quote |
  | NutriBiotic – Ascorbic acid (sodium ascorbate) Buffered Vitamin C Powder | Get a Quote |
Can Vitamin C Tablets Be Used as a Substitute?
We haven’t finished yet! Another easy way to dechlorinate water is to use Vitamin C pills.
So we’ve already said before that Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) and Vitamin C tablets are the same things. Most of the time, the tablets are buffered Vitamin C (ascorbic acid); which is Ascorbic acid (sodium ascorbate).
In this case, check whether your Vitamin C tablets are buffered or not. If they are buffered, follow the same procedure as using Ascorbic acid (sodium ascorbate). If they’re unbuffered, follow the procedure of using Vitamin C (ascorbic acid).
The pills are now available in a variety of concentrations, such as 500mg, 1000mg, 1500mg, and so on. The easiest approach to utilize the pill in this scenario is to smash it into powder beforehand. Take 1/10th of the powder if your pill is 500mg and you only need 50mg. Use 1/20 of the powder if the pill is 1000mg.
The quantity of chlorine required for plant development is critical. However, the plants may get that quantity from the soil on their own.
Any more chlorine is detrimental to the plants. Chlorine, in addition to hydroponics, may suffocate algae growth. As a result, getting rid of the chlorine is critical.
FAQs
Is it true that boiling water removes chlorine?
Boiling water does, in fact, eliminate chlorine from the water. The chlorine in the water will dissipate if you boil it for at least 15 minutes. When that, you may utilize the water for your purposes after it has cooled down.
Is it possible for aquariums to have too much Vitamin C?
The use of Vitamin C for dechlorination to the amount that it is used is not detrimental to aquariums. However, applying too much Vitamin C may drop the water’s pH value, potentially harming fish and plants.
Is Vitamin C required for the health of fish?
Vitamin C is an essential component for fish health. Collagen production helps the cells of the fish’s muscles, teeth, and bones stay together.
Conclusion
By now, we hope you’ve figured out how much Vitamin C to use to dechlorinate water. But keep in mind that too much Vitamin C might be harmful to your plants.
If you have any further questions, please leave them in the comments section.
Until then, have a nice day!