Chaeto recovery time after using UWC Vibrant?

[moz71]

It's been a couple of weeks and the new chaeto and dragon's breath have neither grown nor died. Pretty strange. Not very helpful with my nutrient controls. I am really wondering when it will grow again.

Yea I am about 4 to 5 months now since stopping vibrant. After removing the cheato twice. I did keep a golf ball size of cheato that looked healthy but still no growth at all. But the hair algae is growing in the sump and I see a little cyano in there. I am just stumped.

 

[youcallmenny1]

Yea I am about 4 to 5 months now since stopping vibrant. After removing the cheato twice. I did keep a golf ball size of cheato that looked healthy but still no growth at all. But the hair algae is growing in the sump and I see a little cyano in there. I am just stumped.

Ugh. I've been running reef rox carbon since I posted last to try to remove what I could. That's really discouraging to hear. I wish someone had an answer for us on how to kickstart our refugiums again. It's a main source of nutrient export in my system and this is really bad. Nuisance algae in the display has been bad and I'm honestly pretty angry with UWC at this point.

 

[pecan2phat]

I stopped using Vibrant on 11/30/21 and still have not been able to grow chaeto effectively in that system.
Stopped usage on 11/30/21, had been dosing a maintenance dosage for 2 years.
Fresh chaeto added on 3/16/22, plenty of water and ROX carbon changes in-between stop date of Vibrant and addition of chaeto.
As of 5/5/22, chaeto in system that had Vibrant use is not growing and looks sad at best while same batch of chaeto was divided and also placed in a different system that never had Vibrant dosing seems to be thriving.

 

[youcallmenny1]

I stopped using Vibrant on 11/30/21 and still have not been able to grow chaeto effectively in that system.
Stopped usage on 11/30/21, had been dosing a maintenance dosage for 2 years.
Fresh chaeto added on 3/16/22, plenty of water and ROX carbon changes in-between stop date of Vibrant and addition of chaeto.
As of 5/5/22, chaeto in system that had Vibrant use is not growing and looks sad at best while same batch of chaeto was divided and also placed in a different system that never had Vibrant dosing seems to be thriving.

Thank you for the information. Big yikes. I really wish there was something we could do to rectify this.

 

[Toob]

Where does Vibrant reside? Does it bind up to the live rock or stay in the water column? I am dealing with a similar situation, though i dosed vibrant as more of an experiment knowing I would be setting up a new, larger tank.

Now I’m worried though that any frags or livestock I transfer may bring the Vibrant along with it and cause chaeto in the new system to struggle?

Moving from a Red sea 170 to 525x in 2-3 weeks.

 

[pecan2phat]

Guessing "polyquat" is the gift that keeps on giving, who knows how much is absorbed into rock and sand.

 

[moz71]

My little batch is just there not growing at all yet either. Not wilting just stays the same with no growth. But GHA has no problem growing. Urg! Also another odd observation a patch iof GSP has not grown and lacks extension where barely shows green since I started vibrant and even after months of stopping vibrant. However I cut some out and put in frag tank and that id growing and extending. This is some funky stuff. My green slimer and monti’s are growing just fine

 

[youcallmenny1]

My little batch is just there not growing at all yet either. Not wilting just stays the same with no growth. But GHA has no problem growing. Urg! Also another odd observation a patch iof GSP has not grown and lacks extension where barely shows green since I started vibrant and even after months of stopping vibrant. However I cut some out and put in frag tank and that id growing and extending. This is some funky stuff. My green slimer and monti’s are growing just fine

Same exact story. I've got GHA, cyano and dinos happily growing which I'm managing all right but my SPS couldn't be happier. That's so weird to hear two of you have transplanted the macro and it started growing.

 

[jda]

Since it attaches quickly to nearly any negatively charged surface, would it be of benefit to add more easily skimmable/filterable negatively charged things into the tank that stay in the water column as sacrifical organics? Available and removable? Would phyto work for this?

 

[Duncan62]

I have a Red Sea Peninsula 650 with an good size refugium in the sump. I have been growing chaeto for a long time and harvesting it by the trash bag on a monthly basis. Two months ago I made a rash decision to dose Vibrant and had predictable results. The chaeto hasn't completely died but isn't growing and is slowly decaying. There's a good amount left but I rely on only my fuge and skimmer for export. The tank is still happy and nitrates are where I want them to be but phosphates are slowly climbing without the macro growth occurring. I've done several sizeable water changes in the meantime to help it recover but it's slow going.

What I would like to hear from the community specifically is how long it took that macro in the fuge to recover and start growing again so I can plan accordingly and take some alternate steps for phosphate removal until the chaeto can resume it's work. Let's keep it civil please. This question and subsequent answers are important to me right now so I'd rather not get my thread shut down due to dogpiling the product.

I would replace the Chaeto and other damaged macros. The die off from the old stuff will spike nutrients. I've had this problem and cause a mess. Get some new stuff and go again. Good luck.

 

[youcallmenny1]

I would replace the Chaeto and other damaged macros. The die off from the old stuff will spike nutrients. I've had this problem and cause a mess. Get some new stuff and go again. Good luck.

Already did. I got new chaeto and some dragon's breath. As I noted upthread, they've just sat there, not dying, not growing. The old chaeto mass didn't get removed fast enough either and did indeed make a huge mess.

 

[Duncan62]

Already did. I got new chaeto and some dragon's breath. As I noted upthread, they've just sat there, not dying, not growing. The old chaeto mass didn't get removed fast enough either and did indeed make a huge mess.

It there algae in the display now? Same light as before? Put an airstone in with the chaeto. Maybe iron is low. Feeding animals? Gosh. There's a million things to check. It's got to be nutrient related.

 

[youcallmenny1]

It there algae in the display now? Same light as before? Put an airstone in with the chaeto. Maybe iron is low. Feeding animals? Gosh. There's a million things to check. It's got to be nutrient related.

As I mentioned to @moz71 a few posts ago, there has been a backlash of GHA/dino's/cyano, yes. I have a powerhead in the fuge and a very large skimmer so I don't think oxygenation is the issue. I feed a fair amount daily, yes. No3 is at 10, Po4 is at 0.15. A little higher than normal but not that big of a deal and certainly nothing that would inhibit macro growth. I don't think it's nutrient related at all honestly.

 

[youcallmenny1]

Since it attaches quickly to nearly any negatively charged surface, would it be of benefit to add more easily skimmable/filterable negatively charged things into the tank that stay in the water column as sacrifical organics? Available and removable? Would phyto work for this?

This seems like a more interesting theory. I'd like to hear more if you have the sourcing handy.

 

[Duncan62]

As I mentioned to @moz71 a few posts ago, there has been a backlash of GHA/dino's/cyano, yes. I have a powerhead in the fuge and a very large skimmer so I don't think oxygenation is the issue. I feed a fair amount daily, yes. No3 is at 10, Po4 is at 0.15. A little higher than normal but not that big of a deal and certainly nothing that would inhibit macro growth. I don't think it's nutrient related at all honestly.

It should grow. Maybe inhibited by leftover chemicals. Sounds like you've got it figured out. My systems are chemical free except for dosing that includes iron and it doubles in volume every 3 or 4 days. Good luck. It'll start growing soon.

 

[youcallmenny1]

It should grow. Maybe inhibited by leftover chemicals. Sounds like you've got it figured out. My systems are chemical free except for dosing that includes iron and it doubles in volume every 3 or 4 days. Good luck. It'll start growing soon.

We don't, hence the entire thread on the matter. Thanks for your input.

 

[jda]

This seems like a more interesting theory. I'd like to hear more if you have the sourcing handy.

I know nothing. Just a question about trying something that might be proximate in most areas of the tank that is later exportable. Smarter people will have to weigh in...

 

[youcallmenny1]

I know nothing. Just a question about trying something that might be proximate in most areas of the tank that is later exportable. Smarter people will have to weigh in...

That's fair. The reason I ask is because this is the impression I get too. Something is still lurking residually in the specific system dosed, not the macro. How to purge that? I dunno but here's hoping someone has some useful advice.

 

[Dan_P]

Since it attaches quickly to nearly any negatively charged surface, would it be of benefit to add more easily skimmable/filterable negatively charged things into the tank that stay in the water column as sacrifical organics? Available and removable? Would phyto work for this?

You just gave me an idea how to investigate this. I am gearing up to experiment on Chaetomorpha. I will try to get one Chaetomorpha clump stalled but living with Vibrant and cultivate it one that has not seen Vibrant and see if the Vibrant migrates over and stalls the growth on the clean Chaetomorpha clump. Many “if’s and’s and but’s” to sort out.

Dan

 

[youcallmenny1]

You just gave me an idea how to investigate this. I am gearing up to experiment on Chaetomorpha. I will try to get one Chaetomorpha clump stalled but living with Vibrant and cultivate it one that has not seen Vibrant and see if the Vibrant migrates over and stalls the growth on the clean Chaetomorpha clump. Many “if’s and’s and but’s” to sort out.

Dan

I can safely say that adding fresh chaeto to a system that has used vibrant will stall the fresh stuff out despite months of carbon and heavy water changes. Interested to see the first half of said experiment though.