Dosing Vibrant to replace Fuge?

[Eyecon]

What's up everyone! Battling a hair algae due to LRD (Lazy Reefer Disease), lol. I have the tank pretty much back on track. Hair Algae is slowly going away after Vibrant and Fluconazole dosing.

Vibrant question....... I'm aware that it will kill macro algae. Assuming phosphate doesn't get out of control, would it be possible to bypass running a Fuge? Concentrate on other forms of export? Vibrant, Phosphate RX, Specific bio pellets, water changes?

Tank size is a 260 DT with 40 Sump. Around 250 water volume. Current No3 is 0 (adding 8 fish from QT this weekend so I'm hoping this will help raise No3). Po4 is 0, probably because the small amount of GHA is absorbing it. Also looking to raise this number with feedings and bio load.

Very interested in your thoughts on this. Thanks everyone!

 

[fishface1003]

bump

 

[Eyecon]

bump

I see you are interested as well! Any thoughts?

 

[Naturalreef]

Vibrant can be a great tool for export. I feed heavy and use it to export along with skimming and water changes.
The key is to always keep an eye on nutrients, because unchecked Vibrant will create a sterile environment and coral will melt from lack of nutrients.
I use about 1 ml once a week on a 20 gallon SPS dominated. That aside, I love Vibrant! Used properly, it will make your tank glow!

 

[W1ngz]

Here's what I'd do if I were doing vibrant and/or flucanozole to kill off algae.

-Move the chaeto into a bucket or storage tote with a light and a heater and a little flow. Feed it just a few flakes to keep some nitrates/phosphates.
-Deal with the algae using manual removal as much as possible, and sparingly on the chemicals.
-dead algae, regardless of how you kill it, means nitrates and phosphates in the water so run some GFO or phosphate Rx or whatever you choose. Phosphate Rx apparently has some of it's own concerns, so check into that first. Monitor phosphate often, as it could also bottom out depending how much algae is being killed off.
-Once the phosphates are under control, and you've stopped the chemicals and done a water change, put the chaeto back on an extended light period to wrestle the nitrates down to the level you want them at if the vibrant hasn't already lowered them enough.

All of that may take a month or two before you get things firmly where you want them.

 

[Eyecon]

Here's what I'd do if I were doing vibrant and/or flucanozole to kill off algae.

-Move the chaeto into a bucket or storage tote with a light and a heater and a little flow. Feed it just a few flakes to keep some nitrates/phosphates.
-Deal with the algae using manual removal as much as possible, and sparingly on the chemicals.
-dead algae, regardless of how you kill it, means nitrates and phosphates in the water so run some GFO or phosphate Rx or whatever you choose. Phosphate Rx apparently has some of it's own concerns, so check into that first. Monitor phosphate often, as it could also bottom out depending how much algae is being killed off.
-Once the phosphates are under control, and you've stopped the chemicals and done a water change, put the chaeto back on an extended light period to wrestle the nitrates down to the level you want them at if the vibrant hasn't already lowered them enough.

All of that may take a month or two before you get things firmly where you want them.

We think alike! This is exactly what I have been doing. I'm around a month, +/- a few days. Seeing decent to good results.

In the spirit of thinking outside of the box, I'm curious if it would be possible to not run a Fuge with dosing Vibrant as a preventative weekly. Thoughts on that?

 

[W1ngz]

I see my fuge as more than just nitrate and phosphate control. It manages my ph, my pod population, absorbs some pollutants plus i don't need to buy yet more stuff to dose.

I always prefer a natural over additive method when i can.

 

[Eyecon]

I see my fuge as more than just nitrate and phosphate control. It manages my ph, my pod population, absorbs some pollutants plus i don't need to buy yet more stuff to dose.

I always prefer a natural over additive method when i can.

Certainly agree with you on the natural vs additive mindset. But........ is it possible? Dosing Vibrant (cultured bacteria) to control algae?

 

[SDK]

Plenty of tanks run without a fuge, or Vibrant for that matter. My AIO tank has a good skimmer, no fuge, and I drop in a dose of Vibrant monthly. No GHA issues whatsoever.

You can certainly try it and see how it goes.

 

[bsr2430]

Here’s my Blonde moment... I dosed Vibrant in my tank while Chaeto was in there.

It did finally don on me! I moved the Chaeto out and it’s doing great!haha oops...

 

[2Wheelsonly]

Vibrant is extremely efficient at killing algae. I like my tank to sit at 5-10 nitrates and 0.03 po4; corals always look great but very slowly over time algae can start to grow in low flow areas as the corals grow to large colonies. After a few years I decided to knock it all out with vibrant; my nitrates shot up to 50+ because of all the dead algae and I had a little fire drill to bring them back down.

Vibrant works very well