Ready to give up! GHA

[Fish_N_A_Box]

I keep seeing everyone using Vibrant and saying it takes 4-6 weeks to work.

yet when I had my chia pet rock this is how long it took to clear up naturally with weekly water changes and a CUC.

my question is why pay for something that will burn out in its own time? does Vibrant really work "that well" or is it just slightly aiding in a natural process in which you dose things into your tank that you don't really need to at all if you just had a bit of patience.

 

[Fish_N_A_Box]

+1

Make sure your hermits have shells to grow into so they don't play Grand Theft Auto with your snails for theirs.

Some Trochus snails, a Tuxedo urchin, and a Tomini tang (if tank size permits) would get the ball rolling in addition to your vibrant dosing. Sorry if I missed it while at work, but what is your tank size?

13.5 gallon ... so the tang is out of the picture.

Even the urchin would fade after a while as there wouldn't be enough food source to maintain it IMO.

 

[mav3rick478]

3 dwarf red legs. I don’t feed the tank regularly. They’ve always just eaten the algae and I’ve never worried about it. I got a shrimp recently so I was going to go tonight and pickup some mysis. I used to feed corals twice a week But haven’t since I moved And this issue started.

Oh your crew is small even for your tank, I'd get at least 5-7 more hermits, maybe mix it up with some blue legged ones since they don't grow very big. And have some empty shells like mentioned above. Nothing like watching them battle it out for a shell, lol. They don't add to much bio load so you can add them all without any problems. This reminds me I need to replenish my CC, I think I only have 1 hermit left, dang wrasse!

Do you have any fish? Sounds like you could benefit from some more bio load in the tank, there are quite a few gobies, firefish or basslets you can add to a system that small. Bacteria will increase and corals will like the fish poop.

I love the challenge of small tanks, I started with a 10 gallon and had so many fish in it, it was insane! Had a carpet Anemone and a baby Snowflake Eel in it at one point till I upgraded tanks.

 

[Infidel]

13.5 gallon ... so the tang is out of the picture.

Even the urchin would fade after a while as there wouldn't be enough food source to maintain it IMO.

Roger that, I edited my post once I saw the tank size earlier.

CUC, regular water changes, and time will be the best solution for this, just keep the hermits happy and everything should work out. Zebra and blue-leg hermits like to spend more time on the rocks than most other hermits, maybe a few of those would help more.

 

[Conor_K]

I keep seeing everyone using Vibrant and saying it takes 4-6 weeks to work.

yet when I had my chia pet rock this is how long it took to clear up naturally with weekly water changes and a CUC.

my question is why pay for something that will burn out in its own time? does Vibrant really work "that well" or is it just slightly aiding in a natural process in which you dose things into your tank that you don't really need to at all if you just had a bit of patience.

I had GHA and ulva for well over 6 months and it was getting worse with time, covering every rock surface.
I have daily AWC and phospates and nitrates were in good range (.03, 5).

7 weeks into the vibrant regiment and my tank is as clean as a whistle now.
I couldn't believe how well it worked and it's such a relief to have clean rocks I feel comfortable placing frags on now.
Observing the tank in person, I have no doubt the vibrant was effective.

Just my experience..

 

[Infidel]

 

[VillainzReefExotics702]

Reefflux or dose More beneficial bacteria that might help

 

[Loggerhead]

13.5 gallon ... so the tang is out of the picture.

Even the urchin would fade after a while as there wouldn't be enough food source to maintain it IMO.

Urchins will eat sheets of nori. I have three and they will pull it out of my two gourmet grazers. They are pretty easy to feed supplementally. My concern would be it outgrowing the tank if it is a long spine.

 

[Roger D]

I keep seeing everyone using Vibrant and saying it takes 4-6 weeks to work.

yet when I had my chia pet rock this is how long it took to clear up naturally with weekly water changes and a CUC.

my question is why pay for something that will burn out in its own time? does Vibrant really work "that well" or is it just slightly aiding in a natural process in which you dose things into your tank that you don't really need to at all if you just had a bit of patience.

Vibrant is just another type of bacteria that can be added to your system like all others.

 

[Drewbacca]

If I didnt have a chaeto based fused I would love to try vibrant myself.

 

[chayes991]

I had a bad case of hair algae in my nano,
I decided to make a algae reactor.
I can honestly say it’s changed my tank. It took a couple of months but I’m now completely hair algae free whilst I have chaeto and other algae’s growing in the reactor. Plus my pod population has exploded.
I say outcompete these things, algae is a natural part of any body of water. But the reactor (or refugium) will help you contain and outcompete along with many other benefits.

 

[ReefGeezer]

I keep seeing everyone using Vibrant and saying it takes 4-6 weeks to work...

There are a few "Bottles of Bacteria" on the market. I suspect they all work pretty much the same. Vibrant is one of them. I've used it, combined with some other help, in an established tank that had a stubborn case of hair algae. The process I used worked great in about 8 weeks with no apparent side effects.

... does Vibrant really work "that well"...

I think how it works depends on many variables. For example, in a tank that has a lot of solid organic waste built up and/or a lot of algae, I think it will take longer and nutrient spikes could cause issues or failure if not accounted for.

...or is it just slightly aiding in a natural process in which you dose things into your tank that you don't really need to at all if you just had a bit of patience.

I think it is adding a process that replicates things that happen in mature systems. So yes, patience might work... if... the algae doesn't get out of hand first.

Our job when the tank is new is to keep things from getting out of hand until the system and processes mature to the point where they are more self sustaining. A lot of the battle is managing water quality and pests. There are lots of things we use to manage these that may not be necessary in the long term. They can be valuable in the short term to keep potential problems from getting out of hand. I think GAC, GFO, Carbon Dosing, Vibrant, Reef Flux, Waste Away, Chemicleen, and others can help us when applied wisely.

 

[stevieduk]

oh everybody makes a simple problem so complicated using chemicals, just get one or two urchins and the problem will be solved in a couple of weeks

 

[ReefReadyYouTube]

I’ll be honest that happened to me and I fought it for a year. Ended up tearing down and re-stating the whole system and used pure GFO in a bag and it helped a lot. Save the time and money and get GFO.

 

[NanoBoxes]

Get an urchin for sure after you scrub the thick stuff off. Urchins are what keep algae from taking over the reefs in the ocean! I have one in each of my tanks and they are like Roomba vacuums

 

[BeachBumm]

Guys, I have GHA, and it’s taking over. It’s gotten worse and worse. It’s only one one single rock but I already have corals glued down. I got it from some corals I got at once. I got four at once and it affected two corals that I purchased and has just spread everywhere on this one rock. I have been dosing vibrant and hydrogen peroxide but its not seeming to help. I just treated my tank for flatworms so I don’t want to put too much stress on said tank. My tank is beautiful and has grown immensely in four months, but I’m just so frustrated. I pick this off and it comes right back. I’m ready to give up. I just picked it off yesterday%

Trochus snails will eat everything , hair algae , cyano , Dinos but they are very slow .You can add them and they will help tremendously !!

 

[vetteguy53081]

+1 on either Urchin or Vibrant. Vibrant for me ROCKS!

 

[Anchor]

I use vibrant now and have been for about 3 weeks with also picking it off daily.

Vibrant can take a couple months.. but it does work on long hair algae eventually. Keep plucking the algae as well.

You can pull the rocks with the glued on corals and drip a little peroxide on the algae. wait about 5 mins and return it to the tank.. It will kill back the algae temporarily but allows for other things to catch up with its growth and get some control on it. Expecct a couple months for things to improve.. remember nothing good happens fast in a reef. Having algae die fast will spike NO3 and PO4.. so you might get Cyano along the way.. No panic.. that is easy to get rid of.

My experience took about 2 months in a 30 AIO. I now have no algea and the vibrant even cleaned up my crap in the sand.

 

[wallyg]

I bought a tuxedo urchin for my biocube and cleaned up the problem in a couple of weeks

 

[dieselkeeper]

Is your TDS, zero coming out your RO/DI?