Thoughts on vibrant?

[clown and friends]

I have some bubble algae, not a problem at all just have to pick a few bubbles out during WC's. I've heard vibrant can help eliminate the problem but I am afraid of messing with things as all the corals and my nem are very happy. I run a system which has pretty consistent nitrates at about 5 ppm which I think is the culprit for its growth but its a biocube and there really isn't any more I can do short of drilling it and putting a sump on it lol. I read vibrant can literally get rid of it. What are peoples thoughts?

 

[sghera64]

It can rid bubble algae. But you have to really push the dosage. Look on R2R for threads reporting success.

NOTE: I did not find using the high dosage affected any of my corals (SPS, LPS, zoas, mushrooms). It definitely affects macro algae in a negative way at the high doses necessary to hit bubble algae. Oh, and it wiped out my cyano while I was dosing and held it at bay for a couple of weeks thereafter.

 

[clown and friends]

It can rid bubble algae. But you have to really push the dosage. Look on R2R for threads reporting success.

NOTE: I did not find using the high dosage affected any of my corals (SPS, LPS, zoas, mushrooms). It definitely affects macro algae in a negative way at the high doses necessary to hit bubble algae. Oh, and it wiped out my cyano while I was dosing and held it at bay for a couple of weeks thereafter.

Okay thanks for the info! Is there any impact on coralline algae?

 

[wesman42]

It can rid bubble algae. But you have to really push the dosage. Look on R2R for threads reporting success.

NOTE: I did not find using the high dosage affected any of my corals (SPS, LPS, zoas, mushrooms). It definitely affects macro algae in a negative way at the high doses necessary to hit bubble algae. Oh, and it wiped out my cyano while I was dosing and held it at bay for a couple of weeks thereafter.

If it wiped out Cyano for you then you're the minority. The majority of users actually obtain Cyano when pushing the dosage instructions beyond the recommended amount. I certainly did. You can read more about vibrant in the official thread from UWC. I don't have a link right now, but you can search for Vibrant Discussion and it should pop up for you.

 

[sghera64]

Okay thanks for the info! Is there any impact on coralline algae?

I don’t know. I’d say I did not notice an impact within a month of using it.

 

[sghera64]

If it wiped out Cyano for you then you're the minority. The majority of users actually obtain Cyano when pushing the dosage instructions beyond the recommended amount. I certainly did. You can read more about vibrant in the official thread from UWC. I don't have a link right now, but you can search for Vibrant Discussion and it should pop up for you.

I will do a search because I’m curious about the effects of increasing micro diversity by adding “new” bacteria strains. I was not surprised to see Vibrant immediately wipe out my cyano - it is a bacterial competitor. But then to see the cyano come back a few weeks after I stopped dosing because it was killing my macro algae was disappointing. I’m guessing the Vibrant bugs may have over consumed what they needed, then crashes and changed the nutrient balance to provide a favorable one to cyano.

 

[Waters]

I had good luck in my SPS tank with Vibrant but you do need to really pay attention to your nutrient levels......they will all bottom out if you dose too much or you aren't dealing with the low nutrients in other ways (such as nutrient dosing). The zero nutrients is what causes the cyano and can play havoc with your coral, which are all used to "dirtier" water. I did run into issues with a second tank in which case Vibrant killed 2 out of 3 of my Gorgonians, almost overnight.

 

[skiwez]

My recommendation is not to use it for your current situation. I think it's a great product and I've used it couple of times over the last couple of years. Once to rid of bubble algae and more recently dinos. The reason I used it was because on both occasions they reached plague proportions. I had essentially nothing to lose. Thankfully it worked on both occasions. For me it wasn't an overnight success but Vibrant combined with more frequent water changes did the trick. Some people reccomend an maintenance dose. I don't find the need. I prefer keep as few additives out of my tank as possible.

 

[clown and friends]

My recommendation is not to use it for your current situation. I think it's a great product and I've used it couple of times over the last couple of years. Once to rid of bubble algae and more recently dinos. The reason I used it was because on both occasions they reached plague proportions. I had essentially nothing to lose. Thankfully it worked on both occasions. For me it wasn't an overnight success but Vibrant combined with more frequent water changes did the trick. Some people reccomend an maintenance dose. I don't find the need. I prefer keep as few additives out of my tank as possible.

This is pretty much the response I was looking for, right now it is really just a small nuisance. If it gets worse I suppose I will consider it!

 

[RMS18]

If it wiped out Cyano for you then you're the minority. The majority of users actually obtain Cyano when pushing the dosage instructions beyond the recommended amount. I certainly did. You can read more about vibrant in the official thread from UWC. I don't have a link right now, but you can search for Vibrant Discussion and it should pop up for you.

Same here i was dosing twice a week for 6 weeks for GHA. I have a good amount of cyno now, which will take some time to go away.

 

[User1]

Start here: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/vibrant-liquid-aquarium-cleaner-discussion-thread.271428/

It works. With any bacteria or dosing of stuff you need to understand your tank, total water volume, and plan on a proper dose which I recommend starting lower than what the manual says. I've had good success with this using NoPox and also with Vibrant which I am currently using twice a week to help with some algae issues. I will say that in my case it worked as advertised within 12 hours. Yes, 12 hours I had a side pane clear of algae that was otherwise waving in the flow at me.