Vibrant and bio pellets

Screwgunner · Oct 8, 2022

Well, to begin my nitrate went from 5 to 50 . Don't know why. So I started bio pellet reactor. Well it took a month for it to get going after another month nitrates dropped to 40 . I have been adding phosphates so it does not bottom out. My first experience with vibrant went well . It cleaned my tank . But I had to go through dinos . Well, I put vibrant in and to my surprise my pellets dropped about an inch. My phosphates went straight to 0 and my nitrates dropped to 30 over night. So,when they say vibrant is bacteria I have to believe them.

a.t.t.r · Oct 8, 2022

Screwgunner said:
Well, to begin my nitrate went from 5 to 50 . Don't know why. So I started bio pellet reactor. Well it took a month for it to get going after another month nitrates dropped to 40 . I have been adding phosphates so it does not bottom out. My first experience with vibrant went well . It cleaned my tank . But I had to go through dinos . Well, I put vibrant in and to my surprise my pellets dropped about an inch. My phosphates went straight to 0 and my nitrates dropped to 30 over night. So,when they say vibrant is bacteria I have to believe them.

Would recommend you read the long vibrant threads with actual testing. You would see the same results with algaefix.

Garf · Oct 8, 2022

Screwgunner said:
It cleaned my tank . But I had to go through dinos

Sounds like it worked great, lol

TokenReefer · Oct 8, 2022

Who sent you?

Screwgunner · Oct 8, 2022

It just seems only bacteria can eat the bio pellets. I know it has 5% vinegar in it. But how do you explain the reduction of the bio pellets? If it is algicide.

Garf · Oct 8, 2022

Screwgunner said:
It just seems only bacteria can eat the bio pellets. I know it has 5% vinegar in it. But how do you explain the reduction of the bio pellets? If it is algicide.

Maybe the the death of algae releasing sugar, dunno

Screwgunner · Oct 9, 2022

The thing is my algea on my scubber does not die it is growing good still don't know what to believe. I was adding vodka with the bio pellets they did not go down. But add some vibrant and watch your pellets dissappear!!!! With a big drop in phosphates and nitrates. The first time I used it I didn't keep an eye on my nutrients. If it did deplete my phosphate to 0 that is definitely the cause of the dinos. It would put a hurting on all your good bacteria also. I have a 120 gallon volume of water. Witch is 12 ml of vibrant . I think I am going to does it in smaller quantities. Say 2 ml every day and skip Sunday. And keep an eye on my nutrients.
Because if vibrant drops your nutrients so efficiently I bet that is why people are losing there sps to it. All I have is some birdsnet and montiporas . If they die over this I will never use it again!

Randy Holmes-Farley · Oct 9, 2022

Screwgunner said:
It just seems only bacteria can eat the bio pellets. I know it has 5% vinegar in it. But how do you explain the reduction of the bio pellets? If it is algicide.

The chemical in vibrant is also know to kill bacteria, though I do not know if that has anything to do with your experience.

a.t.t.r · Oct 9, 2022

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
The chemical in vibrant is also know to kill bacteria, though I do not know if that has anything to do with your experience.

Doesn’t the chemical also interfere with test kits? Or was that just a theory that wasn’t tested ?

Screwgunner · Oct 9, 2022

Well, after I started putting neophos in I am at .02 phosphates . Lord I hope it doesn't mess up tests.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Oct 9, 2022

a.t.t.r said:
Doesn’t the chemical also interfere with test kits? Or was that just a theory that wasn’t tested ?

I don’t recall.

Mateusz · Oct 9, 2022

Between the algaecide your using and the lanthanum chloride, just doesn't seem like a good combination. Unless you don't have any corals.

Screwgunner · Oct 9, 2022

Never used Lanthanum chloride . That I know of.

Screwgunner · Oct 9, 2022

Neophos puts phosphates in your tank!

Spare time · Oct 9, 2022

Screwgunner said:
It just seems only bacteria can eat the bio pellets. I know it has 5% vinegar in it. But how do you explain the reduction of the bio pellets? If it is algicide.

Correlation does not equal causation.

Mateusz · Oct 10, 2022

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
The chemical in vibrant is also know to kill bacteria, though I do not know if that has anything to do with your experience.

Went to UWC site cuz I was curious and it looks like Vibrant is out of stock, and can't find anyone carrying it. Hopefully the guy is being investigated, just crazy to outright lie to people the way he did, but it seems to be getting normal in this hobby :-(

Roli's Reef Ranch · Oct 10, 2022

Mateusz said:
Went to UWC site cuz I was curious and it looks like Vibrant is out of stock, and can't find anyone carrying it. Hopefully the guy is being investigated, just crazy to outright lie to people the way he did, but it seems to be getting normal in this hobby :-(

It looks that way, but I think there is actually less snake-oil in the hobby now because more people are getting caught making it look like there is actually more fraud. We can thank our reef-chemists, ICP and other factors. That being said, I'm paranoid about almost anything I put in my tank, and avoid almost anything I don't have to use. This includes salt having seen what happened to Melevsreef and Turkeygate last year. Haven't done a water change in 9 months and have no issues (perhaps why I haven't had any).