"Vibrant for Saltwater" in reef aquarium?

[Cory]

I have an UV sterilizer on the tank. At this moment I dont have dinos, I think the UV did a good job on that part, but doesnt help with the other algae problems.

Yes i have the same problem. I have two decorator urchins for hair algae, they work really well. But for cyano, there isnt much that will eat it. Generally it grows on hair algae which it feeds off of ive noticed. Or over a sand bed with rotting organics which it feeds off of. You could dose an antibiotic which would kill it. But i prefer to get to the source. Urchins for algae and clean the sand with a gravel vac. Most people use chemiclean iirc for cyanobacteria.

 

[Spare time]

Really? I find that highly unlikely. Why do you think that is true?

Biopellets are metabolized by a highly specialized type of bacteria. Most bacteria cannot consume them.

If you dosed bacteria that are able to consume polyhydroxybutyrate (biopellets), why would that have the anti algae effects that vibrant claims?

That is why I said "basically" as they don't do it the same way but both bring bacteria in that can lower nitrate and phosphate, Vibrant does have a strand of bacteria that the manufacture think predates on algae.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

That is why I said "basically" as they don't do it the same way but both bring bacteria in that can lower nitrate and phosphate, Vibrant does have a strand of bacteria that the manufacture think predates on algae.

Well, ok both are bacteria... but I'm not seeing how an organism that eats algae is similar to an organism that eats biopellets and thereby reduces nutrients in the water

 

[Michel]

Because nobody was 100% sure about the Vibrant Saltwater i dicided to mail Underwater Creations, Inc. with the same question. And they have replied to me within a day (really appriciated) that it's totally fine to use the saltwater formula in a reef aquarium, it will work exactly the same.

So if someone also accidently buys the saltwater formula like me, you can just use it.

 

[Spare time]

I have an UV sterilizer on the tank. At this moment I dont have dinos, I think the UV did a good job on that part, but doesnt help with the other algae problems.


When testing the parameters I read 0 nitrates and 0 phosphates, but thats probably because the algae is taking it.



Its not only running them different, its also having bad luck I gues...

I have 2 (separate) reef aquariums and I both run them the same. One of them is really good looking, no algae and fully stocked with good looking/growing corals.

And the second tank that I treat the same and also has the same water paramater is full covered in algae and I cant get it clean.

I think there is something wrong with the rocks or something, Maybe the rocks are having a high phosphates in them or something, I dont know....

The reason I brought up nitrate is that cyano can get their nitrogen from the atmosphere , and thus it may be possible that they do well in tanks with no detectible nitrate while other microorganisms don't. Dr Tim mentioned this in one of his macna talks that was pretty interesting and I'm finding a lot of cyano popping up in 0 nitrate tanks so I figured I'd throw that in

 

[Spare time]

Well, ok both are bacteria... but I'm not seeing how an organism that eats algae is similar to an organism that eats biopellets and thereby reduces nutrients in the water

That is just one of the strands they have in the bottle (its a mix). But I said basically in that they are both ways to lower nitrate and phosphate and that vibrant is not a miracle in a bottle as it is in a category of common products like waste away, seachem pristine, microbacter clean, etc.. with the except of the likely algae predator. Yes obviously they do it very differently which is why I basically in quotations to emphasize it. Sorta like how a plane and a car are "basically" ways to get around places but are VERY different in how they do it. I apologize if I wasn't clear in what I meant and should have worded it saying "are basically like" rather than "basically are" which would have made more sense. So in other words I am saying vibrant can be used o help lower nitrate and phosphate like similar products on the market aimed at using bacteria to clean up something from a tank (waste away, carbon dosing, and other means of adding bacteria to lower x through their biomass), though it is not the same mechanism of doing so. Therefore, adding biopellets or carbon dosing would probably not make a difference.

 

[FastandCurious]

I just used Vibrant for the first time last week. I have a mixed reef but was told it was reef safe and it is. I am about 6 days in and I would say about 75% of all my GHA is gone. And I had it all over my rocks. ,*uū It says to dose once a week but I rely don't think I need to dose again. Everyday less and less algae is visible. I am very impressed with this product. I was battling GHA for the last 4 months and nothing I was doing was getting rid of it for good. It always came back. This literally kills it, it disintegrates it right before your eyes. The only neg comment I have for this product is that once it kills all the algae some of the dead peices go flying around but I'm just going to do a water change and filter change when it finished and I will FINALLY be done with this evil algae lol. Def recommend it! Good Luck!

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

That is just one of the strands they have in the bottle (its a mix). But I said basically in that they are both ways to lower nitrate and phosphate and that vibrant is not a miracle in a bottle as it is in a category of common products like waste away, seachem pristine, microbacter clean, etc.. with the except of the likely algae predator. Yes obviously they do it very differently which is why I basically in quotations to emphasize it. Sorta like how a plane and a car are "basically" ways to get around places but are VERY different in how they do it. I apologize if I wasn't clear in what I meant and should have worded it saying "are basically like" rather than "basically are" which would have made more sense. So in other words I am saying vibrant can be used o help lower nitrate and phosphate like similar products on the market aimed at using bacteria to clean up something from a tank (waste away, carbon dosing, and other means of adding bacteria to lower x through their biomass), though it is not the same mechanism of doing so. Therefore, adding biopellets or carbon dosing would probably not make a difference.

While it seems no one has a clear understanding of what is in vibrant and how it works, if the product works as the manufacturer claims by bacteria directly consuming algae, that has nothing to do with lowering nutrients,.

 

[Michel]

I just used Vibrant for the first time last week. I have a mixed reef but was told it was reef safe and it is. I am about 6 days in and I would say about 75% of all my GHA is gone. And I had it all over my rocks. ,*uū It says to dose once a week but I rely don't think I need to dose again. Everyday less and less algae is visible. I am very impressed with this product. I was battling GHA for the last 4 months and nothing I was doing was getting rid of it for good. It always came back. This literally kills it, it disintegrates it right before your eyes. The only neg comment I have for this product is that once it kills all the algae some of the dead peices go flying around but I'm just going to do a water change and filter change when it finished and I will FINALLY be done with this evil algae lol. Def recommend it! Good Luck!

Thank you.
Yeah i sort of have the same problem. A lot of algae for months that keeps coming back. Good to hear it's working so effective for you. lets hope it will do the same thing for me. I dont see any change yet but I only started dosing 2-3 days ago. But I dont mind if it will take a bit longer. if I see improvements within few weeks I will be more than happy.

 

[FastandCurious]

Thank you.
Yeah i sort of have the same problem. A lot of algae for months that keeps coming back. Good to hear it's working so effective for you. lets hope it will do the same thing for me. I dont see any change yet but I only started dosing 2-3 days ago. But I dont mind if it will take a bit longer. if I see improvements within few weeks I will be more than happy.

Yea I didn't notice any change right away either but after a few days I started to notice it just honestly disintegrate. It's kind of crazy. I was expecting a cpl of weeks of waiting. So I hope you have the same luck.

 

[Jtk920]

I started using it 3 weeks for cyano issues, almost completely cleared up. I would suggest a skimmer prior to dosing, your going to have a lot of crud after a small dose. I was emptying the collection cup once a week, after a dose the next day it was full.

 

[LgTas]

Because nobody was 100% sure about the Vibrant Saltwater i dicided to mail Underwater Creations, Inc. with the same question. And they have replied to me within a day (really appriciated) that it's totally fine to use the saltwater formula in a reef aquarium, it will work exactly the same.

So if someone also accidently buys the saltwater formula like me, you can just use it.

Thanks for clarifying this. I'm in the exact same position as you.

 

[RyanS]

I just used Vibrant for the first time last week. I have a mixed reef but was told it was reef safe and it is. I am about 6 days in and I would say about 75% of all my GHA is gone. And I had it all over my rocks. ,*uū It says to dose once a week but I rely don't think I need to dose again. Everyday less and less algae is visible. I am very impressed with this product. I was battling GHA for the last 4 months and nothing I was doing was getting rid of it for good. It always came back. This literally kills it, it disintegrates it right before your eyes. The only neg comment I have for this product is that once it kills all the algae some of the dead peices go flying around but I'm just going to do a water change and filter change when it finished and I will FINALLY be done with this evil algae lol. Def recommend it! Good Luck!

" I am very impressed with this product. I was battling GHA for the last 4 months and nothing I was doing was getting rid of it for good. It always came back. This literally kills it, it disintegrates it right before your eyes."

Sounds like something an algaecide would do.... it melted mine too. It's not that it doesn't work... I'm just seriously doubting the actual ingredients.


Storage alone and them saying it should last a few years makes me think that it's not just bacteria and is some kind of algaecide. If it had live bacteria in it, I would think for shelf life that you would actually want to store in a refrigerator to slow the bacteria's metabolism down while storing.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Storage alone and them saying it should last a few years makes me think that it's not just bacteria and is some kind of algaecide. If it had live bacteria in it, I would think for shelf life that you would actually want to store in a refrigerator to slow the bacteria's metabolism down while storing.

Update: It is an algaecide.

Sad that the company misled so many people.

 

[Spare time]

Update: It is an algaecide.

Sad that the company misled so many people.

Haha I remember this thread. I butchered my words horrible in our discussion lol. I found a video of Dr Tim's where he said waste away could seed biopellets, and I was under the assumption at the time that vibrant was essentially a heterotophic bacterial blend under another label. However, I fumbled my words and decided to ride with it lol