Vibrant vs GHA

[Dan_P]

I ran an experiment on green hair alga (Derbesia species, I assume), exposing two cultures of GHA to Vibrant. One culture growing in 100 ppm NO3 and one in 10 ppm NO3. The medium was changed every 5 days or so, which meant the 10 ppm GHA culture used up the NO3 before fresh medium was added and the growth was noticeably weaker than the 100 ppm culture. I did this to stress the algae and possibly make it more susceptible to Vibrant.

During the first five days, the cultures were exposed to the recommended Vibrant dose. After changing the medium on day 5, the cultures were treated with twice the recommended dose. On day ten, the medium was changed and the cultures treated again with a double dose of Vibrant. On day 14, the controls and test dishes were photographed.

As you can see, you would be hard pressed to tell the difference between the control and Vibrant exposed cultures. There does seem to be a slight difference in the 10 ppm culture pair. While results are not enough to say that I proved “X”, they do support the observation by some users that Vibrant was ineffective in killing GHA. I wonder if different species of GHA respond differently to Vibrant.

 

[CoralReefer1019]

what’s your saying is that Vibrant does work but only on certain strains of GHA?

 

[Hemmdog]

vibrant is a bacteria. I would think to be an accurate test, you would need to set up test aquariums; with flow, heat, a carbon source to keep the bacteria working besides algae. Idk, I’m not surprised by your results, if they were done in the test dishes; the vibrant bacteria surely had died, imo.

 

[Dan_P]

what’s your saying is that Vibrant does work but only on certain strains of GHA?

I was wondering why Vibrant failed in the experiment and tossed out the idea that maybe not all GHA species were alike. Maybe I had a superman species. Maybe it does not work on any species of GHA.

 

[Michael Gray]

I'm currently dosing vibrant as @Hemmdog knows. Tank is on week 6. Then again I have bryopsis so it's hard to judge as I realized I have some obvious ferns and stuff that looks like GHA but upon very close magnifying glass it also has fern or branches out. So I now dosed flucon almost 24 hours ago. But will continue vibrant for atleast another month to see what we get

 

[Dan_P]

vibrant is a bacteria. I would think to be an accurate test, you would need to set up test aquariums; with flow, heat, a carbon source to keep the bacteria working besides algae. Idk, I’m not surprised by your results, if they were done in the test dishes; the vibrant bacteria surely had died, imo.

There is definitely a chance that laboratory settings do not reproduce aquarium conditions. The carbon source idea is noteworthy. If I pursue this further, I will alter the medium to include an organic carbon source.

 

[taricha]

I've been running essentially the same thing as @Dan_P in test tubes (microscope ID'd derbesia). Just over 2 weeks in, 3 doses of 2x amount of vibrant, and no difference visible between the 4 tubes of control and the 4 of vibrant. All are pretty stable.

Vibrant usage in the huge vibrant thread often involves dosing for weeks and weeks before the target algae subsides. So this isn't all that out of character at this point.

 

[drawman]

vibrant is a bacteria. I would think to be an accurate test, you would need to set up test aquariums; with flow, heat, a carbon source to keep the bacteria working besides algae. Idk, I’m not surprised by your results, if they were done in the test dishes; the vibrant bacteria surely had died, imo.

There is definitely a chance that laboratory settings do not reproduce aquarium conditions. The carbon source idea is noteworthy. If I pursue this further, I will alter the medium to include an organic carbon source.

I've been running essentially the same thing as @Dan_P in test tubes (microscope ID'd derbesia). Just over 2 weeks in, 3 doses of 2x amount of vibrant, and no difference visible between the 4 tubes of control and the 4 of vibrant. All are pretty stable.

Vibrant usage in the huge vibrant thread often involves dosing for weeks and weeks before the target algae subsides. So this isn't all that out of character at this point.

I think that you could confirm that test tube conditions work by running the same controlled test using bubble algae. As @taricha said you may need to extend this several weeks with all algaes to see results.

Anecdotally, I had a species of GHA/turf algae that Vibrant wouldn't touch. Sadly, I've managed to introduce it into my new tank. Snails, urchins, and my yellow tang want little to do with it. I guess if you guys need algae to experiment on I got you covered lol.

 

[taricha]

I think that you could confirm that test tube conditions work by running the same controlled test using bubble algae.

Good idea. If I had thought it though, I would have used chaeto, as I know that vibrant killed it in my tank quite easily. Unlike the GHA in my system that vibrant didn't do much to there either.

 

[User1]

I've been running essentially the same thing as @Dan_P in test tubes (microscope ID'd derbesia). Just over 2 weeks in, 3 doses of 2x amount of vibrant, and no difference visible between the 4 tubes of control and the 4 of vibrant. All are pretty stable.

Vibrant usage in the huge vibrant thread often involves dosing for weeks and weeks before the target algae subsides. So this isn't all that out of character at this point.

It does take time but as I'm sure you are aware all tanks are different. Upon my first use of Vibrant I saw algae subside within 12 hours. It was noticeable on my tanks side walls. What I do not know though is the algae type. On the other hand it did take a bit more time for my tank to clear all signs of algae. Then by me not ignoring the extra nutrients from die off only to have it come back 10 times more powerful in which case I was more educated and finally clear it.