I think Im skipping the "ugly stage".... been dosing small amounts of Vibrant

[WestonNanos]

I did not... my lights were on from day one and my tank is next to a window where it receives 3/4 hours of direct sunlight per day.... This is exactly where my curiosity comes from... under those lighting conditions.... in the beginning stages of my tank... how do I not have algae yet??? I think the answer is my vibrant dosing

I think you made the right choice with dry rock, Ive done live rock in the past and it came with every pest in the book!

@WestonNanos ....Did you also leave your lights off for 4 months as they say in the videos? I'll be starting with dry rock as well. My last tank (29 gallon biocube), in 2013 was set up with live rock, so things seemed to go pretty easily. Broke it down in 2019 for a move. :-(

Also to note, when the argument is made that I am "delaying the ugly stage" I think the real question being asked is the following... "is my tank maturing and becoming more diverse while dosing vibrant, or is the vibrant killing off all of the beneficial bacteria that make up a mature and stable reef thus, forcing the ugly stage to occur when I stop dosing vibrant?"

These are the questions I am hoping to answer with the experiment.

 

[Harold999]

I thought once to skip the ugly fase too by letting an empty tank cycle for 7 months. The dryrock looked good at month 7, still pretty white with some mild greenish hue on some places.
So I added 2 clownfish and some corals. 2 weeks later i had all the pest algae including dino's in the tank which are known in marine biology, covering everything except the 2 clowns.

 

[Tamberav]

or perhaps vibrant isn't doing anything and he wasn't going to get a bad ugly stage anyways. It's not like we have a control tank set up for this.

 

[WestonNanos]

Posted this exact thing in my build thread, thought it also applied here... Turned on the white lights on the other day (which I rarely do...) and I realized that my entire rock scape is covered in the neon green algae that will over time, turn into coraline algae! As you can see, there are small specs of purple coraline. Super exciting considering this is the only "algae" in the tank. The sand bed is spotless, not a single strand of hair algae, diatoms , cyano, ANYTHING! I would not consider the green rock to be any sort of "ugly phase"


I dosed another 1/2 dose of vibrant this past saturday after a large water change.


Ill keep you posted on how it progresses from here...

 

[elorablue]

That looks familiar. Here’s mine at 2 months.

 

[WestonNanos]

That looks familiar. Here’s mine at 2 months.

Very familiar!!! About how long from that point did you have full coraline coverage?

 

[elorablue]

I’m at 8 months now and I would say I have 60% coverage now.
Tried to find some white light pics but these should give you an idea of the progression I’ve experienced.
First couple are at 4 months , other ones are 6 or 7 months.

 

[WestonNanos]

I’m at 8 months now and I would say I have 60% coverage now.
Tried to find some white light pics but these should give you an idea of the progression I’ve experienced.
First couple are at 4 months , other ones are 6 or 7 months.

Gives me a great idea, tank's lookin awesome man!

 

[elorablue]

Gives me a great idea, tank's lookin awesome man!

Cheers!

 

[Sgchick]

@WestonNanos ...Any updates on your tank and dosing vibrant?

 

[BanjoBandito]

I swear you guys would drink vibrant.....

 

[vetteguy53081]

I swear you guys would drink vibrant.....

While vibrant at times is an alternative and not a solution, I as many have had good success with it.
Have you used it ?

 

[crabgrass]

I know this is an old thread, but wanted to provide some input. At about 3 weeks into my cycle, I started adding half dose vibrant 2x times a week and maintained for 3 weeks. At that point, the tank was pristine (no algae, crystal clear water, etc.) . Last Saturday (5/7) was the last dose.

Ugly phase kicked within in within 5-6 days (5/13) of the last dose. So in my case it just delayed the process I think.

At this point, I am going to let nature ride itself out (no more dosing vibrant until ugly stage clears).

I have no idea what would have happened if I would have continued dosing vibrant for the next 3-6 months - if i would have bypassed the uglies completely or just delayed it until I stopped.

Edit - it is possible what I am seeing is coralline algae as well, and I am mis-identifying it. It is the same neon green algae description as what OP stated above. I added purple and pink Helix into the tank during cycling.

 

[BanjoBandito]

I know this is an old thread, but wanted to provide some input. At about 3 weeks into my cycle, I started adding half dose vibrant 2x times a week and maintained for 3 weeks. At that point, the tank was pristine (no algae, crystal clear water, etc.) . Last Saturday (5/7) was the last dose.

Ugly phase kicked within in within 5-6 days (5/13) of the last dose. So in my case it just delayed the process I think.

At this point, I am going to let nature ride itself out (no more dosing vibrant until ugly stage clears).

I have no idea what would have happened if I would have continued dosing vibrant for the next 3-6 months - if i would have bypassed the uglies completely or just delayed it until I stopped.

We are pretty sure that Vibrant is some form of algicide. I'll let more intelligent members fill the specifics in. I would not be "maintenence" dosing it into any tank until there's clarification on what it's exactly doing. Algecide being dosed seems like a nightmare in the long run. I would discontinue use and just let it ride a bit. Thanks for the update.

 

[ReefGeezer]

I know this is an old thread, but wanted to provide some input. At about 3 weeks into my cycle, I started adding half dose vibrant 2x times a week and maintained for 3 weeks. At that point, the tank was pristine (no algae, crystal clear water, etc.) . Last Saturday (5/7) was the last dose.

Ugly phase kicked within in within 5-6 days (5/13) of the last dose. So in my case it just delayed the process I think.

At this point, I am going to let nature ride itself out (no more dosing vibrant until ugly stage clears).

I have no idea what would have happened if I would have continued dosing vibrant for the next 3-6 months - if i would have bypassed the uglies completely or just delayed it until I stopped.

I did much the same and stopped using Vibrant several months ago. The uglies followed and I still battle some with them. In addition, I am still unable to grow Cheato, and have lost the majority of my clean-up crew. I am afraid to repopulate snails due to the effects Vibrant seems to have on them... even after some time.

 

[crabgrass]

I did much the same and stopped using Vibrant several months ago. The uglies followed and I still battle some with them. In addition, I am still unable to grow Cheato, and have lost the majority of my clean-up crew. I am afraid to repopulate snails due to the effects Vibrant seems to have on them... even after some time.

I did not lose my CUC, however ancidotitly, I did notice that their activity increased significantly since I stopped dosing. Probably related to the fact that there are more food in the system for them to eat vs Vibrant actually hurting them - but I have no idea.

 

[Tamberav]

vibrant may be an algaecide... I believe R2R removed/suspended their sponsorship for possible deception. Perhaps it has some effect on inverts. It is not something I would want in my tank.. rather have algae

 

[ReefGeezer]

vibrant may be an algaecide... I believe R2R removed/suspended their sponsorship for possible deception. Perhaps it has some effect on inverts. It is not something I would want in my tank.. rather have algae

The experience caused to reevaluate how would start and run a tank. Hello live rock and strategic stocking of fish, corals, clams, and other inverts.