Propagating vibrant

[John08007]

I ordered a large bottle of reef vibrant from BRS to hopefully.solve an algae problem I've been fighting forever. I've recently been thinking, the ingredients are bacteria, vinegar, amino acid. I've read the vinegar is used as a preservative. Has anyone tried to propagate their own vibrant?

I'm thinking get 8oz Rodi, add some vinegar and 8oz vibrant. Use an air pump like growing phyto and the bacteria should reproduce to the point that I have 16 oz vibrant. I believe vinegar has a low ph, so a phone meter could be used to test if the vinegar is indeed being used as a food source and depleting.

 

[Daddy-o]

I ordered a large bottle of reef vibrant from BRS to hopefully.solve an algae problem I've been fighting forever. I've recently been thinking, the ingredients are bacteria, vinegar, amino acid. I've read the vinegar is used as a preservative. Has anyone tried to propagate their own vibrant?

I'm thinking get 8oz Rodi, add some vinegar and 8oz vibrant. Use an air pump like growing phyto and the bacteria should reproduce to the point that I have 16 oz vibrant. I believe vinegar has a low ph, so a phone meter could be used to test if the vinegar is indeed being used as a food source and depleting.

But if Vibrant eats algae, wouldn't you dose phytoplankton and not vinegar?
Cheers! Mark

 

[John08007]

But if Vibrant eats algae, wouldn't you dose phytoplankton and not vinegar?
Cheers!

Idk, been a long time since I was in bio class, was just thinking that in the bottle it's consuming the vinager.

 

[Daddy-o]

As I understand, they dont need to eat or breathe in the bottle. If the vinegar was put in the bottle to feed, wouldnt it be gone quickly given the rapid reproduction bacteria are capable of?
Cheers! Mark

 

[Daddy-o]

If you are able to measure bacteria numbers, I would run 2 test bottles. 1 with carbon and one with phyto and see what happens. I dont think you should add the whole bottle, perhaps just a starter dose of a ml or 2? You are trying to propagate and increase - yes?

 

[Gareth elliott]

I was under the impression bacteria in a bottle was dormant. If there was any respiration or fermentation the gas would build up in the bottle. Eventually causing the bottle burst open from somewhere.
You would need to know what causes the bacteria to leave and enter dormancy. 1st so can start the growth and 2nd so you can inhibit it for storage. Btw you will want to sterilize the bottle and water you are using, otherwise you may end up culturing some unknown bacteria present.

 

[Daddy-o]

Thanks a lot, now you have me hooked on this
If you took a 2 liter bottle of tank water and added an airline and kept it at tank temp, then added enough phyto to make the water green then add a ml of vibrant, in time the green should dis-appear due to the vibrant reproducing? and if you continue to feed, it should take less and less time for the water to clear up?

 

[John08007]

Thanks a lot, now you have me hooked on this
If you took a 2 liter bottle of tank water and added an airline and kept it at tank temp, then added enough phyto to make the water green then add a ml of vibrant, in time the green should dis-appear due to the vibrant reproducing? and if you continue to feed, it should take less and less time for the water to clear up?

This is exactly how you grow pods. Now that i think of it, they claim that the vibrant works by out competing the algae by consuming the nitrate, phosphate, ect. So growing it in phyto wont work. You would need to dose nitrate and phosphate. This could then be measured to know when to add more.

One other thing, i wonder how you could know that the bacteria is reproducing, i doubt it can be seen in a microscope to do a count.

 

[Softhammer]

Or you could just focus on your aquariums water quality.. a whole lot easier than propagating potion.

 

[John08007]

I was under the impression bacteria in a bottle was dormant. If there was any respiration or fermentation the gas would build up in the bottle. Eventually causing the bottle burst open from somewhere.
You would need to know what causes the bacteria to leave and enter dormancy. 1st so can start the growth and 2nd so you can inhibit it for storage. Btw you will want to sterilize the bottle and water you are using, otherwise you may end up culturing some unknown bacteria present.

Good point, its probably not dormant like its in some sort of hibernation. Its just sitting in there waiting to consume food. The vinager is probably added to prevent other algae or bacteria from geowing in the bottle.

 

[ScottR]

Thanks a lot, now you have me hooked on this
If you took a 2 liter bottle of tank water and added an airline and kept it at tank temp, then added enough phyto to make the water green then add a ml of vibrant, in time the green should dis-appear due to the vibrant reproducing? and if you continue to feed, it should take less and less time for the water to clear up?

If mixing with tank water, I’m not sure the bacteria present in vibrant will reproduce. Since it needs to be dosed weekly/bi-weekly, I imagine that other bacteria quickly outcompete them somehow or eat them. Or they’re not capable of living long term in typical tank conditions. Nitrifying bacteria are a good example of a bacteria that can self-sustain itself and doesn’t need to be dosed after established (in proper conditions). But I’m all ears to this. Sounds interesting.

 

[John08007]

Or you could just focus on your aquariums water quality.. a whole lot easier than propagating potion.

Ive been fighting chrysophytes and gha for what seems like forever. After watching a million vids and reading a ton of posts vibrant seems like a possible answer.

 

[ScottR]

This is exactly how you grow pods. Now that i think of it, they claim that the vibrant works by out competing the algae by consuming the nitrate, phosphate, ect. So growing it in phyto wont work. You would need to dose nitrate and phosphate. This could then be measured to know when to add more.

One other thing, i wonder how you could know that the bacteria is reproducing, i doubt it can be seen in a microscope to do a count.

Vibrant is a heterotrophic bacteria which actually eats the algae. Kind of like a predator. I am almost positive it doesn’t consume nitrates and phosphates and if it does, it’s not enough to bring down those numbers. I’ve been dosing for some time now. My nitrates have actually gone up and algae has gone down.

 

[LARedstickreefer]

Vibrant is a heterotrophic bacteria which actually eats the algae. Kind of like a predator. I am almost positive it doesn’t consume nitrates and phosphates and if it does, it’s not enough to bring down those numbers. I’ve been dosing for some time now. My nitrates have actually gone up and algae has gone down.

This could possibly be an explanation for coral deaths then? Vibrant is attacking the corals or getting inside them and eating out their zooxanthellae?

Some of the KZ Bacteria products claim to work by eating phosphate and then getting eaten by the corals, thus feeding the corals. If corals can take in KZ bacteria, they could take in Vibrant.

 

[John08007]

Im 99% sure ive read or seen a video that vibrants bacteria out competes the algae for nutrients and then I'd assume is removed via skimming, this then causes the algae to starve

 

[eraserhead187]

This is exactly how you grow pods. Now that i think of it, they claim that the vibrant works by out competing the algae by consuming the nitrate, phosphate, ect. So growing it in phyto wont work. You would need to dose nitrate and phosphate. This could then be measured to know when to add more.

One other thing, i wonder how you could know that the bacteria is reproducing, i doubt it can be seen in a microscope to do a count.

They claim that Vibrant directly attacks and consumes algae, not that it outcompetes it by consuming nutrients. Some nutrients are consumed, but that's allegedly not the primary way it works.

 

[ScottR]

Im 99% sure ive read or seen a video that vibrants bacteria out competes the algae for nutrients and then I'd assume is removed via skimming, this then causes the algae to starve

If vibrant worked to take out nutrients, we wouldn’t be running chaeto, carbon dosing, skimming, etc. @UWC has explained this in their extensive vibrant thread. I believe they said some NO3 and PO4 are consumed but I’m not sure of that. I guess when the heterotrophic bacteria eat the algae, they are consuming those as byproducts. And as someone else mentioned about coral deaths, I too have to say that it must be an overdose and vibrant would then be consuming the zooxanthellae.

 

[NanoDJS]

I think vibrant is the same thing as carbon dosing or some people use vinegar , vodka ect. cept the vingear drops ph immediately , I always wondered why a quick search on vibrant will reveal more problem posts than positive. I had always suspected it was just a re branded carbon dose with some other junk in it. Bacteria my a$% Gareth is on tho something I think

 

[WVNed]

Vibrant Ingredients -
95% Cultured Bacteria Blend
1% Amino Acids (Aspartic Acid)
0.5% Vinegar
3.5% RO/DI Water

 

[Cell]

The difficulty would be in quantifying the bacteria.