Vibrant freaking me out..

[J Rog]

I'm a big fan of Vibrant and have been using it for 2 years now. Having said that, it's like any other product made for reefing. Not every tank is going to respond the same way. Just because it works for a lot of people does not mean it won't cause problems in your system. I once recommended a reefer to dose 1ml/10g of H2O2 into their system. Most people would consider that a very safe dose. It almost wiped their tank. Turns out they had a heavy metal issue that made adding H2O2 dangerous for them.
Algae pulls a lot more out of your system than just nutrients. It can also concentrate impurities and contaminants. I always recommend running GAC when using Vibrant just to be on the safe side, especially in systems with dino's. It's also important to monitor both Nitrates and Phosphates when using Vibrant. You can either dose them to keep them up or use coral foods if they get low. Since Vibrant doesn't rely on nutrient reduction, this won't have any impact on its effectiveness.
If you were running carbon and didn't bottom out your nutrients I definitely wouldn't consider using Vibrant any longer. Dino's can be a challenge, especially when they are as toxic as yours appear to be, but time and stability can do wonders for a system. Eventually they should clear up on their own as other organisms in your system grow.
Getting away from Vibrant, do you run a refugium or algae turf scrubber?

Thanks! Ya, I just started running carbon in a filter bag in my sump around 2 weeks ago. I haven’t taken it out yet. I plan on getting a reactor but haven’t pulled the trigger on one yet. I just tested my nutrients. While my NO3 didn’t move from when I tested right before I dosed last night my PO4 did take a little hit dropping to .009 ppm... So I just dosed a cap and a half full of seachem flourish phosphorus. Also, an addition 10ML of NO3 (stump remover mixture). It’s crazy because I anticipated this and dosed both an hour before I dosed the vibrant.. Still took a hit. Also looks like my Oregon Tort is a goner. I looked at the underside of it and the flesh is gone.. little strings of it flowing off of it.. [emoji36] Besides the tort and the pearl berry everything else looks normal at this point.. But crazy how they become total losses so quickly..

 

[rkpetersen]

But crazy how they become total losses so quickly..

Sorry about the loss of your tort. Waking up to RTN is no fun, that is a fact.

I've never used Vibrant. I have a bottle on my shelf, but reports are too varied for my comfort. For example and purely anecdotally, my neighbor across the street (who is a very smart AI software guy), recently used it fight dinos. After a protracted battle and failed recovery, he sterilized/rebooted his tank last week.

 

[Proteus Meep]

Vibrant pretty much wiped my nano reef out only my Setosa and Organ Pipe survived it, it killed nearly everything else Acans, Duster Clusters, Snails etc , but didn't touch the bubble algae that i started its use for

Many do seem to have good results with it, Just be careful using it and watch the health of your tank closely

First time i have had a tank disaster in my 15 years of reefing and it was thanks to Vibrant, only decided to use it after reading all the positive experiences people had with it

 

[vetteguy53081]

When using chemicals such as these, keep in mind with rock and coral in tank, you have removed 10-15% of the tank volume and therefore have to reduce M/L of any additives.
If you have a 100 gallon tank- you are treating for 85-90 USEABLE gallons. Useable, is the amount that is actually in the tank.

 

[NASOTANG87]

I’ve used Vibrant and would never use it again.

 

[Lloyd Williams]

When using chemicals such as these, keep in mind with rock and coral in tank, you have removed 10-15% of the tank volume and therefore have to reduce M/L of any additives.
If you have a 100 gallon tank- you are treating for 85-90 USEABLE gallons. Useable, is the amount that is actually in the tank.

Whenever I dose “treatments “ I go HALF the recommended dosage.

 

[EddieJ]

I used vibrant to clear my DT of a severe algae outbreak and my nutrients skyrocketed during the initial dosings. This was most likely from the algae dying off and releasing it back to the water column . It worked as advertised now I can keep the algae in check. So I got this idea to hit my Coral Qt/growout tank to clear up a little bits of various algae that were introduced. Dosed it at like 7pm and by the next day a good sized ORA Purple Stylo was smoked .. totally gone .. But the other 15 or so SPS frags were fine.

So it is truly hit or miss just like everything else in this hobby. This hobby is definitely not color by numbers. It’s definitely more artistic.

 

[Lloyd Williams]

Artistic lol

 

[rkpetersen]

So it is truly hit or miss just like everything else in this hobby. This hobby is definitely not color by numbers. It’s definitely more artistic.

Some hobbies, like my wife's (knitting) have an artistic side (those who create new patterns) and a paint by numbers side (those who follow others' instructions, no matter how complicated). You can be involved with either or both aspects. I don't think reefing is like that. Those two sides in this hobby are inextricably tied together. You may not expect it to be the case going in, but to some degree each of us pretty much has to find our own distinct way with this.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Reefing is met by many challenges and changes in our system affected by water type (ro, tap), type of salt, equipment, testing equipment and even temperature.
These are not goldfish tanks and are housed by inhabitants of the ocean and we are duplicating their natural environment to the best of our ability. Rewarding it can be as long as we follow the industry rules for sustainment.

 

[Ashley Kekua]

Vibrant destroyed my tank. i would never use it again.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Vibrant destroyed my tank. i would never use it again.

If you still have bottle- I will buy it. Have algae in one tank and thinking about trying it..

 

[135zman]

Used Vibrant in 135 cube according to recommended dosage to tackle spreading bubble algae outbreak. Dosed weekly until bottle was empty. It took care of 100% of the bubble algae and didn't notice anything detrimental to SPS or LPS corals and didn't cause cyano. Every tank is different - seems to work for some and not others.

 

[Brew12]

So it is truly hit or miss just like everything else in this hobby.

Completely agree. I think the most dramatic product along these lines is Chemiclean. The majority of people who use it get it to work and love it. A smaller number of people use it and have it do nothing. A very small number use it and have it kill every fish in their system and sometimes most of the coral. No one seems to be able to figure out why it is so destructive in some systems.
I find it fascinating how fine of a line some systems walk. I know people who carbon dose with vinegar and have no problems. If they carbon dose with vodka they get a massive cyano breakout. Same with some coral foods. They may be very similar but some will cause problems in a reef tank and others wont.

 

[justjes45]

Oh. My. Gosh....
I don’t think this helped me at ALL!! Lol[emoji1787]

I have a massive “out of nowhere “ bloom of hair algae. I have been dozing Vibrant, for about one bottles worth. My mushrooms don’t seem to like it, everything else seems ok, but the hair algae is absolutely thriving!

I don’t know whether to order another one, ( some people say it takes 2-3 MONTHS to see a turn around) or try something different...

It is REALLY TOUGH to wait for something to work, (2-3 months) as the thriving THRIVING algae seems to gobble up my corals...

Advice?

I have a 40 gallon Nuevo Cube.
Mixed reef.

 

[IslandLifeReef]

Oh. My. Gosh....
I don’t think this helped me at ALL!! Lol[emoji1787]

I have a massive “out of nowhere “ bloom of hair algae. I have been dozing Vibrant, for about one bottles worth. My mushrooms don’t seem to like it, everything else seems ok, but the hair algae is absolutely thriving!

I don’t know whether to order another one, ( some people say it takes 2-3 MONTHS to see a turn around) or try something different...

It is REALLY TOUGH to wait for something to work, (2-3 months) as the thriving THRIVING algae seems to gobble up my corals...

Advice?

I have a 40 gallon Nuevo Cube.
Mixed reef.

What are your NO3 and PO4 levels?

 

[Adamantium]

Man, this has me worried. I have a bottle on its way...

Maybe I'll just use half the dose?

 

[NASOTANG87]

Man, this has me worried. I have a bottle on its way...

Maybe I'll just use half the dose?

Play it slow with Vibrant. It definitely takes a few weeks to affect both coral and algae.

 

[WWIII]

I would only use any of these products as kinda a last resort. Vibrant, fluconazole, chemiclean, etc.

Cuc, water changes, lighting changes, flow changes, etc. Are things I always try for at least a couple months. Some of these products make it easy to "solve" a problem, but before you know it you're throwing all kinds of crap in your tank. Dosing it daily, monthly, etc. Then the tank has enough or is just never quite right. Really most of the beautiful tanks we all strive for have a pretty basic list of what is going into the tanks. The hard part is sometimes it takes quite a bit of time to get the tank over whatever hump.

The only exception for me would be if I'm losing all my corals fast. Then I would be more inclined to try whatever.

A bunch of very hungry snails can go a long ways sometimes! A little elbow grease to help them out too!

 

[Adamantium]

Play it slow with Vibrant. It definitely takes a few weeks to affect both coral and algae.

How should I expect it to affect corals?