Vibrant freaking me out..

justjes45

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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!

This is what I am worried about. I do not want to go down the rabbit hole of overdosing my tank. Tomorrow’s my first day off in 14, and I hope to show the tank a little TLC and see what I can figure out.
 

brandon429

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If you run my cleaning method on this nano it will be algae free and invasion free, no dosers no water testing just reset, with no invader. Takes a couple hours, special steps occur that haven't occurred so far, the tank is cleaned in a certain way, then it's reassembled without invasion.

It's my opinion we've logged more successful nano cures with this method than any other method one can search out.

We're wanting new challenges in our rebuild threads, let me know. No matter how many corals, your fish, it's all been done repeatedly before. Kill the algae, clean out it's food source, and prevent a months long loss risk.

You don't need vibrant or any doser, the method that cannot be beaten is deep cleaning done a certain way without hesitation. There are certain steps that cure every condition a nano reef can present, we wield them well. I'd take your challenge and haven't even seen pics yet, going to page one now.
 
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justjes45

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If you run my cleaning method on this nano it will be algae free and invasion free, no dosers no water testing just reset, with no invader. Takes a couple hours, special steps occur that haven't occurred so far, the tank is cleaned in a certain way, then it's reassembled without invasion.

It's my opinion we've logged more successful nano cures with this method than any other method one can search out.

We're wanting new challenges in our rebuild threads, let me know. No matter how many corals, your fish, it's all been done repeatedly before. Kill the algae, clean out it's food source, and prevent a months long loss risk.

You don't need vibrant or any doser, the method that cannot be beaten is deep cleaning done a certain way without hesitation.

I will try anything for a happy tank! What should I do!?
 

brandon429

why did you put a reef in that
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Brew12

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How should I expect it to affect corals?
Vibrant won't directly impact coral. What it will do is cause nutrient shifts that, if not controlled, can have a very negative impact on corals. Keep in mind that you are using it to kill algae. Algae is both a major consumer of nutrients and acts as a filter for other impurities. If you start killing this filter off it can have some very negative impacts.
The only thing I use Vibrant for (or similar products) is for algae that I can't find a CuC member to eat. That is always the best first choice imo. Right now I'm fighting a member of what I believe to be in the bryopsidae family. Nothing will eat this stuff. Dosing Vibrant at just over 1ml/10g every 3 days with no negative impact.
 

Adamantium

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Vibrant won't directly impact coral. What it will do is cause nutrient shifts that, if not controlled, can have a very negative impact on corals. Keep in mind that you are using it to kill algae. Algae is both a major consumer of nutrients and acts as a filter for other impurities. If you start killing this filter off it can have some very negative impacts.
The only thing I use Vibrant for (or similar products) is for algae that I can't find a CuC member to eat. That is always the best first choice imo. Right now I'm fighting a member of what I believe to be in the bryopsidae family. Nothing will eat this stuff. Dosing Vibrant at just over 1ml/10g every 3 days with no negative impact.
Awesome. This is what I was hoping to hear. I don't have much of an algae problem, just some stubborn brown bits that won't get off my sand. I want a clean, white, look, so hopefully this'll do that for me.

Being such a small quantity of algae, I'm hoping the nutrient release is minimal, and controllable with water changes.
 

DangerDave

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I use it regularly. My system is run with high nutrients. First and foremost it’s a nutrient export tool. if you have low nutrients it may not be the right tool for your problem. If you have low nutrients and still want to see if you can “finish off” your algae with it, make sure the corals have food. Maybe feed something like reef energy to keep from starving your corals. They say it also attacks algae directly.
 

Adamantium

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Works great in multiple tanks of mine. It’s surprising to me to see so many complaints.
That's really good to hear. I guess the majority of those who post something online are, unsurprisingly, having trouble.

Out of curiosity, how much, and how often, do you dose?
 

Kellie in CA

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The first couple of months Vibrant did nothing for me. I stopped using it for a month and started again and my algae problem does seem much better. However, I also stopped using Reef Energy so that very well could have been causing the algae in the first place!
 

shred5

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Here is my take on vibrant. First I think it needs to be ramped up not just full dose at once. It might be shocking the coral.
I think what is happening is if your nutrients are low it pushes it lower and nutrients need to be monitored and kept up.
I think the way it may work is choking out the algae but this can also affect coral. Adding nutrients may actually contradict what Vibrant is trying to do though.

I have a reef with bubble algae I wanted to try vibrant on.. Mainly fish but I do have a few frags in it.

I had issue with frags being to light and added nitrate and a little phosphate and it solved the light color issue and the tanks had been fine for a pretty long time.

Now after dosing Vibrant my corals went light again. I measured phosphate and nitrate and nothing.
I was thinking of adding some nitrate but my feeling is it will offset what vibrant is trying to do and that is starve the algae.
I may move these corals out for now and see how it goes.

I may just rip the tank down for now and start over. I dipped all frags but some how I got bubble algae and Vermetid Snail in this tank.
Normally a little would not bother me but I can not afford it to get into my other tanks.
I probably should have removed all plugs. I now have a quarantine for all frags and remove all plugs..
 

Oshengems

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After using purge from the same vendor to battle AEFW(which it worked in my tank) my nitrates and phosphate went through the roof, I had been seeing bubble algae creep up since I killed my emeral crab that kept them at bay also dinos came Into play so I decided to try Vibrant, using 1ml per gallon every 3 days I have a 75g DT 30g sump I’m dosing for 7ml for 70g no I’ll effect so far, I have Over 25 different acros(WD orange passion, echinatas, Millies etc)Montiporas , zoas, Leathers, mushrooms and a Maxima clam no I’ll effect so far my glass is staying cleaner but still early to see the effects on bubble algae or Dino’s..
 

Reefahholic

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I remember BRS was doing a live stream and Randy said it smoked somebody’s SPS tank at the warehouse. He acted like after that he most likely wouldn’t use it.

The video was the one where Ryan was giving a tour of BRS. Maybe a month ago.
 

Brew12

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That's really good to hear. I guess the majority of those who post something online are, unsurprisingly, having trouble.
This is the big Vibrant post on R2R with 5000+ comments. You will see a lot of success stories, a few horror stories, and some who saw no change at all. I spend quite a bit of time on it trying to help people. I had huge algae problems with my first reef tank and tried Vibrant. It made things so much worse. The owner of UWC reached out to me and explained why I had the problems I did and walked me through. Within a month the tank looked great. Now I try to help others in the same way. There is so much variety in reef tanks that basic directions don't do the product justice.

I think the way it may work is choking out the algae but this can also affect coral. Adding nutrients may actually contradict what Vibrant is trying to do though.
I feel people try to use it that way and it can cause troubles. Most of the other bacterial based algae treatments do work this way. Vibrant has some bacteria that directly attack the algae itself. I've seen it on my microscope but haven't been able to film it. @jason2459 captured and posted a video of the bacteria tearing a chunk of algae off a strand. Fascinating stuff. With the current algae I'm battling I am dosing every 3 days put keeping my NO3 at 20ppm and PO4 at 0.08ppm. Even with elevated nutrients like I have (mixed reef) it's starting to take out this algae.

I remember BRS was doing a live stream and Randy said it smoked somebody’s SPS tank at the warehouse. He acted like after that he most likely wouldn’t use it.
It's use has led to more than one reef tank being smoked, no doubt about it. I can't stress enough about taking it slow, ramping up, and being very observant just like you should with any product. It's not exactly as dramatic as Chemiclean but it is similar. Chemiclean has a ton of positive reviews but more than a few cases where it has killed almost every living thing in peoples tanks. No one seems to be able to narrow down exactly what the trigger is that make some of these products dangerous for some systems and harmless in others.
 

Reefahholic

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This is the big Vibrant post on R2R with 5000+ comments. You will see a lot of success stories, a few horror stories, and some who saw no change at all. I spend quite a bit of time on it trying to help people. I had huge algae problems with my first reef tank and tried Vibrant. It made things so much worse. The owner of UWC reached out to me and explained why I had the problems I did and walked me through. Within a month the tank looked great. Now I try to help others in the same way. There is so much variety in reef tanks that basic directions don't do the product justice.


I feel people try to use it that way and it can cause troubles. Most of the other bacterial based algae treatments do work this way. Vibrant has some bacteria that directly attack the algae itself. I've seen it on my microscope but haven't been able to film it. @jason2459 captured and posted a video of the bacteria tearing a chunk of algae off a strand. Fascinating stuff. With the current algae I'm battling I am dosing every 3 days put keeping my NO3 at 20ppm and PO4 at 0.08ppm. Even with elevated nutrients like I have (mixed reef) it's starting to take out this algae.


It's use has led to more than one reef tank being smoked, no doubt about it. I can't stress enough about taking it slow, ramping up, and being very observant just like you should with any product. It's not exactly as dramatic as Chemiclean but it is similar. Chemiclean has a ton of positive reviews but more than a few cases where it has killed almost every living thing in peoples tanks. No one seems to be able to narrow down exactly what the trigger is that make some of these products dangerous for some systems and harmless in others.

I think it also depends on the age of the tank Brew. Some tanks are so aged that it takes much more to affect the corals vs a younger tank.

Take Sanjay and Richard Ross for example. :)
 

Adamantium

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The first couple of months Vibrant did nothing for me. I stopped using it for a month and started again and my algae problem does seem much better. However, I also stopped using Reef Energy so that very well could have been causing the algae in the first place!
I’m wondering about reef energy, myself. I stopped using it about 3 weeks ago, and my algae has degraded significantly. I did cut back the lights pretty dramatically too, though.

I’m thinking I’ll start using it again soon in a half dose.
 

rkpetersen

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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!

This is my philosophy as well, 100% :)
 

rkpetersen

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I’m wondering about reef energy, myself. I stopped using it about 3 weeks ago, and my algae has degraded significantly. I did cut back the lights pretty dramatically too, though.

I’m thinking I’ll start using it again soon in a half dose.

My experience has been that dosing any amino acid product, like Reef Energy, Fuel, or Reef Plus, even in less than recommended amounts, promotes growth of cyano and other unwanted algaes.
 

wangspeed

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That's really good to hear. I guess the majority of those who post something online are, unsurprisingly, having trouble.

Out of curiosity, how much, and how often, do you dose?

I don’t dose it regularly. I did it to help accelerate the tank through the initial few months of uglies. It really did work amazingly well for that. I dose it from time to time, but my DT is completely free of nuisance algae, so I’m not strongly compelled to dose it anymore.
 

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