Vibrant Liquid Aquarium Cleaner review

[Murphs_Reef]

Sweet..

[Murphs_Reef]

Btw I'm going to do a wee test on a "it's dead if I don't do something" zoa frag. Putting it in a very smal tank for a day with an OD of vibrant to see it helps weaken GHA or not enough that I can toothbrush it off. The frag is a gonner if I don't as GHA is growing wild on the actual polyps 

[seabass]

8 minutes ago, Murphych said:

Btw I'm going to do a wee test on a "it's dead if I don't do something" zoa frag. Putting it in a very smal tank for a day with an OD of vibrant to see it helps weaken GHA or not enough that I can toothbrush it off. The frag is a gonner if I don't as GHA is growing wild on the actual polyps 

IDK, I'd think that an overdose of biocide probably isn't what a stressed coral will react positively to.  For an extreme treatment of GHA on a zoanthid colony, I might mix up

a strong, salty, peroxide dip by using: 3 teaspoons of salt mix to a 16 oz bottle of 3% hydrogen peroxide.  You can make less to dip a small colony.

• Dip the colony in the solution for about a minute
• Expose the colony to the air for another minute
• Rinse the colony in some tankwater
• Return the frag to your tank

Often, herbivores will be attracted to the damaged algae.  I'd be very careful using any sort of a brush directly on palythoa or even zoanthids.

[Murphs_Reef]

2 hours ago, seabass said:

IDK, I'd think that an overdose of biocide probably isn't what a stressed coral will react positively to.  For an extreme treatment of GHA on a zoanthid colony, I might mix up

a strong, salty, peroxide dip by using: 3 teaspoons of salt mix to a 16 oz bottle of 3% hydrogen peroxide.  You can make less to dip a small colony.

• Dip the colony in the solution for about a minute
• Expose the colony to the air for another minute
• Rinse the colony in some tankwater
• Return the frag to your tank

Often, herbivores will be attracted to the damaged algae.  I'd be very careful using any sort of a brush directly on palythoa or even zoanthids.

It's likely dead anyway mate. Nothing opened for easy a month. If you don't hear back.. I took a lethal dose 😂 

[seabass]

I've found zoanthid frags hidden under rocks (I'm almost certain, for more than a month).  They were shrunken and not opening, but they came back.  If there is healthy flesh, there's still a chance.  Sounds like they've been irritated for so long that they won't open.  IDK, I think it might be worth a shot to try to save them.

[Tired]

Agreed. If there's flesh on the zoas, they aren't dead. I've fished frags out from behind the rockwork (curse you, hermit crabs) that were just angry little buds, that had been face-down in the sand for who knows how long, and they've rebounded. 

 

Have you tried tweezing the GHA off the polyps? It should come off if you grab and yank. I had a zoa frag get smothered by GHA, and the polyps were not just closed but actively shrinking. It took a couple weeks, but I got the algae off and got it to stop coming back, and now the zoas are open and regaining size. 

[Murphs_Reef]

3 hours ago, Tired said:

Agreed. If there's flesh on the zoas, they aren't dead. I've fished frags out from behind the rockwork (curse you, hermit crabs) that were just angry little buds, that had been face-down in the sand for who knows how long, and they've rebounded. 

 

Have you tried tweezing the GHA off the polyps? It should come off if you grab and yank. I had a zoa frag get smothered by GHA, and the polyps were not just closed but actively shrinking. It took a couple weeks, but I got the algae off and got it to stop coming back, and now the zoas are open and regaining size. 

Yes to much GHA and polyps coming apart when pulling GHA off, flesh coming away. They are lossing their grip and coming away from the rock as well. There is less than 50% of them left and the number is shrinking. Im sure there is life in small amount of the zoas yet but it's fading out fast. 

 

It's fine lads I'm not looking to debate the deadness of my zoas. Was just an FYI on a little curiousity test simply because it was a vibrant topic. Never intended to gate crash,👍🏼

 

[seabass]

Did you decide to go through with the test?  Zoanthids seem especially resistant to Vibrant.  IDK what the outcome might be.  The only reference I have is that dosing Vibrant at recommended levels takes time to work; and that overdoing isn't recommended (although some people have reported that accidentally overdosing a single dose isn't necessarily fatal to all fish and corals).

 

I look at it like chemotherapy.  It's toxic to everything in high enough concentrations, but there is a point where cancer cells die off and healthy cells (while possibly damaged) can still recover from the treatment.  However, overdosing, or even extended heavy treatments of Vibrant might exceed that tipping point, and do unintended damage to other life as well.

 

I suppose the damage is either due to: 1) an aggressive bacteria culture that doesn't survive in the water column for long, and isn't killed by UV sterilization, and isn't removed by foam fractionation, or 2) a chemical biocide that works similarly to my chemotherapy analogy.

[Murphs_Reef]

I have mate. It's in a bowl of tank water with double dose Vibrant perched on top the sump so it stays at the same temp. Will feedback later either way 👌

[seabass]

For reference, at least one of the accidental overdoses was ten times too strong.  Not that I, in any way, would encourage doing the same.  Although, I'm not sure that twice the dose would be enough in such a short-term test.

[Murphs_Reef]

Ill guinea pig it mate. The vibrant isn't going anywhere near the tank anyway after last experience so it's as well as binned. 

[Murphs_Reef]

Update to finish this convo off 24hrs in. I pulled the frag cleaned it off (shook it in RO and picked off as much of the GHA I could and removing some of the nasty polyps). It really didnt do anything to the GHA at all.. but after it being closed for a month it's opening up after being in the tank for 30 mins. I really don't know what it proves off though, maybe just needed tlc or maybe the vibrant did take care of something nasty. All in all I have a zoa frag that is alive 

[seabass]

In some cases, I peel the zoa frag off of the affected rock.  Sometimes this is easy, and sometimes it isn't possible without damaging the polyps.

[llebcire]

How much longer do you have with Vibrant?

 

I somewhat skimmed (11 pages) as I just found this thread.  I started dosing to combat bubble algae and it worked well with results in a week.  I probably dosed heavy, with no ramp up, starting right away at 20 ml. in a 29 Biocube (+/- 20 gal volume) as that's what I read from several other reefers who used it for bubble algae and the manufacturer stating it can't be overdosed.

 

While the overdosing statement may be true, I didn't plan on nutrient increase due to die off (I had a lot of bubble algae) and maintained my wc schedule @ 4 weeks.  Several weeks in I noticed my SPS looked stressed and by then it was too late - scaled back Vibrant, initial 10 gallon wc (+/- 50%) and now 5 gallons two weeks in a row.  Acropora is now dead along with other SPS, miscalculation on my part as my previous tank was a 120g so this Biocube became polluted much faster.  I don't know if it was due to low nutrients as I now have red hair algae, diatoms and an explosion of Aiptasia so assuming excess nutrients.  I tested last weekend and ammonia/nitrites/nitrates all low - probably taken up by the algae.  Zoas are fine.

 

-Eric

[seabass]

21 hours ago, llebcire said:

How much longer do you have with Vibrant?

February 12th was my last dose.

 

21 hours ago, llebcire said:

the manufacturer stating it can't be overdosed

I've read a lot of threads about dosing Vibrant; however, I haven't seen where Underwater Creations states that it can't be overdosed (meaning that overdosing is alright).  I'm interested to see where you saw this; can you please share a link?  Unless, by "can't be overdosed", you mean that it shouldn't be overdosed.

 

21 hours ago, llebcire said:

I didn't plan on nutrient increase due to die off (I had a lot of bubble algae) and maintained my wc schedule @ 4 weeks.  Several weeks in I noticed my SPS looked stressed and by then it was too late

Nutrient issues, both high and low might be contributors to declining SPS while dosing Vibrant.  Another explanation is the release of harmful elements (like perhaps heavy metals) from dying algae.  However, the possibility also exists that Vibrant itself might directly affect certain SPS.  What's strange is that I've had had frags from the same mother colony that reacted differently in my 40 gallon tank from that in my 100 gallon tank.  So it appears that contributing factors do play some kind of a role.

 

21 hours ago, llebcire said:

Acropora is now dead along with other SPS

Sorry to hear this.  Unfortunately, this isn't an isolated incident of lost SPS when dosing Vibrant.  I've lost some too, even though I've been trying to monitor and control nutrient levels.

 

21 hours ago, llebcire said:

I now have red hair algae, diatoms and an explosion of Aiptasia so assuming excess nutrients.  I tested last weekend and ammonia/nitrites/nitrates all low

To me, Vibrant can set back a tank's maturity.  Biodiversity decreases along with the tank's balance that has been achieved over time.  You might find yourself with similar problems that you battled when the tank was just starting out.

 

21 hours ago, llebcire said:

Zoas are fine.

Same here.  Good luck going forward.

[Tired]

For bubble algae, try manual removal and emerald crabs. Really, for anything, try manual removal and appropriate grazers. Much less hard on the tank's biodiversity. 

[seabass]

I said that I wouldn't do it (I certainly didn't want to), but I resorted to dosing my 100 gallon tank with the ChemiClean that I had leftover, as cyano was covering the new hair algae bloom.  The cyano was gaining ground and encroaching on the remaining corals.

 

ChemiClean isn't a step forward, so now I'm just hoping that dinos don't rear their ugly face.  I'm taking a number of precautions trying not to give dinos the competitive edge.

 

One positive thing to report is that the current clutch of clownfish eggs aren't dying en masse like they were when I was dosing Vibrant.  Weird how Vibrant (a "Cultured Bacteria Blend") was wiping out clownfish embryos.  Hmm... 🤔

[Murphs_Reef]

Now that's cool, would love to see progress on those clown eggs 

[llebcire]

On 3/9/2021 at 11:49 AM, seabass said:

I've read a lot of threads about dosing Vibrant; however, I haven't seen where Underwater Creations states that it can't be overdosed (meaning that overdosing is alright).  I'm interested to see where you saw this; can you please share a link?  Unless, by "can't be overdosed", you mean that it shouldn't be overdosed.

 

To me, Vibrant can set back a tank's maturity.  Biodiversity decreases along with the tank's balance that has been achieved over time.  You might find yourself with similar problems that you battled when the tank was just starting out.

 

I can't remember where I saw that it can't be overdosed - either a comment from UWC or possibly BRS when they were testing it.  Claim was to the effect that all ingredients are natural and while the user may not need >1 ml/gallon the product can't hurt the tank.

 

My tank is back to where it was a year ago with green hair algae, red slime and diatoms.  At least the bubble algae is gone - I continue to do water changes weekly but it may be time to let the tank stabilize and mature as the zoas appear to be fine.

 

-Eric

[seabass]

20 hours ago, Murphych said:

Now that's cool, would love to see progress on those clown eggs 

Here you go.  When you can see the reflective eyes in the eggs (like in this video, which I shot earlier today), it usually this means that they will hatch some time after lights out.

 

[Murphs_Reef]

47 minutes ago, seabass said:

Here you go.  You can see the reflective eyes in the eggs; usually this means they will hatch tonight.

 

Amazing!!!

[llebcire]

New tank syndrome?

It’s worth it if the bubble algae doesn’t return as many have stated after using Vibrant. I only lost a small number of SPS so it could have been worse.

 

-Eric 

 

 

[Murphs_Reef]

2 hours ago, llebcire said:

New tank syndrome?

It’s worth it if the bubble algae doesn’t return as many have stated after using Vibrant. I only lost a small number of SPS so it could have been worse.

 

-Eric 

 

 

Nice Scape that.. whip that green hair out sharpish 

[seabass]

14 hours ago, llebcire said:

It’s worth it if the bubble algae doesn’t return as many have stated after using Vibrant.

I feel that's the best case you can make for using Vibrant (for dealing with hard to control algae that is not common hair algae).  But IMO, Vibrant should be treated mostly as a last resort, as it can take a toll on non-algae life in your reef tank (setting back your tank's maturity and biological balance).  I lost a few corals, most of my pods and sponges, all of my mini brittle stars, and even the flatworms.  And who's to say what effect it had on the micro inverts.

 

14 hours ago, llebcire said:

New tank syndrome?

That's kind of how I look at it too.  It might take awhile to reestablish your tank's biodiversity and biological balance.  The good thing is that common hair algae is relatively easy to control with manual removal and more herbivorous snails.  People often deal with much worse side effects as a result of dosing Vibrant (like extreme cyano and/or even dinos).

[llebcire]

1 hour ago, seabass said:

That's kind of how I look at it too.  It might take awhile to reestablish your tank's biodiversity and biological balance.  The good thing is that common hair algae is relatively easy to control with manual removal and more herbivorous snails.  People often deal with much harsher after effects as a result of dosing Vibrant (like extreme cyano and/or even dinos).

How long did you dose?  I only went 5 weeks before things went south.

 

I saw results within the first week dosing 20 ml in a 29 Biocube so +/- 1 ml/gallon as the bubbles started losing their color.  I've read where some dose heavily for 10 - 12 weeks and I stopped after I started losing SPS - hopefully not too soon for the bubble algae.  This hair algae should go away with nothing more than  manual removal and water changes.

 

-Eric