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Vibrant Liquid Aquarium Cleaner review


seabass

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Vibrant seems to be worse for an aquarium than bubble algae. Bubble algae just crowds things out if not removed. Or sometimes it behaves itself perfectly well.

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2 hours ago, llebcire said:

How long did you dose?

I started on October 5th, and my last dose was February 12th (at which time my 100 gallon tank was in a pretty quick state of decline).  My 40 gallon tank fared better.

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Maybe this was already answered and I missed it, but I'm kinda stuck on something.

 

Now, I'm no scientist or anything so I could be looking at this all wrong, but isn't zooxanthellae considered a type of algae? And if so, wouldn't a biocide or algaecide destroy that? How are coral not damaged/bleached by Vibrant? Or does Vibrant specifically not target zooxanthellae?

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1 hour ago, Zer0 said:

... isn't zooxanthellae considered a type of algae? And if so, wouldn't a biocide or algaecide destroy that? How are coral not damaged/bleached by Vibrant? Or does Vibrant specifically not target zooxanthellae?

Zooxanthellae are a single celled, photosynthetic dinoflagellates that live in symbiosis within the coral's cell walls.  People often consider corals to be photosynthetic; but in reality, it's the zooxanthellae that's photosynthetic (not the animal itself).  It's possible that the coral's tissue protects the zooxanthellae from the effects of Vibrant (whether it be a chemical biocide or algae destroying bacteria).

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I emptied the 100 gallon tank and temporarily put the contents into a 40 breeder.

032021a.jpg

 

Check out all this calcium buildup that was on the heater in the sump.

032021b.jpg

 

Here's what was in the 100 gallon.

032021c.jpg

Oh, and I bought some more snails too. :smilie:

 

I transferred everything out of the 40 gallon tank too (to another 40 breeder).

032021d.jpg

 

Everything should go back into their respective tanks this week.

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4 hours ago, Murphych said:

What's the next steps for the 100gal?

Once I get it all cleaned out, I'll set everything up again and transfer the livestock back again.  But eventually, I think I'll replace the 100 gallon with a standard 75 gallon glass tank.

 

I was reluctant to purchase snails while I was dosing Vibrant (which might have been unnecessary, as most of the snails were fine).  However, since I now have plenty of snails, I plan on bumping up the nutrient levels to help support coral health.

 

And since it's springtime, I think I'll continue to add biodiversity.  For example, I have gotton lots of critters from Live-Plants.com, just by ordering macroalgae.  Buying macroalgae is a economical way to add biodiversity (even if you end up discarding the algae).  I'm not currently planning on keeping macroalgae again (but won't rule it out completely).

 

Then I'll just let everything grow out.  I doubt that I'll be purchasing new coral anytime soon; although I miss the Montipora undata that I lost while dosing Vibrant. :sad:

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  • 2 weeks later...

What a relief, the decline has ceased and the recovery has begun.  I'm finally feeling like things are getting under control and back in balance (a lot less touch and go).  Algae is almost non-existent (just a couple of tiny spots of GHA on one rock in the Caribbean tank that I might manually remove), cyano isn't a problem (just a few traces on a recovering Monti Cap that tend to develop towards the end of the day), and there are no weird films or fuzz.

 

The 100 gallon has been thoroughly cleaned out and is now ready for sand, then livestock.

033021c.jpg  033021b.jpg

 

On 2/10/2021 at 12:41 AM, seabass said:

I'm also even contemplating switching to a lower alkalinity salt mix.

I've decided that the use of Reef Crystals (a high alkalinity salt mix) had nothing to do with my problems.  My systems were just in a state of imbalance (which I believe to be caused by dosing Vibrant).  So I won't changing to a more expensive salt mix at this time.  I also replaced the batteries in my blue and UV flashlights to better monitor the corals.  A couple of frags which seemed lost, still show signs of life.  Hopefully they will continue to recover.  Livestock pics to follow.

 

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Good luck on the restart! Sometimes it feels good to start again from a clean slate. 

 

Which UV and blue flashlights are you using to monitor your corals? I want some to to spy on my tank at night...

 

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36 minutes ago, DevilDuck said:

Which UV and blue flashlights are you using to monitor your corals?

I like them both; each will fluoresce different colors.  I use them to help spot baby rock flower anemones, and to monitor coral frags.  I'm sure there are lots of others to choose from too.

 

41 minutes ago, DevilDuck said:

I want some to to spy on my tank at night.

The UV and blue LEDs will fluoresce corals; but if you just want to see them without your tank lights on, a regular flashlight is usually sufficient.  If you want a little light to see without disruption, you might consider getting a red flashlight (as inhabitants that exists in deeper waters often lose their ability to detect red light).  However, you won't see any colors with a red light.

 

51 minutes ago, DevilDuck said:

Good luck on the restart! Sometimes it feels good to start again from a clean slate.

Thanks!  Yeah with how things were going, I think it was best.  Lately I've setup all of my tanks so they can be quickly transferred if need be.

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Good luck!

 

I stopped dosing Vibrant when I initially posted here and am letting things settle. Nothing has gotten worse, SPS are still dead, GHA has almost disappeared and I still have a lot of slime towards the end of my lighting schedule. Stopped doing 5g water changes every week (25%).

 

Picked up a monti cap a few weeks ago that’s fine so I’ll probably add some LPS and Zoas this weekend.

 

-Eric 

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@seabass

Have you summarized your learnings and take aways?

 

This is a long thread and I appreciate the time and effort you've taken to document your experience - I thought I thoroughly searched for threads on Vibrant and only came across the one started by the manufacturer that had much detail - surprised I missed yours. 🤷‍♂️

 

We seem to have had a similar experience where the nuisance algae was eliminated albeit with significant impact to the tank and the ecosystem. 

 

Knowing what you know now, would you do this again?

If so - what would you change?  It seems as though you took more precautions that I did (testing and water changes) yet had a similar outcome.  I've never been able to eradicate bubble algae so this might be the only option, even with the collateral damage. Bubble algae and aiptasia are the problems that keep me up at night but I don't know if I would do this again.

 

-Eric

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3 hours ago, llebcire said:

Have you summarized your learnings and take aways?

I haven't summed it all up yet.  I'm kind of glad that I haven't, so I can see the effects of changing out all the water and start to observe the recovery process.  Also, before I make my final conclusions, I still want to do a little microscopy next week.  However, I need to wrap this up for everyone (and copy it into the first post).

 

3 hours ago, llebcire said:

Knowing what you know now, would you do this again?

If I changed the question to, "If I knew then what I know now, would I have ever tried it?"  I'd have to say no.  I was looking to take a natural approach;  and at the time that I started dosing, I really thought Vibrant was a bacterial solution.  I especially got caught up in the BRS videos (which I feel is a reputable source), but also the other various positive reviews.  Plus, I disregarded most of the negative reviews, justifying them as to what they might have done wrong (like not dosing long enough, not maintaining good parameters, improper dosing amounts, insufficient water changes, or dying algae releasing: heavy metals, nutrients, and organics).

 

Eventually comparing the use and results of dosing Vibrant to known algae biocides, made me question whether the main change agent wasn't really just a biocide.  I certainly wasn't aware that I'd lose so much biodiversity.  Still, until very recently, I felt that if I just dosed a little longer, all of the problem algae would be eradicated (plus I felt that most of the damage had already been done).  But towards the end, my tank (and corals) seemed to go into a rapid state of imbalance and decline.

 

3 hours ago, llebcire said:

Knowing what you know now, would you do this again?

Looking at the results, I can envision that my tanks might eventually end up looking better in the long run.  I still think it was a step backwards; and it'll take some time for my tank and corals to recover, and to reintroduce the lost life.  One might even consider it tank reset (versus breaking everything down and starting over).  But I feel that it's not a solution for: cyano, dinos, or even green hair algae.

 

I actually give credit to Vibrant for solving specific problems.  It seems to have eliminated the well established turf algae (which I probably wouldn't have gotten rid of without it).  So I recognize that there might be applications for its use.  However, I feel that the marketing is misleading at best.  If nothing else, claiming that Vibrant eliminates cyanobacteria seems like an outright lie.

 

And I still don't know if certain algae requires twice a week dosing, or if you just need to dose once a week for a longer period of time.  Or would less fauna be lost with just once a week dosing.  And would smaller doses still be effective against algae, without negatively affecting the non-algae life.

 

Initially, I might say that I wish I had stopped dosing earlier.  However, if I stopped before the problem algae was completely eradicated, it might have just came back (while the biodiversity might still have been lost).  For as long as this product has been around, it seems that there is still a lot left to learn about it.  Maybe lack of transparency and unsupported claims are making it harder to figure out how to best use this product.

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On 3/31/2021 at 11:51 AM, DevilDuck said:

Which UV and blue flashlights are you using to monitor your corals?

Here's a little video showing a couple of corals under UV versus a regular flashlight:

 

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100g looks great!

 

I've been fighting both bubble algae and green turf for as long as I can remember - our paths may have crossed as I've been part of GIRS since I started reefing in 2003.  Just like aiptasia, I've never found a way to eliminate the algae other than manual control.  Vibrant appears to have accomplished that, although I stopped after the tank started to crash so it may come back.  It's odd that I have the same strains I had in my 120g that I tore down in 2018 - I did repurpose a small amount of rock that was dry for two year and its possible the algae spores survived.

 

If I had it to do over again, I would have moved SPS to another tank (or at least frags if the rocks were infected) as it worked on bubble and turf with consequences.  I may start a light regiment again once my tank stabilizes as more of a maintenance routine, but as of now I'm undecided.  And, as with most things reef related, I'll likely reintroduce with frags in the future and Vibrant isn't a solution so I'll lean towards natural predators.

 

-Eric

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1 hour ago, llebcire said:

I did repurpose a small amount of rock that was dry for two year and its possible the algae spores survived.

I wonder just how long dried spores can survive, and would bleach (or something else like vinegar) kill them?

 

I can grow phytoplankton in my basement without a starter culture.  IDK, maybe that's because I culture phyto, and it somehow gets airborne.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I was hoping it was just diatoms on the sand, but my worst fear comes true...

 

DINOS! :angry:

 

I can see them through a jewelers loop (plus they clump back up using the shake test).  I'll get the microscope out this weekend, and take some pics to get a proper ID.  However, I'm not at all looking forward to taking this on right now.

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Oh no, you might have traded your prior pests for something worse. 

 

Wonder if there's any merit in dumping a ton of nutrients into the tank (to safe levels for the inhabitants, of course) and trying to sorta... nutrient-bomb the dinos out. Maybe you can get their competition going before they can really start multiplying. 

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I have some reading to do; but yeah,  that's basically the plan.  I'll probably shut off the lights while I dose up the nutrients.  I might also ditch the sand bed while I'm at it.  What a gut punch. :sad:

 

This is happening in my 100 gallon tank, which was the tank most adversely affected by Vibrant.  I think I noticed it first on a damaged montipora cap (even prior to the tank transfers).  I tried to convince myself that maybe it was just some left over cyano.

 

Then I started seeing traces on the new sand bed.  I was hoping it was just diatoms, but when the sand be appeared clear in the mornings, I started to suspect dinos.  Sure, just when I started to feel better about this tank.  The corals even started looking better.

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Just now, debbeach13 said:

Are you planning to use it to polish the water while doing maintenance or run it full time for mechanical filtration?

For now, full time (or maybe just during lights off) to help deal with the dinos.  Down the road, I figure it might be nice to have around just in case.  Besides the micron cartridges, they have a filter floss sleeve too.

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