Advice? Vibrant Cleaner?

Has anyone heard of, or used, Vibrant Cleaner to reduce a lot of different algae? I came across a comment mentioning it and found there was an extensive write-up on R2R with people having success with it (not everyone). I'm currently battling a pretty bad outbreak of what I think is GHA and dinos so thinking about trying this stuff out. The info makes it sound like this helps to get some bacteria levels in check to get rid of algae as opposed to just nuking it. Definitely seems like a new product, the thread is from Oct-16, so just curious about any experience or thoughts.

Here is a link to the R2R thread.

 

Well here is what the company has listed:

Vibrant Liquid Aquarium Cleaner Ingredients -

95% Cultured Bacteria Blend
1% Amino Acids (Aspartic Acid)
0.5% Vinegar - This is used as the preservative
3.5% Other Ingredients (RO/DI Water)

Here is what they're claiming it can fix:

Cloudy/hazy Water- 1 dose
Diatoms - 1-2 doses
Cyanobacteria - (Yes, it will outcompete another bacteria) 1-5 doses
Dinoflagellates - 2-5 doses
Bubble algae - 3-8 doses
Hair Algae - 3-5 doses (depending on species of hair and how bad the infestation is)
Turf Algae - 8-20 doses ( again, depending on species and how bad the infestation is)
Bryopsis - 6-30 doses ( again, depending on species and how bad the infestation is)

I've still kind of slowly going through the 137 or so pages on the R2R thread but I've come across some people losing their shrimp after using it and some having a cyano outbreak after the other algae is taken care of.

Here is a quick synopsis from the company as well

How Does Vibrant Liquid Aquarium Cleaner work?

This is the tricky part to explain. There are a few different strains of bacteria that play different roles in ridding the algae. One of the strains, works to convert No3 and Po4 into biomass, which then is easily removed via protein skimming and or water changes. Some of the biomass will also be consumed by live corals. This strain is also very good at going after organic settlement and reducing it significantly. Here is where it gets harder to explain, the function of one of the other bacteria is to actual go in and cling to the algae and consume them turning their waste then into biomass also which is then utilized by the corals or later removed by protein skimming or water changes. The beautiful thing is, this is not like using some crazy algaecide that just leaves a bomb of nutrients in your tank as the algae die leading you on a downward spiral of issue after issue. Once your algae issue is gone, you can stop dosing vibrant or you can simply use it as part of your routine maintenance to keep your tank looking nice and clean all the time.

 

I was fighting a real bad cyano outbreak, and I think I had a few dinos then too, but they're back with a vengeance. The closer I look at the tank I think I've got bryposis. I hadn't come across the Dr. Tim's Waste-away yet, I'll take a look at that as well.

Glad to see a success story from someone in this group! I like the way you went about it too; more like an actual experiment. Thanks!

 

Thanks everyone for the feedback and ideas of how to help my tank look better. I THINK I'm dealing with bryopsis and dinos, but here are some pics. Quality isn't great, but maybe they're clear enough to help me identify what I'm dealing with? The dinos I'm pretty confident on, bryopsis not so much.

 

If it is bryopsis I have recently added 2 lettuce nudis, but I don't know if they'll be enough to tackle it.

 

Thanks for taking a look @Bud! The last pic was the one with my concern for bropsis. Pic doesn't show it very well but it's a large tuft of algae right in the center towards the top that sways with the current.

System is about 8 months old and about 2 months ago I added another piece of rock and moved another single piece of rock to a different position. Main rock structure hasn't changed. Other things I've changed recently would be switching from SeaChem 2-part alk/ca system to the BRS mixes and started using Reef Chili 3 times a week. Beyond that the tank and my maintenance schedule has been the same.

 

Just got through this article in it's entirety by Jason and it was really interesting! He had regular pics showing the algae and lots of pics from a microscope of various algae, pods, bacteria, etc. Didn't seem him necessarily say "this product is great/bad" which is what I was hoping to see on the last page, but still a fun read.

@Buku given your use of Vibrant and DinoX would you say you prefer one over the other?