Should I use vibrant?

[Hannahmunt]

Nassarius snails are great for churning the sandbed and cleaning up left over food but they do not consume algae/diatoms/dinos. I would get a few Trochus and Cerith snails to help keep thing in check as you manually clean the tank. They will not clean the tank for you. They will eat new algae as it forms so they will reduce the reoccurrence of algae and help clean up the inevitable film algae. I agree with the others, avoid chemicals or any 'quick fix' as much as possible.

I agree I won’t add any chemicals.

will get a tooth brush and put in the manual work on the rocks.

 

[SlugSnorter]

What inverts would you recommend I get for my tank?

I have two hermits and a small emerald crab plus a few nassarius snails.

fish shop has a little sea hair for £15, she also recommended a tail spot blenny.

I was watching brstv that said tangs are good, but my 160litre will be to small for tangs.

First off, make sure to take it slow and steady. Going too fast will lead to issues. Your tank is young, and needs time to mature.

Nass do not eat algae. Do not go with sea hare IMO

Get: 8 Trochus, 12 FL ceriths, and maybe a strawberry conch. see how it goes from there

Its easy to add inverts, but it can be hard to remove them if it doesn't go well.

 

[Hannahmunt]

First off, make sure to take it slow and steady. Going too fast will lead to issues. Your tank is young, and needs time to mature.

Nass do not eat algae. Do not go with sea hare IMO

Get: 8 Trochus, 12 FL ceriths, and maybe a strawberry conch. see how it goes from there

Its easy to add inverts, but it can be hard to remove them if it doesn't go well.

Ok, that sounds like a plan to me.

I will get them and see how I get on.

Out of interest, when would be a good time to add two cromis? I have one lone cromis at the moment. Do I need to wait until the ugly stage is over?

 

[SlugSnorter]

Ok, that sounds like a plan to me.

I will get them and see how I get on.

Out of interest, when would be a good time to add two cromis? I have one lone cromis at the moment. Do I need to wait until the ugly stage is over?

you can add them, chromis will prob fight though. (unrelated to current situation)

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

Having coral all over the tank already at two months does limit your options for riding through the uglies.

As others have said above manual removal is going to be your friend until the system reaches equilibrium. Cuc is good, but understand that many, won't eat what's bothering you. Most won't tackle long hair algae. Manual removal, continue to work towards stability, and ride it out.

Looks like the rock was pre baked? Was it already live when you established 2 months ago?

 

[Hannahmunt]

Having coral all over the tank already at two months does limit your options for riding through the uglies.

As others have said above manual removal is going to be your friend until the system reaches equilibrium. Cuc is good, but understand that many, won't eat what's bothering you. Most won't tackle long hair algae. Manual removal, continue to work towards stability, and ride it out.

Looks like the rock was pre baked? Was it already live when you established 2 months ago?

I have a mix of live and dry rock.

I will add the clean up crew and manually scrub the rocks and just wait it out.

I also add aqua forest bio s when doing a water change or adding anything new to the tank.

 

[BZOFIQ]

Because of the way the company misled users about the nature of vibrant, I would not use it even if it worked perfectly.

That's just sticking to the point. Love the determination here.

 

[SlugSnorter]

That's just sticking to the point. Love the determination here.

its also just overpriced algae-fix lol.

 

[EricR]

Your tank pic looks way cleaner than I would've expected based on your description -- just FYI

I just have some GHA pockets on one of my structures that started as dry rock.
In my case, I manually remove and none of my CUC ever seems to want to go near it -- pincushion urchin, turbo snails, etc. (((It's not bryopsis)))

Just my quick comments.

*P.S. my tiger conch DOES seem to suck up what he can reach but mainly it pops up out of his reach

 

[Hannahmunt]

Your tank pic looks way cleaner than I would've expected based on your description -- just FYI

I just have some GHA pockets on one of my structures that started as dry rock.
In my case, I manually remove and none of my CUC ever seems to want to go near it -- pincushion urchin, turbo snails, etc. (((It's not bryopsis)))

Just my quick comments.

*P.S. my tiger conch DOES seem to suck up what he can reach but mainly it pops up out of his reach

To me the tank looks awful, maybe the pictures don't show up the algae as bad.

 

[bnord]

Tale of 2 tanks.. I had (gave to son after the problem was fixed) a 40 AIO cube that had been running for over a year and gotten into a period where it was thriving on benign neglect. Corals, mostly LPS but some SPS were doing just fine. Green hair algae followed that neglect. And after 3-4 months of trying to pluck it out, I watched the BRS videos and tried vibrant. After 3 to 4 weeks the tank slowly started to decline in overall health until I broke it down and rebuilt it. Not saying Vibrant was the sole culprit, but…

this tank below, a 15 peninsula developed significant GHA relatively early in its life, (i got 2 hours of sunlight for a while) and I managed with adjusting lights taking out the worst rocks individually and scrubbing themm dosing with a rotation of bacteria, adding a small piece of KP rock and ensuring that the cleanup crew was appropriate both in diversity and size.
So please be patient and have faith that overtime you will get a hold of this, and in my opinion the only thing that comes out of a bottle should be an occasional bacterial supplement to help keep a good slime coat on the rocks.

And yes, that White tube sponge in the corner is subsequent to the KP rock… smile

 

[SlugSnorter]

To me the tank looks awful, maybe the pictures don't show up the algae as bad.

give us a pic at miday when lights are whiter maybe. Also, either way, doesn't look too bad. these are what a major algae crisis looks like:

 

[Hannahmunt]

give us a pic at miday when lights are whiter maybe. Also, either way, doesn't look too bad. these are what a major algae crisis looks like:

Oh my god, yeah mines not that bad maybe half that. Does this phase affect the corals at all?

 

[SlugSnorter]

Oh my god, yeah mines not that bad maybe half that. Does this phase affect the corals at all?

typically it doesn't directly, but the unstable params can mess with corals

 

[Karen00]

If you feel you want to go the route of an algaecide use APIs version Algaefix that was already mentioned. Vibrant is an algaecide but costs an arm and a leg more than Algaefix.

 

[kevgib67]

Not mentioned yet but you may want to look into a lawnmower blenny. Small enough for your tank. I’ve never had one but has always popped up in threads like this type of thread, it’s a work horse for gha. I have a large diverse cuc and my work horse are my tiger conch and tuxedo urchin (although he eats a lot of my coralline algae). I’m not sure if you are running a UV ? It won’t remove the algae from the rocks or sand but it will kill the alge in the water before it lands on the surfaces. Good luck!

 

[HankstankXXL750]

Because of the way the company misled users about the nature of vibrant, I would not use it even if it worked perfectly.

What is the story with vibrant. I ordered a bottle, but haven’t used it yet. Decided to try to avoid any chemicals. It the tank I’m fighting the most is my wife’s “tank”. She is less patient lol.

 

[Jon!]

Worked great on my hair algae. Has not recurred. No adverse issues.