Vibrant by UWC testing

[jason2459]

All looked pretty normal until I looked closer....

Rock_Sandbed_Cyano_Mat-0022 by Jason, on Flickr

Rock_Sandbed_Cyano_Mat-0023 by Jason, on Flickr

Rock_Sandbed_Cyano_Mat-0025 by Jason, on Flickr

Rock_Sandbed_Cyano_Mat-0044 by Jason, on Flickr

Rock_Sandbed_Cyano_Mat-0048 by Jason, on Flickr

Rock_Sandbed_Cyano_Mat-0050 by Jason, on Flickr

Rock_Sandbed_Cyano_Mat-0053 by Jason, on Flickr

Rock_Sandbed_Cyano_Mat-0054 by Jason, on Flickr

Rock_Sandbed_Cyano_Mat-0056 by Jason, on Flickr

Rock_Sandbed_Cyano_Mat-0057 by Jason, on Flickr

 

[jason2459]

Rock_Sandbed_Cyano_Mat-0059 by Jason, on Flickr

Rock_Sandbed_Cyano_Mat-0060 by Jason, on Flickr

Rock_Sandbed_Cyano_Mat-0061 by Jason, on Flickr

Rock_Sandbed_Cyano_Mat-0062 by Jason, on Flickr

Rock_Sandbed_Cyano_Mat-0066 by Jason, on Flickr

Rock_Sandbed_Cyano_Mat-0079 by Jason, on Flickr

 

[jason2459]

Video

Sandbed_Cyano_Mat_012 by Jason, on Flickr

 

[jason2459]

I figure one of two things are happening. Either breaking down or breaking down to spread. But I've seen them split to spread not fall apart like that.

Which either way, this would be a good time to add some mechanical filtration to help remove those broken down pieces.... which of course I'm not doing.


One of those do as I say not as I do things...

 

[jason2459]

Day 21 6x doses @140ml total

Did put the 6th dose in last night.

So far opposite my prediction. More cyano it seems. But it looks like its ready to blow away. It would be really easy to siphon it out. Not touching it though. Seeing what will happen.

The rocks do look different to me. I started noticing it I think Friday. Hard to explain and it's not getting it in pictures well at all. Best way to explain it is it looks clean.

Pictures from last night.

 

[sde1500]

Don't have a good picture handy myself but I have to say my rocks are much cleaner. I don't have any cyano, had none to start with though. GHA has been fought way back, the brown bugger like stuff is almost gone. Rocks haven't been this clean in many months. The red turf like algae and bubble algae on one plug seems completely unaffected though.

 

[jason2459]

Day 22 6x doses @ 140ml total

Cyano does look like it got blown back a bit. And the glass tonight looks the best it has recently. There's still some film algae growth but not nearly as much. I still cleaned it off tonight.

 

[jason2459]

I just noticed in the algae above the gyre pump pic there seems to be a bit of cyano there growing out possibly.

One thing that's normally recommended for cyano is to increase flow. That gyre with cyano right on top if it now runs at 100% 24/7. Thats supposedly around 5000gph.

I have another gyre that runs at 100% 24/7 setup vertically and alternates direction with the lunar cycle 4 times a day like a tide (some fun apex programming and I have a thread for that too ). So, say another 2500gph. Which creates an awesome undertow along the back of the tank part of the time and the front of the tank part of the time.

My return pump works with that horizontal gyre pump pushing across the top at about 1400gph.

I think I'm good with flow. lol

 

[jason2459]

Day 23 6x doses @ 140ml total

Cyano cut back a bit more again. I'm actually not going to have to clean my glass tonight. The hair algae over the pump still looks healthy.

 

[jason2459]

Recap

Dosing 2x per week. 20ml each time.

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5

Day 6

Day 7

Day 8 Started having to clean my glass daily

Day 9

 

[jason2459]

Day 10

Day 11

Day 12

Day 13

Day 14

Day 15

Day 16

Day 17 (saw some intresesting cells of cyano breaing apart under microscope)

Day 18

Day 19 (Really started notice a difference in the way my rocks look. "clean")

 

[jason2459]

Day 20


Day 21

Day 22 (Glass film algae not as bad)

Day 23 (Didn't need to clean the glass)

 

[jason2459]

Looks like around day 7 or day 8 I probably could have cut back to around 1 dose per week. I wonder if the 2x per week dosing isn't fueling the cyano a bit. As the glucose is something I've never dosed before I don't know how little is needed but it is a very little amount. Seems hard to believe it would cause the cyano to grow back the way it did after day 8.

Then there's the fact it is starting to cut back a little and the interesting observation of the cells breaking apart like I saw.

Day 8 is also when the film algae on the glass really started to take off and need cleaned every day. But at the same time just the past couple days has started to get better.

I was thinking of cutting back to 1x per week but now considering still sticking with 2x per week to see where this goes.

 

[jason2459]

And glucose in there makes this more sense
TankWater_5mlVibrant_24hrs-0004 by Jason, on Flickr


As normally when I see the water evaporate out I see salt crystals like this. I usually don't see a structure like that above.
Hair_Algae_From_ATS_Double_Dose-0016 by Jason, on Flickr

 

[jason2459]

Day 24 6x doses @ 140ml total

Not cleaning glass again tonight. Has a bit of film build up but not noticeable from the outside.

Cyano maybe a bit cut back holding on to the thicker areas. Algae above pump looks unchanged.

 

[jason2459]

One more thing to note is I did find my tuxedo urchin the other day and did find my short spine urchin tonight. I'll assume my pencil urchin is fine and hiding as normal.

So, I haven't seen anything negative to things I want to keep around.

 

[drtrash]

Only negative is the condition of tank, backing off on my experiment seems to be a long term shuffling of chemical and biological parameters.

 

[drtrash]

Don't get me wrong I think this is a great product, it just needs to be actively managed with realistic expectations. I am on day 23 and I have a relatively clean tank with some gha and a not so balanced nutrient export because I get random cyano. Running a fuge & gfo will I use to all cheato dead. The key for me has been weekly WC vacuuming of all loose gha and cyano. Will go to 1x per week at the end of 30 treatment

 

[jason2459]

Don't get me wrong I think this is a great product, it just needs to be actively managed with realistic expectations. I am on day 23 and I have a relatively clean tank with some gha and a not so balanced nutrient export because I get random cyano. Running a fuge & gfo will I use to all cheato dead. The key for me has been weekly WC vacuuming of all loose gha and cyano. Will go to 1x per week at the end of 30 treatment

Agree. If you are currently having algae, diatom, cyano, etc problems you should do all the normal recommended stuff including manually pulling or siphoning.

Personally, if I wasn't so curious about this product I probably wouldn't have ever used it or any other bacteria in a bottle. But if you do use it, which it certainly does seem to caused a quick reaction in tanks, I would recommend all the normal stuff.

 

[jason2459]

With the mention of possibly a hint of eucalyptus oil I now have this running for the next hour