Marc Weiss Coral/Reff Vital products?

[Anonymous]

I recently visited a cool reef store on a business trip, and the dealer, who seemed very knowledgable, was raving about Marc Weiss products, particularly Coral Vital and Reef Vital DNA.

Anyone have any opinions/experiences with these products?

Thanks!
ss

 

[Anonymous]

I'm sure you will get varied responses on this one.

When I first started, I too was sucked into this stuff. Its easy to when someone says "This stuff is great", and "Its REALLY good for your tank"

Truth is, you dont need it. Really. Read the ingredients - guess what - there aren't any. We try pretty hard to control what goes into our fragile little environments, and pouring this stuff in just doesnt help.

Hint - (and I am guessing here), coral vital smells like molasses, and most guess that its is mostly a sugar base (fructose, sucrose, whatever...) Symbiotic algea in corals also produce sugars through photosynthesis. Coral Vital *may* elicit a feeding response in some corals, but who knows if it is helpful even though some report coral polyps opening up. Its claims about supressing ICK are pure drivel.

Anyway, without babling - dont fall into marketing hyperbole. Start with Saltwater, and perhaps something for alkalinty and calcium supplimentation *IF YOU FIND YOU NEED IT*. Dont just automatically buy additives, its a bad habit that I'm certain you will find in the end to be erroneous. (and expensive, no less)

Ree Vital DNA - cant comment - no personal experience with it. But again, ask yourself - what is it? and do I need it?

good luck

Steve R.



[This message has been edited by Steve Richardson (edited 25 October 1999).]

 

[Anonymous]

Steve,
I have to agree with Steve R and Sevendog.When I first started out I thought I need 10 different things for my reef.Afterall a reef is pretty complicated, right?Well after nearly 8 years I am down to a calcium reactor and adding Zoe to the fish food.My tank has never looked better.The money spent on additives can buy a lot of salt mix for water changes that,imo, do more good.Just my 2 cents,Bob

 

[Anonymous]

I've learned through experience (through these boards) that supplements other than those needed to keep Ca and Alk at appropriate levels are not needed and often contribute to problems. I'm soon to set up a Calc. reactor and then I won't be adding anything other than water changes!
FWIW...Sevendog

 

[Anonymous]

As a chemist and molecular biologist who works with nucleic acids every day, I can assure you that any claim that putting DNA into your tank will improve things is 100% undiluted horse-shyte. In addition to being useless, when the DNA is metabolized by the bacteria that will have it for lunch, you will release a whole lot of phosphates (DNA is a polymer having a sugar and phosphate backbone). I am suprized people aren't sent to prison for selling this sort of snake-oil.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks to all for the feedback. Not much doubt about your positions!

 

[Anonymous]

Ah... but you guys forget one thing. Perhaps the title of his product "REEF DNA" is just a marketing scheme. I mean how cool does it sound to be injecting ~~*D.N.A.*~~ into your reef!

I don't know what's in it, but I would HIGHLY doubt that Marc Weiss puts ~~*D.N.A.*~~ into his product. Besides there is no such thing as the "DNA of a reef" anyway.

I would guess that his product contains chemicals which act as a catalyst for cell division, or contains ATP or some other "miracle grow" compounds.

I don't know why you guys are so against it. While you may not have noticed any positive effects, have you noticed any *negative* effects?

Just my thoughts.

-Nathan

 

[Anonymous]

Nathan - Thats not a very convincing argument, if I may play devils advocate.

You certainly dont add something to your system and feel justified in using it if you see no obvious ill effects. ("hey look... I can pour coffee into my tank, and everything looks pretty good...In fact, my macroalgea seems to like it...perhaps I'll bottle it, and sell it.")

I'll say it again - If there was a good list of ingredients on this stuff, then I could make an informed assesment of my tanks need for it. Otherwise, I'd be just guessing. Hey - we're not pouring 'special sauce' on a big Mac here, and we usually are careful to keep nutrients and other compounds at low levels. Regular additions of 'reef spam' just scares the heck outa me.

As I said before, I found that I dont need it, and my tank looks great. I think that the 'baseline' should be a simple system with minimal additions of additives (only as needed). NOT a bunch of additives added as a matter of course, and cut back if you notice there are problems.

-Steve

ps: you say: "I would guess that his product contains chemicals which act as a catalyst for cell division, or contains ATP or some other miracle grow compounds." First, this is (and I mean this with no malice whatsoever) silly, and second, still involves that magic n0-no word "GUESS".

[This message has been edited by Steve Richardson (edited 27 October 1999).]

 

[Anonymous]

The bottle says it contains DNA. I am sufficiently new to the aquarium scene that I don't have any major axe to grind about any product, but I do have fairly strong opinions about consumer fraud, which is what this appears to be. Some shampoos are also marketed as having nucleic acids in it, probably, because as you suggest, it "sounds cool." The DNA is probably derived from calf thymus or something. Anyway, if you want to substitute the words "nutrients that help to cause excessive algal and bacterial growth, but cannot have any physiological relevance whatsoever" for "DNA" on the label, you would have something more truthful, and more revealing about why people should think twice about tossing this into their aquariums.

As I said, I am a beginner, but it seems like people go through a rather heroic effort to keep excess neutrients out of their aquariums, with sparse feedings of the highest-quality foods, strong foam fractionation (protein skimming) and other filtration. It therefore seems to me to be counter-productive to add a bunch of organic swill that is at the absolute best biochemically irrelevant.

I think it is terrible that these companies push products that prey on the limited technical background of the average consumer. As a scientist who has the privilege of doing taxpayer-funded research for a living, I feel an obligation to expose this sort of fraud whenever I see it and whenever it is this unambiguous. I guarantee you that if this were being marketed as a children's food additive, these people would be dragged into court for consumer fraud, or worse.

[This message has been edited by flounder (edited 27 October 1999).]

 

[Anonymous]

Steve & flounder,

Ah good. I like a rebuttal!

Maybe you guys are right. I'm at work, so I don't have the bottle in front of me, but I do agree that I don't remember reading any listing of ingredients. I bought that bottle of Reef DNA for $36!!! Maybe I'm just afraid to admit that I bought something with a leap of faith and not reason.

-Nathan

 

[Anonymous]

Sorry, I don't mean to be obnoxious about it. The fact is that the advertisement is misleading enough to lure a reasonable, intelligent person into buying what I imagine is a useless product. You could always (a) ask for your money back from the company or fish store, and (b) contact your state attorney general's consumer fraud division. Get them to write a nasty letter. This isn't like GM, Chrysler and Ford conspiring not to install airbags or something of that magnitude, but it is still worth complaining about. Good luck.