Mark Weiss Coral Vital: Is it snake oil?

[bcdope]

Just wondering if any Canreefers out there utilize Mark Weiss' Coral Vital product, let alone any product that his company produces?
Ive been hearing reports that it may indeed be snake oil, and the claims that the company makes regarding this product are quite suspicious and unscientific? If indeed there are questions that arise from his products, what would you guys consider to be a 'worthy' subsititute....

BTW, Im not into dosing my nano-tank, for fear of overdosing... I did start out dosing kalk and iodine, but discontinued this practice since much of what is lost (in terms of vital elements and such) is quickly replenished through water changes. Plus its cheaper that way....

Peace

[ron101]

Well my $.02 is that this hobby is particularly susceptible to BS products due to it's heavy scientific bias and laymen hobbyists. There are so many variables and unknowns in reef keeping that refuting some of these manufacturers claims with scientific proof would be quite the endeavor. As a result you do get some pretty outrageous claims.

What would you guys consider to be a 'worthy' subsititute?

Food.
Considering the already high levels of trace elements in salt mixes I prefer to simply feed my fish more than the 'starvation' diets that many reefers follow to keep nutrient levels down. This way my fish are healthier and some nutrients make their way into the system.

Of course I don't have the precise control over certain levels. However unless you're armed with all the test kits or a weekly or bi-monthly lab analysis of your water in order to know exactly how much of each supplement to add you're still shooting in the dark...

[DJ88]

BCD,

I don't does anything. All I do is regular water changes, feed(fish food, DT's and golden pearls) and run my reactor. Nothing more. You run the risk with any addatives of overdoing it. And IMO most of the extras like coral vite, or whatever it is, are crap. plain and simple.

[bcdope]

Just had a huge on line chat debate with some people on an American reefing site, and it seems to be split almost 50/50...some people swear by cv, whereas others were critical of it....
One guy, from Sfran, even claimed that within two weeks of coral vitaling his tank, there appeared extensive corraline growth, in multi colour stages as the algae grew in his tank.... a few LFS owners also swore by it.....

Tough call

Im coral vitaling my tank right now, and will "publish" my opinions shortly....

[DJ88]

Take a read of this. You will see you are putting 93% water into your tank. Frozen brine has less water in it. Only Combisan and Marine Snow have MORE water in it. :rolleyes: Any company that WON'T list the ingredients used to make it I don't trust.

if it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck.......... It usually is a duck...

Food testing. (http://www.animalnetwork.com/fish/data/foods.asp)

[ 27 June 2002, 20:52: Message edited by: DJ88 ]

[Doug]

Nooooooooooooo, not my Combi-san. :D

[stephane]

:eek:

[bcdope]

:D