Marc Weiss Combo Vital

[eyedoc]

The person maintaining my FOLR office tank gave me some Combo Vital (Black powder + spectra vital) to try for my home reef tank.
I did a RC search and comments have ranged from good to "snake oil".
I did an internet search and found no useful info on it other than quotes from the Marc Weiss web site stating how great it is.
The pseudoscientific tone on this web site makes me suspicious.
I want to know what is in it and scientifically what it does, if anything.
I have a jar of it to try so I added it a few times. It made the water cloudy but no other changes were seen. I would not expect anything to show a beneficial effect unless it is added for a few weeks.
What do you know about this product?
Thanks

 

[Strandedthinker]

Well no one really knows anything about it except a few people who work for Marc and himself.

 

[koj11]

I agree with "snake oil".

 

[mandktod]

I got suckkered into the spectra vital once and the only thing I noticed was it made green algae grow on my glass like crazy, as far as anything else I could see, it did absolutely nothing but fuel algae, mine is now at the county dump, so long 20 bucks!!!

 

[eyedoc]

There must be a list of ingredients posted someplace, right?

How can it be snake oil and stay in business?

I have found that people in this hobby are smarter that the general population.
So I have to assume we are buying this for some good logical reason.

 

[Strandedthinker]

well i dont think that even people with some bit of intelligence would buy the stuff. think about it, a product that gurantees such results and no one can replicate it?

 

[eyedoc]

What are the ingredients?

 

[wooglin]

They are a trade secret... HAHA

 

[RicksReefs]

eyedoc,
he stays in business by selling it to the next guy
in line at the LFS, who may be smarter than average (or not ),
all he needs to hear is 'nemo' needs it, & it's sold. they
don't find out later (if at all) that it's bunk.
there are millions of fishtanks out there, we're (RC) the 40,000
(sometimes) smarter ones that really want it to work &
try to know better. most WANT a miracle ina bottle (i do )
( i no longer believe in miracles)

 

[eyedoc]

There is so much pseudoscientific stuff out there in general. This includes products for human health. None of it is backed up by controlled scientific studies. I'm sure 99% of it is useless.
However, 1% might be good, we just don't know which 1%.

Life is complicated and we don't have all the answers. We need to keep an open mind.

In order to separate the bad 99% from the good1% we need to eliminate bias and anecdotal reports and insist on some objective scientific evaluation. Unfortunately this is expensive. For example, it taked hundreds of millions of dollars to get a drug passed through the FDA.

 

[nanocat]

Every hobby has their snake oil products. We have Marc Weiss and also the eco-aqualizer, and the car enthusiasists have The Tornado and that magnet thing for the gas line :lol:

 

[Freed]

I have heard that a couple of people had made inquiries directly to the Marc Weiss people and were told that the ingredients could not be disclosed to the public. Maybe Randy Farley Holmes(?) could give this one a try to see what is actually in it. Freed

 

[Colin_E]

Has anyone ever tried the products in a controlled experiment to see if they ARE actually doing something?

 

[PPi]

all I know is that I put Combo Vital in my tank after my rock has been curing in my tank for about a week. The colors popped within 24 hours and I had peanut worms trying to eat whatever was in that stuff. I had a couple hair algae blooms, but could be coincidental. I am going to pay around some more with it in my quarantine tank.

 

[Sk8r]

We have another trait in this hobby...looking at the really splendid tanks and hoping there's a shortcut or secret other than the ones we've been told.

Alas, if there were a 'secret' method that really worked, there'd be such a rush to that product/equipment you could get trampled in the doorway. The one thing we don't do well in this hobby is keep a success secret...

 

[gh0st]

Now don't anybody quote me on this, because it is pure speculation, but from the description of the product, and the good and bad effects it caused, I would guess it is probably an Amino Acid/Vitamin/Trace Element cocktail.

Possibly with a bit of nutrient or sugar involved as well.

I also have heard good and bad about the stuff, and that would fit with the above theory. Depending on the tanks levels, etc, and what else is being dosed, effects would vary.

 

[wooglin]

Here are the magic ingredients:

INGREDIENTS:
Crude protein, quartz, Cytokinins, yeasts, Beta carotene, vegetable protein, Gamma-linolenic acid, Iron, B-12, B complex, Polysaccharides, sulfoloipids, glycolipids, Dextrose, Dl-Alpha-Trocopherol aceatate, L-arginine, vit A, D3,E, Thiamine, Niacinamide, B6, Folic Acid, Menadione, biotin, inositol, Ascorbic Acid

Derived from ferment of: Citrus leaves, yeasts, animal byproducts, Spirulina, citrus molasses, Sweet Potato, Cayenne pepper, Anise, Stevia

 

[jer77]

I'm glad they finially decided to post the ingredients in their product description. I just wish other companies would follow the same route. There has been a lot of heat on this issue in the past on RC that could have been easily solved this way.

 

[drummereef]

So it's basically just a multi-vitamin?

 

[wooglin]

Go to their website at look at the ingredients for all of their products, every one of them reads like a multivitamin you would purchase at GNC.