Phytoplankton War? READ

[Ryanqk]

NOTE TO MODERATORS: I Dont know if this against any rules sorry if it is!

I havnt seen anyone talking about this so i thought i'd see what yall thought about this. I was looking around DT's plankton website checking out oyster eggs (any thoughts on that product?) And came across a very long page with lab tests, and photos and claims that a rival manufacturer of phytoplankton's product specifically Phyto-Feastâ"žÂ¢ was using dead strains of phytoplankton and even adding a odor eliminating additive to mask the "dead" smell yet marketing it as live. The producer of that product lashed back with the following statement:

Dennis Tagrin of DT's Plankton Farm has produced several marketing pieces that are making false allegations about Phyto-Feastâ"žÂ¢ and the microalgae products of several other competitors. This information is being faxed and mailed to stores that carry Reef Nutritionâ"žÂ¢ products, and was handed out to participants at the MACNA 2005 conference in Washington, DC. To see one of his documents CLICK HERE. Here is our reply to his allegations:

Dear Reed Mariculture / Reef Nutritionâ"žÂ¢ Customers,

Recently you may have received a fax or a letter from Dennis Tagrin of DT’s Plankton Farm regarding our Phyto-Feastâ"žÂ¢ product, or seen his flyers at the recent MACNA conference in Washington, D.C. In these letters Mr. Tagrin makes claims that the microalgae in our products are killed and “embalmed” in alcohol at the time of harvest and that we cover this up by "washing" the algae to remove the alcohol before preserving it. We firmly reject Mr. Tagrin’s claims â€"œ his allegations are not supported by the lab reports he cites. Mr. Tagrin bases his analysis on questionable results from a supposedly “independent lab” he hired to test our products, as well as those of other companies. They are based on what we consider to be flawed data, bad analyses, and an apparent poor understanding of plant cell biology by the laboratory investigators. The microalgae in Phyto-Feastâ"žÂ¢ have NOT been killed and there is No Alcohol and No Sugar added at any time.

Well the DT's guy went to great length to back his claims up, with TONS of lab tests and attempts to culture the product (unsuccessfull) The results are on the DT's website here:
http://www.dtplankton.com/mgw2/main.html
Apparently this looks like solid research, I want to hear what yall think about this little war going on... Did Reed Mariculture really try to pull a fast one and lie to us about just how live the product they were selling was? Apparently since this happened at MACNA last year they have pulled the product! Have new tests been done since (if) any new product was re-released?
Best Regards
Ryan

 

[scubasteve247]

i use reed products, and they are very very successful.

i personally have used phyto pheast and still am, the bottle lasts forever, im sure over time the phytoplankton does have die of, it only makes sense for that of both dt's and phyto pheast, or any phyto plankton products for that matter, if they are kept in the dark of the refrigerator, i highly doubt theyll last that long. however i could be wrong. im no expert

either way im very happy using Reed Mariculture products. i have been using it for about 4 months now and have seen very impressive growth on my corals, my frogspawn and torchs about doubled in size the first week of use. my nepthea leather has over doubled since i first dosed. im very happy with its effects.

i have never used DT'S so i dont think it would be fair for me to judge there products, but its not been on my to do list to try it out.

competition is very high in this hobby. there have been many arguments about the quality of competing products. both on the advertising front and right here on RC. ive read a few threads clamining that dts is mostly water. marine snow is "detritus in a bottle" and that kent marine is "dosage for dummies" some of that may be true. some of it may not be. hopefully by using this site we are able to make our own decisions as consumers and not be fed advertismint plots by companies to gain a edge.

 

[scubasteve247]

i just looked at the dts website and have to say thats some impressive evidence, however i do seem to believe that the concentration of phytofeast is much higher than that of dts regardless, lol

idk if its truly alive or not, i feel it still is.

to each his own

 

[Ryanqk]

I dont doubt that the product concentration is higher what i'd be worried about is just how ALIVE the "live" phytoplankton is, If the cells are damaged or preserved then that would reduce its usefulness to critters feeding on it. I would give up quantity for quality anyday. Do we have any current studies on how alive the commercially availible supplies of phyto are? I think the claim dennis made about regulations not being enforced re: Animal Feed when it comes to aquarium feeds may be pretty accurate however... Also that Ethyl Maltol that was in the phyto feast concerns me, esp since it looked like they had been tinkering with the recipe over the lenght of the study... I'm not sure how much i like the idea of adding a chemical to the tank that i dont know how it affects the life in my tank... Not trying to bash anyone's products or say one is better than the other, i'm not interested in that. I'm interested in feeding live viable phyto to my tank, plain and simple. The amount of evidence they present on the site is impressive indeed and looks sound. I was a little miffed by reed's response to the claims, sounded like he was not happy and didnt properly refute the evidence.... Now all this info is a year old now and could have changed. Maybe it needs to be done again to see if things have changed.
Ryan

 

[Ryanqk]

bump

 

[MrSpiffy]

Well, if there's any dispute on what's usable and what's bad, I guess I'd just end up culturing my own phytoplankton. I know it won't end up having multiple types of phyto after they compete for nutrients, but at least I know what's been used in culturing the phyto I use in my tank. You could always order a culture kit from Florida Aqua Farms and avoid this DT's/Phyto-Feast stuff all together. If I had a large tank, and even if I didn't have a large tank, I'd probably still culture my own, as it's pretty cheap to do so versus buying these products.

But I will hand it to DT's... that is some pretty convincing evidence. It does seem legitimate, especially after all the technical jibba-jabba in that article. It certainly sounds like they know their stuff.