Re: Amazon Vital/Algae control

[cmunoz@crystal.cirrus.com (Carlos Munoz)]

On 9/2/97 4:40 PM Ed Pon (edpon@hotmail.com) wrote:

>Some months ago, in Fresh Water and Marine Aquaria (FAMA), one of the 
>columnists was citing the benefits of a new product from Mark Weiss. It 
>was some kind of water conditioner that was supposed to do wondrous 
>things for your water quality and algae control.  There was supposed to 
>be a soft water version called Amazon something or other.  The recent 
>discussion on algae control via variouse algae eating agents just jogged 
>my memory on this product.  Has anybody tried this product, and is it as 
>wondrous as claimed in the FAMA article?  

Most aquatic gardeners avoid using "magic products" like Amazon Vital for
the sake of combating algae, since time and time again these products avoid
giving ingredients and are usually based on questionable research.  If you're
interested in combating algae, even in heavily-stocked or African-lake-cichlid
aquariums, subscribe to the aquatic-plants list, read the FAQs or search 
the archives for relevant discussions on fish-friendly, scientific and 
inexpensive ways to keep algae under control.  You should never have to 
resort to "magic" potions to battle algae and upkeep pH and other water 
parameters since they will inevitably have some unwanted (and without the
ingredients, unknown) side effects.


Carlos Munoz

PS:  Marc Weiss is an excellent hobbyist and breeder.  Some of us attribute
	his "Amazon Vital" product to temporary insanity (or greed).