Tropic Marin reef actif

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I guess my specific question is does it seem to keep down bad bacteria and algea concerns?

What are bad bacteria? Do you mean Cyanobacteria?

 

[Digimes]

What are bad bacteria? Do you mean Cyanobacteria?

Any types that arent exactly beneficial to the look of the tank, just curious if it would help keep the sand and other places Any cleaner. Mine isn't bad at all but some things do build up.

 

[vetteguy53081]

What are bad bacteria? Do you mean Cyanobacteria?

That is a good question as that is what I gathered

 

[Digimes]

That is a good question as that is what I gathered

Sorry I wasn't more specific buy specifically bacteria or algea that are not wanted as a reef keeper, cyno being one. My water quality is generally stable and I don't have much in a negative way but i am more looking to figure out what additional benefit this stuff would have on my water column in general. I don't like to add very many products to my tanks.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Sorry I wasn't more specific buy specifically bacteria or algea that are not wanted as a reef keeper, cyno being one. My water quality is generally stable and I don't have much in a negative way but i am more looking to figure out what additional benefit this stuff would have on my water column in general. I don't like to add very many products to my tanks.

My point was that what bacteria are good or bad or neither are in the eye of the beholder.

 

[mmorrison55]

Bumping this thread…

Looking for an update in 2026 and if it’s till recommended.

I’ve seen this referred to as a salt, is that correct?

I was more thinking it was a dry bacteria mix that would be more akin to microbacter 7 or other “good” bacteria’s in a bottle that are sold these days, and this one was just Tropic Marin’s approach.

 

[BriDroid]

Bumping this thread…

Looking for an update in 2026 and if it’s till recommended.

I’ve seen this referred to as a salt, is that correct?

I was more thinking it was a dry bacteria mix that would be more akin to microbacter 7 or other “good” bacteria’s in a bottle that are sold these days, and this one was just Tropic Marin’s approach.

I used it for a while, and honestly I didn’t notice any difference. I always remember smells, and it smells exactly like the worm food I had as a kid for a worm farm. Maybe not the same, and it’s been 40 years, but when I first opened it, that’s the first thought I had.

 

[ReneReef]

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/tropic-marin-actif.1074049/page-2#post-12877178

 

[mmorrison55]

Thanks for the link. I don’t know what to say about that thread though. It was mostly negative towards the product and tropic Marin vs vodka dosing in general. At least that’s how it came across to me.

I ordered some reef actif to use along side some cyo control by tropic Marin that I’m about to try out as I’ve had some run away nitrates that has resulted in some cyano outbreaks.

Supposedly the cyo control is about replacing the cyano growing bacteria with the “good” bacteria provided by the TM products.

Guess I’ll see how it goes soon enough…

 

[Bear22]

Call rep :
Lou Ekus
413-367-0101

Lou passed away not long ago.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Supposedly the cyo control is about replacing the cyano growing bacteria with the “good” bacteria provided by the TM products.

Guess I’ll see how it goes soon enough…

Just wondering why not use bacteria directly if that’s the goal, and not rely on hope that cyano don’t consume the reef actif organics.

 

[ReneReef]

Thanks for the link. I don’t know what to say about that thread though. It was mostly negative towards the product and tropic Marin vs vodka dosing in general. At least that’s how it came across to me.

I ordered some reef actif to use along side some cyo control by tropic Marin that I’m about to try out as I’ve had some run away nitrates that has resulted in some cyano outbreaks.

Supposedly the cyo control is about replacing the cyano growing bacteria with the “good” bacteria provided by the TM products.

Guess I’ll see how it goes soon enough…

Not negative. Skeptical and critical.

Bottom line, reef actif is a mixture of algae and plant derived polymers (agar/alginate/cellulose).
Thus, Reef actif is just another form of carbon dosing.

We have absolutely no evidence that certain carbon sources stimulate more “good” or more “bad” bacteria.

We do know that a lot of bacteria can be good or bad, depending on factors such environmental factors.
We do know that increased dissolved organic carbon (DOC, I.e. carbon sources) is strongly associated with coral disease.

So, with what we know, stimulating good bacteria with a carbon source seems to be a very very unlikely thing to happen.

What do you think the chances are that any aquarium product would turn out to be a miracle substance that will shake the scientific world?

 

[vetteguy53081]

Lou passed away not long ago.

This is a very old post and I posted an article on Lou back in Fall when he passed

 

[mmorrison55]

Just wondering why not use bacteria directly if that’s the goal, and not rely on hope that cyano don’t consume the reef actif organics.

That’s a good question, and I suppose you could, but I don’t know.

There’s only 3 products and you would know best what each did.

Ingredients: Probiotic bacteria, clinoptilolite mineral, water

I’m assuming the mineral is some sort of coral snow, as for the probiotic bacteria, I have no guess as to what off the shelf bacteria in a bottle would be equivalent. Or for that matter how much to dose of each.

I guess that’s why us laymen hand over our money as we don’t have the know how to be certain we could make it ourselves to get the results they are claiming and some reviews seem to back up.

As I said… I guess I will find out in a few weeks if it works or not for me.

As for the reef Actif part of it,mi got some to try as I was already getting into their carbon docking products and saw a video that it could be used with the cyo control to enhance it.

 

[Hans-Werner]

We have absolutely no evidence that certain carbon sources stimulate more “good” or more “bad” bacteria.

We do know that a lot of bacteria can be good or bad, depending on factors such environmental factors.

This statement is simply wrong. From digestion and many other kinds of fermentation we have clear evidence that there are "good" bacteria like for example a large set of lactobacilli/lactic acid bacteria, and that there are "bad" bacteria also called opportunistic bacteria. From human as well as marine fish intestines we know that these fermenting bacteria play a major role in gut health and that "fiber" like cellulose supports the "good" bacteria, which makes them so-called prebiotics.

We also know for sure that corals react positively to probiotics. There is a long row of publications in recent years, here just two examples and here.

We do know that increased dissolved organic carbon (DOC, I.e. carbon sources) is strongly associated with coral disease.

By definition fibers are not "DOC" since fibers are insoluble. The cloudiness caused by Reef Actif also points to the insolubility of the different ingredients, although some of the fibers swell and get transparent and also may be degraded by bacteria quite fast after repeated application, but only specialized bacteria are able to degrade fibers, see above.

Just yesterday I was a bit amused that an article about the effect of DOC on corals worked only with glucose, like most other scientific experiments, just as glucose would be the only kind of DOC. I guess, glucose has a fairly pronounced negative effect, and it supports metabolism and growth of quite every opportunistic bacteria.

So, with what we know, stimulating good bacteria with a carbon source seems to be a very very unlikely thing to happen.

Well, in many processes of fermentation it works quite well. There is a large number of fermented foods. I grow and consume half a liter of a kind of vegan kefir (soy drink + oat flakes + continued kefir culture) myself every day.

It is not unlikely or difficult to get it work. Also the beneficial effect of fermented foods is quite well known and supported by science.

What do you think the chances are that any aquarium product would turn out to be a miracle substance that will shake the scientific world?

The role of a commercial product is not to shake the scientific world.

I found the first visible results after just a few days in a kind of screening of different candidates for alternatives to zeolites and the like. I don't know exactly how it works but my idea how it may work gets better and better. But I had an idea how it may work very soon. I described its prebiotic effects quite good before I knew what prebiotic is.

The role of a product should be that it has a positive or a promised effect.

 

[Hans-Werner]

Just wondering why not use bacteria directly if that’s the goal, and not rely on hope that cyano don’t consume the reef actif organics.

For our product Reef Actif:

- Like described above, I have found the effect by screening candidates for alternatives to zeolite. Quite soon I had an idea that the effects are caused by bacteria and are what is now called "prebiotic". However, I had to search quite long after the product was released in the later zero-years (2000s) before I found descriptions I found adequate.

- Bacteria products are much more difficult to preserve and/or keep alive and are much less effective for their weight and volume. Bacteria products also come with a high nutrient load, while we just can dose long-chain organic carbon and the other nutrients are taken from the water or produced in situ in case of organic nutrients like vitamins. These latter effects (taking and using nutrients from the water) are part of the effects we claim for Reef Actif.

- Species diversity of commercial bacteria products is quite low, and many oligotrophic marine bacteria are hard or hardly to cultivate. Reef Actif uses the high diversity of reef tank bacteria and doesn't need prior cultivation.

 

[ReneReef]

This statement is simply wrong. From digestion and many other kinds of fermentation we have clear evidence that there are "good" bacteria like for example a large set of lactobacilli/lactic acid bacteria, and that there are bad bacteria also called opportunistic bacteria. From human as well as marine fish intestines we know that these fermenting bacteria play a major role in gut health and that "fiber" like cellulose supports the "good" bacteria, which makes them so-called prebiotics.

We also know for sure that corals react positively to probiotics. There is a long row of publications in recent years, here just two examples and here.


By definition fibers are not "DOC" since fibers are insoluble. The cloudiness caused by Reef Actif also points to the insolubility of the different ingredients, although some of the fibers swell and get transparent and also may be degraded by bacteria quite fast after repeated application, but only specialized bacteria are able to degrade fibers, see above.

Just yesterday I was a bit amused that an article about the effect of DOC on corals worked only with glucose, like most other scientific experiments, just as glucose would be the only kind of DOC. I guess, glucose has a fairly pronounced negative effect, and it supports metabolism and growth of quite every opportunistic bacteria.


Well, in many processes of fermentation it works quite well. There is a large number of fermented foods. I grow and consume half a liter of a kind of vegan kefir (soy drink + oat flakes + continued kefir culture) myself every day.

It is not unlikely or difficult to get it work. Also the beneficial effect of fermented foods is quite well known and supported by science.


The role of a commercial product is not to shake the scientific world.

I found the first visible results after just a few days in a kind of screening of different candidates for alternatives to zeolites and the like. I don't know exactly how it works but my idea how it may work gets better and better. But I had an idea how it may work very soon. I described its prebiotic effects quite good before I knew what prebiotic is.

The role of a product should be that it has a positive or a promised effect.

So many assumption and generalisations...
A reef tank is not a fish's gut. Let alone generalising from human food stuffs to reef tanks.

Additionally, people have been killed in clinical pre/probiotics studies. They are not universally good.

In practise I do not observe any difference between dosing Reef Actif and any carbon source.

 

[Hans-Werner]

In practise I do not observe any difference between dosing Reef Actif and any carbon source.

Well, there are not many products that have exactly the same effect in all tanks, and not all tank keepers have the same skills to watch and know their fish and corals.

We did not claim any positive effects on fish. So it should not have been a kind of placebo effect. Nevertheless different users described the same effects of more vigorous fish with increased mating behavior.

So many assumption and generalisations.

Depends on how someone describes it. I could also have written it is this and this way, but I prefer to be a bit more modest and maybe honest.

If you don't use tools like confocal microscopy where you can watch some of the processes at cellular levels, most scientific findings are also just indirect conclusions from oberservations. Rarely the processes and all parts of the processes are exactly known. Usually there is a certain share of speculations and assumptions. How else could scientific findings usually be interpreted in different ways?

 

[Hans-Werner]

A reef tank is not a fish's gut. Let alone generalising from human food stuffs to reef tanks.

The ability of bacterial strains and species to use and produce certain substances is usually described with the species or strain. It is from bacteria in cultivation or from the coding of enzymes in the genome. These capabilities don't differ with surrounding.

If the access of bacteria species/strains to a certain substrate is limited, it remains so, independent from the environment.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

That’s a good question, and I suppose you could, but I don’t know.

There’s only 3 products and you would know best what each did.

Ingredients: Probiotic bacteria, clinoptilolite mineral, water

I’m assuming the mineral is some sort of coral snow, as for the probiotic bacteria, I have no guess as to what off the shelf bacteria in a bottle would be equivalent. Or for that matter how much to dose of each.

I guess that’s why us laymen hand over our money as we don’t have the know how to be certain we could make it ourselves to get the results they are claiming and some reviews seem to back up.

As I said… I guess I will find out in a few weeks if it works or not for me.

As for the reef Actif part of it,mi got some to try as I was already getting into their carbon docking products and saw a video that it could be used with the cyo control to enhance it.

I have been using Microbe Lift Special Blend for this purpose, and I think it is helpful in displacing cyano.