Eco system miracle mud

[PINPOINTKING]

HEY ALL, I WAS WONDERING IF ANYBODY KNOWS ANYTHING ABOUT ECO MIRACLE MUD. I JUST PURCHASED ABOUT 5LBS OF MIRACLE FOR MY CPR FUGE, PRIOR TO PURCHASE I HAVE FIGI MUD IN THERE ALREADY. QUESTION IS... BY MIXING THE 2 MUDS WILL IT CAUSE ANY HARM TO WATER CHEMISTRY OR MAKE TANK CRASH. ALSO DOES ANYONE RECOMMEND MIXING, LAYERING WITH SAND AND CRUSHED CORAL, OR OTHER..? IM STILL A ROOKIE AT THIS HOBBY AND I INVESTED A LOT OF MONEY IN IT SO FAR AS EVERYONE HAS.. DONT WANT ANYTHING TO HAPPEN TO MY PRIZE.. LOL THANKS A LOT
:smash:

 

[OGGISPORTS]

I mixed and had no promblem i have it running now over a year. I did not layer sand or anything in between the two . I have them on top of each other. Also have in their sm rock rubble cheato and mangroves and all is well. Water is great corals look great they have great colors and growth and no alge. I to have a cpr fuge.

 

[tangmaniac]

i did that as well and no problems here.

 

[ReefFan]

I put 2 containers of Carib Sea in my fuge equalling about 1.5 inches. Then just spread .5 inches of Fiji Mud over the top. No problems, in facti think its worked out great. The finer the particle size, the less dpeth youneed for adequate denitration. PLus the mud is believed to supply the system with a steady dose of elements and minerals, espcially with the nassarius snails in there moving it around. I dunno if the mud has had anything to do with it but its become a pod playground, all sorts of critters in there.

I say go for it.

 

[cmor1701d]

Must say this is the first place I've heard anyone say anything good about MiracleMud, EcoMud, or any mud product. Every other forum the members who have bought it said it was a waste of money. Better benefits for less with LR rubble, a good sand bed and plenty of LR in the tank.

Also, detrinitifcation takes place only in a DSB (deep sand bed) which starts at about 4". Less than that is considered a SSB with no dentrificationtaking place. You can read Dr. Ron's article on Deep Sand Beds.

 

[Master Shake]

the thing with mud is "they say" that you have to replace the mud every so often, but you dont really know that because their business is in selling mud and if everyone got mud and never bought it again there goes the business. other than that i dont see a problem in mixing muds

 

[ReefFan]

Must say this is the first place I've heard anyone say anything good about MiracleMud, EcoMud, or any mud product. Every other forum the members who have bought it said it was a waste of money. Better benefits for less with LR rubble, a good sand bed and plenty of LR in the tank.

Also, detrinitifcation takes place only in a DSB (deep sand bed) which starts at about 4". Less than that is considered a SSB with no dentrificationtaking place. You can read Dr. Ron's article on Deep Sand Beds.

Ill read the article. But I do belie ve you need half the depth for denitration with the mud cuz its much finer particles. It could be a waste of money, i just like the fact that Fiji mud actually comes from the actual environment im trying to replicate. Its easily debatable the benefits of mud cuz theres really no way of charting its effectiveness. Unless of course youre able to set up two tanks with exactly the same conditions, the only difference being Mud vs sand. Also different species have to be observed in both tanks, espeically Xenia.

The biggest arguement ive heard about mud, especially the fiji, is that it actually tests positive for nitrates. Peronally i dont care, ive never hadc a problem with nitrates since i got it. It all depends on what you want in an aquarium. All scientific debate aside, i just want anything found in a tropical lagoon, even it if turns out to be a liability. I can presume benefits all I want, like with my thriving crazy pulsing Xenias, but theres plenty of people lined up to tell me it has nothing to do with the mud. Fact is.. there IS minerals in it, I have personally observed a lateral line erosion disease reverse with a sailfin tang I rescued from a friends tank. These are both benefits the manufacturers claim and Ive found both to be true.

Maybe one day i will set up two 20 gallon tanks with exact circumstances and livestock. To prove the benefits of mud vs sand. Til then Im still enjoying ideal water quality with it in there. I also suspect it has benefits for macro algaes, so that will also be included in the two experiemtn tanks.

People here at MR have been very cool and polite when ive shared my theories on mud and refugiums, but Ill make the disclosure anyway, that im not a marine biology PHD or Oceanography researcher. Just an enthusiatic reefer who likes to try things and learn. So if ive rubbed anyone the wrong way with my inferences n such.. please dont attack me lol You wouldnt believe how many people have taken that personally somehow at other forums. But without those bitter people i wouldve never come across MR. The best reef forum on the Web!

 

[tomtoothdoc]

But without those bitter people i wouldve never come across MR. The best reef forum on the Web!

i think i'm one of those bitter people....lol.
i used a 30 gal. ecosystem refugium/sump for my 75 gal. tank for about 2-3 yrs. i think it had 30-40 lbs of the mud in it. right now i have a remote dsb refugium in a 270 gal. system, i don't really see a difference between the two. i went with the sand with this build because the amount of mud i would need was too expensive. if you only need 5 lbs. of the mud then it's no big deal.

 

[ReefFan]

Well thats cool man I know the denitration uses are debatable and all the other claims for that matter. I do feel it requires less depth though and is alot more mineral rich. Plus this is one observation I cant dispute. When i recharge my Fiji mud (add a lil more in once a month) my corals up open noticeably more. So all the other conclusions aside, theres gotta be something beneficial to it. ID never claim its THE end-all to reefkeeping the way Ecosystem ademently states, but i like it and my microfauna likes it, corals seem to like it, its just possible the whole system likes it. Like i said, if its an actual bio-active piece of the Fiji lagoons, i just want it in my tank, for better or worse. As it turns out, certainly nothing bad has happened yet. But i am beginning to wonder if ill have to replace the stuff any time soon. Thats not gonna be fun. But maybe ill get more time out of it with all the stuff borrowing in it and moving it around.

Im under the impression that at the magic layer of anerobic bacteria, nitrates are converted to gas. As long as i continue to have all the surfaces of my tanks skimmed off, gas exchange will happen easily. Espeiclaly with an oversized skimmer wailing away. This is true of both dsb's and mud, im just hoping that the life of my dsb and mud chamber is prolonged by critter agitation.

BTW another difference for me was macro growth. I put 3 different caulerpa's and shaving brush in both sections and it grew better in the mud.

just lil differences ive seen. One day I vow to get to the bottom of it though lol. The lil biogeek in me would enjoy the experiment if i can just find the time. MAybe Ill start a thread here with the 2 20gals and chart the progress of both with pics. In both will definetely at least be Macros and Xenia. If theres any other lifeforms that would be telling of differences between sand and mud let meknow and Ill add em in too.

 

[tomtoothdoc]

now that you mentioned it, i realize there were two differences. with the mud, the caulerpa grew better/faster and the xenia grew like weed. i had some of those when i started this current system. i recall that they weren't growing as fast. but now i no longer keep caulerpa nor xenia.

 

[xvinny631x]

i use miracle mud and have had xenia grow like weed but only for 6 months.. It then melted away.. I dont know what the mineral or nutrient is that xenia uses but i feel that it uses what it can then depletes whatever it is that it uses

 

[ReefFan]

I was worried that might happen too, so every other month I add about a cup more mud into the Fuge. Lets face it, no likes spending $60-$70 for a bucket of Mud scooped out of the Fiji waters. Thats probably the biggest reason for its unpopularity. Hard to justify the cost when youre not convinced it helps.