Refugium Questions

[Willow]

Originally Posted by Reefhawk1

Does anyone use Miracle Mud in their refugium? Are there other alternatives? What are the benifits of Miracle mud in a refugium?

If anyone has an answer to any of these questions please post away.

Thanks

Stan

i do. i run mud, caulerpa and no skimmer (eco system). the theory is that the mud is a good base for the macro to grow and host pods in. the mud leaches trace minerals so there is no need to supplement additives with the exception of calcium. because of the lack of skimmer (and a true eco has no mechanical filtration) it can be a bit of a tightrope in what you add to bio wise into your system. the system works great for soft stuff that like to grow in "dirty" water but if you were growing stonies or had lots of bio load i wouldn’t consider this system.

if you just wanted a substance for your fuge base and were still planning on a skimmer i wouldn’t spend the extra dough on the mud. i mean i would if i had the money but 130 bucks for 10 pounds is a lot of dough.

heres a pic of my sump, the caulerpa is all i have for filtration. i added it a week ago and just double the amount of light to 36 watts. within a month i will be chopping caulerpa out of there with a chainsaw, within 6 months there should be a ton of pods living in the mud (hopefully). Btw the bio balls in there are just to help trap debris as it comes out of the overflow, this will be replaced with a part time micron bag when i redo some plumbing this week.