miracle mud ????????????

[the2ofus]

Hi everyone, I'm Matt Davis, from Clarion PA. Does any one use miracle mud in thier fuge? I'm new to the hobby,( so new I don't have water in the aquarium yet ) I'm hoping to learn a lot here on the board from all you guys! and ladies! I'm hoping to pick every ones brains as I set up and get cycled. Hope you can save me costly mistakes and time. We're putting up a 75 gal. reef & fish w/ a refugium. Still picking up parts and pieces. When I talked to my wife about a saltwater aquarium 6 mo. ago, she was excited, maybe more than me. Course she knew she was going to talk me into paint, carpet, trim and drapes. I thought i was spending alot on a aquarium. If only i knew!!! Doing alot of reading and asking questions, LFS is about 60 miles away. A real nice one is only about 2 hours. "Under The Sea" They talked me into alot of research on refugiums, head still spinning. They use refugiums on all of there tanks, from 29gal. to 300gal. with the mud!!! LFS wants a 100 bucks a bag. Is it worth it?

[bertoni]

There are lots of people who use mud-type products. I don't think they're particularly useful unless you want to grow sea grasses or mangroves. The mud products can be expensive, but they don't seem to do much harm.

[cyclops23]

i had some in my old 30g fuge. not worth it, IMO. i paid $70 for 10 lbs. of miracle mud, and i wish i had that money back. live sand is just as good, and much cheaper.
a fuge is definitely worth it, whatever size you decide to go with. my 30g fuge was a display fuge, and i liked looking at that as much as the main display.

[jadeguppy]

Here is a good thread on fuges:
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showth...readid=1258724

If you like biochemistry, this thread is just getting started:
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showth...readid=1282171

[Achapman]

That's crazy. 100 bucks for some dirt? Check out Garf.org

[dsn112]

I use mud, but my fuge is only an aquaclear filter, I'd use sand in a bigger fuge. Mud also needs to be changed every 2 yrs, sand does not. The Lfs will tell you its great because there is a higher profit on it than sand.

Goodluck. Your in the middle of nowhere, my wife went to Clarion U. Good luck, do your shopping online, you will save time and money!

[the2ofus]

Thanks for the reply's.

bertoni; I do want to grow a couple mangroves, i understand they will grow just as good in a sand bed. LFS is growing mangroves on LR in one of the display tanks. (a 65 gal. acrylic that over flows on 3 sides to a basin around the bottom.)

cyclops23; I'm leaning your way, it's a 20 lb. bag but i think i could spend the money better in other areas. like lighting. Or more to spend on LR.

jadeguppy; Thanks for the links, i read the fuge link before i posted, but hadn't found the other. Great info. Thanks again.

[the2ofus]

thanks Achapman; checked out Garf. lot of reading there!


dsn112; my daughter finishes up this year from Clarion U. I've made alot of online purchases already. most live stock will come from LFS so i may see them first. As far as the fuge, I'm putting a 10 gal. tank atop a 20 long, 10 gal drilled at the end, was thinking of mud in the 10 gal and sand, crushed shells and crushed coral in the 20. I have 2 drains on the bank of a 75 gal so 1 will drain to the 10 and the other will drain to the 20 where the skimmer will be and 2 return pumps. thought i would see if one was better than the other.