Miracle Mud, Fiji Mud???????

[Big Boy69]

Does anyone use this in their fuge??

If so, what results are you seeing from it?

I'm going to add a fuge to one of my tanks and was thinking about using one or the other and see how thinks look.

[cw150]

I have an existing fuge about a year old and added walt smith's fiji mud under the sand. I had plenty of pods, etc. before but since the mud addition it's been an explosion. I'm counting on it to provide more food supply to my SPS population.

[agoutihead]

sps corals feed off of pods?????????

[Big Boy69]

cw150, are you having any problems with hair algae?

I was reading on another board that the guy is running miracle mud and his PO4 is sky high.

What is your amount of sand to mud ratio?

[goda]

miracle mud is trash
its basicaly quartz and some other things .. not enoug to help you i think it cost so much cause they dony expect you to buy it again after you learn .( so they over charge the first time)
figimud is apparently alot better
i will be ordering some soon for my fuge

[agoutihead]

hmm. its a very interesting fact that there is quartz in this miracle mud.

is there also quartz in fijimud?

quartz is a very magical natural element.

why did the guy above say he wants more pods for his SPS.... none of them feed off of pods do they?

[sttroyiii]

Miracle Mud analysis, last paragraph is the most important:
http://www.inlandreef.com/Testing/MManalysis.html

[goda]

"In addition, no traces of any marine sediment were found in any microscopic examination - no oolitic sand grains, no shell fragments, no diatoms or any other remnants of marine life. An acid test conducted by Shane Graber indicates that no carbonates are present in Miracle Mud. It is difficult to reconcile these facts with the manufacturer's claim that "Miracle Mud is 80% oceanic mud." "

from the test

anyways i wrote MM along time ago about htis and they got all defensive ( i wasnt being mean as i was still considering using there product at the time)
they were like " they are dumb. they cant possiably know where everytype of mud in the world in the ocean. we gets ours from a secret place"

after that i decided not to go with them

apparantly figimud is the only REAL ocean mud ( according to advertisments and other peoples claims)

[Big Boy69]

Thank You very much everyone.
I think I will get some of the Fiji mud and try it.

[sttroyiii]

Haha, 'secret place'! I dont think it matters where it comes from, its always going to have some small particles of shell matter, etc. I guess even if its not from the ocean, the particles give the trace elements you need. It just seems to me that a bottle of trace elements, or water changes will supply the same stuff that the expensive MUD does. Another thing, why oceanic mud? Why is it better than sand from the ocean floor?

[rustybucket145]

Would using real Ocean/Bay mud from say.... The northern Gulf of Mexico be beneficial to a reef tank refugium?

[goda]

i dont think you want the mud that we can easily get in our fish tanks. its usualy polluted due to boat trafic

[Big Boy69]

How much mud should you run per gallons of water?
Is there any limit?
Do you think there should be sand mixed with it?

[COreefer]

why did the guy above say he wants more pods for his SPS.... none of them feed off of pods do they?

Yes...they can feed off of newly hatched copepods.

[goda]

everything feeds on everything in someway

if you add phyto somthing feeds on it that may make food for other things

[Eron]

in my sump i have 10lbs of miracle mud over 10lbs of garf grunge lite over 20lbs of sand and have noticed a difference in the past two months of use, now i can't tell you it was any of those products, just that running a refugee with a place for pods to run is a plus

[Big Boy69]

What is garf grunge lite?
Some special blend?

[cw150]

Big Boy,

Sorry I didn't stay up with my post. I have to say I have had a spike in bryopsis since I started using fiji mud. Kind of disappointing.

[Dactyl]

show me where you see mud in a healthy reef

[spline9]

Originally posted by Dactyl
show me where you see mud in a healthy reef

Not to start a flame-war or anything but with that comment you can also say "where can you see (insert any of the equipment or additives we have on our tanks here) in a healthy reef"
Calcium reactors, ozone reactors, skimmers, the various lights we use, baking soda, vodka, Cyclopeeze, and all the other crazy stuff we have hooked up or dumped into our tanks.
With the mud, we are just trying to give a source of nutrients our tanks may be lacking or have insufficient levels of with a vehicle of steady delivery. The legitimacy of a particular product is up for debate, though.

Just playing devils advocate. I dont actually use the stuff.

[bureau13]

Well, all the chemical analysis,and "logical" deduction doesn't really mean anything. The real question is, does the Ecosystems method make for a healthy reef tank, and the answer is: It can. I've seen some awfully nice tanks using the Ecosystems method. That said, its certainly not the only way to do it. Are the good results directly attributable to the mud? Who knows? Everyone is free to make up their own mind about that. Now let me tell you what I chose to do: For my 55 gal, I used an Ecosystems refugium with Miracle Mud, but I also used a Remora skimmer. I had a pretty heavy bioload, and I did in fact have a bit of a nitrate and phosphate problem. I was all in all pretty pleased with the stuff I bought from them, but in my 240, I can't fit their recommended sump into my stand. So, I had a custom sump made in a similar style, but I figured I didn't necessarily want to spend the huge bucks on their mud this time, so I'm trying CaribSea's refugium mud. Its a heck of a lot cheaper, so we'll see it it works. I'm also using a skimmer (EV-240) which they don't necessarily recommend. Everyone gets to make their own choices here, and if you adhere to the basic principles of good husbandry (not that I always do ) there are many different ways that work.

What is my point...good question! I guess I just get cranky when I see people propping up that mud analysis link as if it actually answers a meaningful question, which IMO it does not.

jds

[Dactyl]

the only place i see mud down here in the florida keys is in near-shore turtle grass beds. and you dont find alot of coral there. in healthy reefs out here i see coral heads growing on exposed rock and then a little bit deeper and about 15-20ft maybe away are weak turtle grass beds that have been heavily foraged on by herbivorous fish living in the reef. i just try to mimic what i see in nature and i dont see alot of corals growing here where theres alot of anerobic mud. want me to take pics for you guys? =)

[Big Boy69]

I'd like to see pics, I think that would be cool.

[bureau13]

So consider the turtle grass beds to be the refugium for the nearby reef! Seriously...I don't see people putting mud in their display tanks.

jds

[UrbanSage]

Originally posted by Dactyl
show me where you see mud in a healthy reef

The reef is not really inside a glas box..... water currents will bring nutrients from outside the reef. Maybe outside the reef it is muddy and that somehow helps the reef..... Who knows.... buy some mud from a secret place and see for yourself if it works