Help me decide between mud or deep sand bed for my Refugium.

Dalescarpentry · Jan 9, 2014

I have a wet dry filter with bio balls that I'm going to drill a hole in the bottom of it and install a bulkhead to and gravity feed my 20 gallon long refugium. I can't decide weather to go with miracle mud or a deep sand bed. Can you guys tell me the pro's and con's of each, to help me decide? If I decided to go with a DSB could I use play sand for it? what would the ideal depth be? My idea is to build a stand with my wedt dry sump on the top shelf and have the 20 gallon below. How deep should I make the water in the refugium? I think I will have My vertex skimmer in the first compartment, the refugium in the second compartment and a return pump in the third compartment. There would be a bubble trap just prior to the third compartment with a foam block in it. I know I'm going to hear get rid of the bio balls I don't need them but I really do want to keep them and I am going to have a good sized refugium to help keep the nitrates down. So thanks in advance for any help or ideas that you guys might have. Dale

3Twinklets · Jan 9, 2014

I would go with the deep sand bed. Mud is easy to disrupt and clouds the water.

kv69 · Jan 9, 2014

sand at least 4" mud is a bear to maintain, Fine sand for critters not the crushed stuff

kv69 · Jan 9, 2014

Oh yeah... put your bioballs in the space under your foam block, not in the return chamber... makes for easy maintenance.

beaslbob · Jan 9, 2014

an assay years ago found the miracle mud was basically silica sand with high iron contents.

So play sand with a couple of ferris gluconate capsules should be bout the same.

Dalescarpentry · Jan 9, 2014

beaslbob said:
an assay years ago found the miracle mud was basically silica sand with high iron contents.

So play sand with a couple of ferris gluconate capsules should be bout the same.

Can you tell me what those capsules do and where I might get them? Thanks Dale

Dalescarpentry · Jan 9, 2014

I googled it and did not really come up with anything on adding it to play sand.

beaslbob · Jan 9, 2014

Dalescarpentry said:
Can you tell me what those capsules do and where I might get them? Thanks Dale

Any drug store.

for instance wallgreens: ferris gluconate| Walgreens

What I used to do was dissolve one in a (12oz-20oz) old soda bottle. then add a capfull each week to the tank.

The idea is that macros can become iron limited and that low level of dosing prevents that while not adding so much to be a danger to corals.

One on line macro user stated that maintaining 1ppm iron is good for macros but above that corals were adversley affected.

beaslbob · Jan 9, 2014

Dalescarpentry said:
I googled it and did not really come up with anything on adding it to play sand.

It was just my speculation.

here is an old thread:

Chemical Composition of "Miracle Mud" : Filtration Systems

My specualtion was that using play sand with the iron dosing would keep the macros flourshing.

inurocker · Jan 9, 2014

I have used the miracle mud with Leng Sy's method on several successful tanks. In my current build I plan on using it in my refugium and a DSB in my display.

Dalescarpentry · Jan 9, 2014

Would a deep sand bed in the display tank do the same thing as a DSB in the refugium? Have any of you ever tried using play sand in the display tank along with dosing ferris gluconate. I'm just thinking out loud here. If I were to do a DSB in the display tank and do the mud in the refugium I would have the best of both worlds. I have decided over the last couple weeks that I have to do a refugium due to the fact that I'm beginning to have a algae problem and it's my hope that it will help me get it under control. I have crushed coral as a substrate now and have been thinking of changing it out to sand. I have recently been laid off work so money is kind of tight. Buying regular sand for my tank will be expensive where as play sand is pretty cheap.