HOB Refugium Users Do They Work?

[Reefnman2]

I have a CPR HOB fuge and it's frustrating as heck. I put 2 in. of mineral mud and topped that with 1 in. of live sand, I've tried Cheato and it doubled in size, tennis ball size, then it all fell apart so I tried cabbage and it bleached out in a week and got all slimy so I took it out I do have 2 mango's in there also. Do they work for anyone else, should I dump out the mud and sand and just add cheato? Any ideas would be great.

 

[Reefnman2]

I have a CPR HOB fuge and it's frustrating as heck. I put 2 in. of mineral mud and topped that with 1 in. of live sand, I've tried Cheato and it doubled in size, tennis ball size, then it all fell apart so I tried cabbage and it bleached out in a week and got all slimy so I took it out I do have 2 mango's in there also. Do they work for anyone else, should I dump out the mud and sand and just add cheato? Any ideas would be great.

And I should add it's producing a ton of hair algae also, that started when the cheato fell apart.