Refugium mud

[pettoe90]

Wants everyone's in put, should i use refugium mud just substrate? 20 gallon sump 65 gallon tank

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Wants everyone's in put, should i use refugium mud just substrate? 20 gallon sump 65 gallon tank

Are you considering a Deep sand Bed for the sump? Just use sand. I put in fiji Mud to seed it($16). Cheaper than Miracle mud.
If its a smaller refugium you can just use live rock(not rubble), or marine pure blocks for bacteria. The benefit of this is, its easy to clean of detritus. The dsb method you'll want cuc in there.

 

[pettoe90]

I have mud in my current sump but I'm going to swap it soon to a larger one just wanted to know if it's worth getting mud again

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

I have mud in my current sump but I'm going to swap it soon to a larger one just wanted to know if it's worth getting mud again

that becomes up to you.
Miracle mud is designed to by ecosystems to be used with a specific caulerpa species for nutrient export. Its a silica sand(like play sand) infused with trace elements and such. its the caulerpa that does the work(like chato). the sand we use most often is aragonite(crushed coral). A dsb with aragonite uses the large surface area for bacteria to process nutrients. The silica has less area for bacteria. both methods work.

 

[dbl]

Timely question for me as well. I used Miracle Mud when I first set my tank up because it was suggested. I'm getting ready to replace my sump and do not intend to use it again. I do not have any complaints about its use however. From the research I've done, it mirrors what @saltyfilmfolks said in his first post. I intend to just go with live rock this time. Not sure this helps, but thought I'd chime in.

 

[Ashish Patel]

I added 5LB of miracle mud to my refugium. My system volume is 140 gallons so no where near what they recommend but I am happy its there.
So far I have just a bag of chemipure blue and skimming and on a 8 week old tank zero algae issue. I barely have any color on my rock after the initial diatom bloom with lasted about 1 week.

I am happy I went with miracle mud because I know it has some trace elements that my dry rock tank definitely can use!