Refugiums?

[67RedDonzi]

How many of you use miracle mud in your refugium? Do you really need the mud, or is there something else that can be used? We are working on setting up our new tank and every time the mud gets disturbed it clouds everything up and gets pumped into the DT ! I'm really sick of the mud already!

 

[Reefing Madness]

I don't know many who use mud, I for one just had macro algae in mine.

 

[ReeferJoe]

I had cheatos and rock rubbles in there. Now is just cheatos. No rock or sand. The rocks were covered with hair algae and detritus were trapped at the bottom. I decided to clean it out and just keep the cheatos only. I know I didn't answer your question but I hoping someone will respond on when a refugium stops being beneficial and becomes an issue.

 

[67RedDonzi]

I'm really not certain what a fuge does to help my DT to be honest. Would having Cheato or macro algea be enough? Or would I be losing something that the mud offers?

I cannot see a thing in my DT right now, its all brown and murky from the mud. It doesn't seem to be settling at all

 

[NanaReefer]

You won't be losing a thing by getting rid of the mud. Except for a cloudy tank Really you'll want to keep an eye one your nitrates if you do remove the mud. I'm sure by now it does have some benefits to your filtration. Just remove a little at a time. While at the same time add some macro algae of your choice.

 

[EricTMah]

^Great advice of removing slowly.

I use 3" bed of Carib sea special grade crushed coral + rubble + chaeto

 

[feh]

Mud isn't required. Some have argued it's not worth buying it. What you put in a fuge really depends on it's purpose. Some use them to grow pods in which they generally don't put more than just rock and a macro algae. You may find this to be a good read.

Beyond the Refugium: Seagrass Aquaria by Sarah Lardizabal - Reefkeeping.com

 

[TJ's Reef]

I'm a BIG PROPONENT of Refugiums the larger the better and give alot of credit towards my success over past 30+ years in Reefkeeping. Not only can they be very beneficial in eliminating/out competing nuisance algae in the DT depending on size can be a major part of nutrient export. True to its name provides a refuge for a multitude of organisms that benefit and feed the whole system. I run mine fairly high-flow 1050+- gph with a mix of Caulerpa mexicana, C. prolifera, Chaetomorpha, Ulva and Halemida sp. lit 24/7.
As for 'Miracle Mud' goes had it for 2+ years in the refugium of my old 75g system and really don't know how effective it was overall. I did run skimmer-less for about a year initially (Leng Sy ? experiment) and it certainly kept the macro algae happy rooted in it. If I remember correctly you were supposed to let it sit for 3+ hours or so before running system ???

Cheers, Todd

 

[67RedDonzi]

T J's Reef: Now that you don't have the miracle mud, what do you use in your fuge? Do you have any kind of base sand?

What is the difference in using miracle mud or live sand? Does the live sand do the same but stop the turn up/murky water?

 

[Hydrahawk]

I don't use mud in mine. I used to do a deep sand bed in the fuge area. Now I'll have a layer of sand and some rubbles in there. I don't think it is worth the cost, plus you have to change it out regularly.

 

[67RedDonzi]

What kind of sand is best to use in a fuge? Will it make my water cloudy if stirred up? I have a lot of sand that came with the tank (we decided to use crushed coral instead in the DT) We bought the tank last sunday. The sand is in a cooler and still wet/covered in water. Would that be ok to use in a fuge or do I want to buy new?

 

[vlangel]

I'm not sure how big your fuge is but in the big scheme of things sand is cheap. I'd buy new but take a handful of the old sand and mix it in, that way if there are living organism in it you are seeding the new sand.

 

[Sacohen]

Tagging along.

I'm setting up a new sump and am going from the old wet/dry trickle filter to a sump with s refugium in it.

I have a de-nitrification chamber, and a carbon and GFO reactor so my nitrates are under control.
I'm looking to help with hair algae and the brown diatoms that get on the glass so I don't have to scrape that much.

I don't have a lot of fish right now, but would like to be able to keep a Mandarin Dragon or something that needs extra pods.

I'm looking at using rubble and cheato in my fuge.
Any comments or suggestions.

This is the way I'm leaning as far as sump design goes.

 

[ReefMadScientist]

I have live rock covering the bottom and I grew a handfull size of grape and chaeto to the size of a 18" pizza No mud here and 5-10 nitrates every two weeks.

 

[beaslbob]

I agree that even a bare bottom refugium with chaeto will do fine. the miracle mud is not necessary.

I even had an in tank refugium that worked wonders. Just egg crate crammed in 3" in front of the back glass.

I also did dose ferris gluconate which is supposed to help macros. one capsule dissolved in an old soda bottle then add a capfull each week.

my .02

 

[67RedDonzi]

Does having sand cut down on the nitrates even more then just having rock and cheato?

The miracle mud is definitely out. Now we are just debating whether we add sand or leave it bare with just live rock and cheato. By the way, how do you pronounce cheato?

 

[FlyinBryan]

I have about 40#'s of Miracle Mudd in my refugium! I don't care what anyone says, it totally helped turn my tank around and it's doing great! I have gonia's that are actually growing! Stuff just lives and grows like crazy. I also have cheato and coulorpa algaes. For whatever it's worth I also run kalk in my ATO!! I use GFO/carbon also with 24h protein skimming.

 

[TJ's Reef]

Sorry for late response here. I currently have around a 2" sand bed in my refugium (all old substrate from previous 75g system) IMO this sand bed was to seed the new and houses many many organisms like multiple species of Worms and give a rooting substrate for the macro algae. I do not disturb or clean it at all so sure that there is some anaerobic zones to it.

Cheers, Todd

 

[ReefMadScientist]

Does having sand cut down on the nitrates even more then just having rock and cheato?

The miracle mud is definitely out. Now we are just debating whether we add sand or leave it bare with just live rock and cheato. By the way, how do you pronounce cheato?

I'd vote to leave it bare with maybe some live rock. The reason is due to the detritus you will often get from the chaeto catching it (like its suppose to). Once a year or so, I will wet-vac my sump and clean it out. It is very simple to do when you can easily pull out the chaeto and LR.

With sand, you will have to gravel vac it, have a CUC, etc.

 

[Pappy]

I vote mud! I run it. Maybe that's the only reason I'm voting for it but hey!