Miracle Mud. Is this stuff worth getting?

[ondria]

I have been looking at the EcoSystem, because as a beginner, it looks like the easiest way to go. But I had the same concerns about the Miracle Mud.

What would the experienced reefers use in place of the mud? I have a 180 gallon.

-Ondria

 

[danmhippo]

Grow your own caulerpa/macro algae in a DSB sump.

 

[Iron]

the caulerpa is the filter the mud is suppose to add trace to feed the caulerpa. But I'm sure most tanks have enough trace or nutrients if you have fish and feed. They still recommend to use thier additives and to replace the mud often. The caulepa is the filter the mud is just sand which any sand will work

 

[ondria]

One more thing... why does this system not need a protein skimmer? Is it the Caulerpa?

-Ondria

 

[kyguy]

Just to add my 2 cents worth. I work in a pet store, which has a 75 gallon reef that has been set up for 15 years. For most of the time, it has been run on powerheads, and a protien skimmer. 8 monthe ago we decided to put ecosystem's miracle mud sump on the system. The first month was a little crazy with a 24 hr light source, lots of cyano, but after the system settled in, it really has worked wonders. Our water is crystal clear, corals are opening up larger than ever before. The only coral that wasn't was a finger leather that was sandwiched between a hammer and a pearl, once we gave it a little more room, it started thriving as well. The reason you don't need a skimmer is that as the calerpa grows, just like plants, it uses up the organic wastes that the fish are producing. There is only one species of calurpa that has been prohibited, because it is not a naturally occuring species on this coast, it origionated off the coast of austrailia, and was transported here by aquariums, with no natural predator, has taken over a lot of area, but if you stay away from that one, you will be fine. I can't find the article that lists it's name specifically, but it looks just like a feather, stay with the flat stranded kind, or the grape stuff and you'll do fine. We were also a little cynical about it's clame to improve fish health, we had a customer who brought in a red sea sailfin tang that was just about eaten away with HLLE, and after 2 weeks in our 75, there is almost no trace of it on him. I attribute that to the system, just regular healing, and removing him from the environment he was in would have taken much longer than 2 weeks. I think it's kind of funny that someone can claim to know what a substance is made of by looking at it under a microscope, much like trying to decipher what is on a cd by looking at the grooves. After 8 months of doing nothing but adding water for evaporation (we don't even feed anymore, with all the organisms growing in the sump), nitrates have leveled off at 2ppm. In the tank are the red sea sailfin, royal gramma, mandarin (which has been in there for 7 months, and a flame angel. I would say this stuff works. I'm sure there ae other systems that work just as well, but htis is totally hands off, and we haven't had any problems at all. The mud may be a bit pricey, but so is the entire hobby.

 

[dragon0121]

Just a question to those who use the MM Ecosystem without caulerpa. If you don't have a skimmer, and you don't grow macro algea, then how are you exporting nutrients? Everything you have ever put in your tank is still in there! What is happening to it? With a DSB the excepted practice is you will need to have nutrient export methods in place for a longterm success in your tank.

 

[dragon0121]

brain check!

[ October 01, 2001: Message edited by: dragon0121 ]

 

[jamesw]

Yes, I can definitely say that I attribute my tank's success, and the success of a large majority of the reefkeepers in this country to the use of a deep sandbed. I can even attribute YOUR success to the use of a sandbed (because believe it or not, that's what you have in your refugium, a sandbed, the particle size is just much smaller, making it a "mudbed").

Before sandbeds, reefkeepers did not have much knowledge or understanding of the denitrification process. Nitrates would build up....do a water change. With a deep sandbed taking care of nitrification AND denitrification, that problem just vanished "like magic."

I can remember when THE most common problem that we would hear was "My nitrates are at 80 ppm." Boy, gone are those days, and thank goodness!

Slowly but surely reefkeepers are realizing that they don't need to rely on a special "filter" to maintain water quality, that instead, they should strive to mimic natural processes in their aquaria. Refugiums and deep sandbeds are all a part of this.

There's no miracle there.

HTH
James Wiseman

[ October 02, 2001: Message edited by: jamesw ]

[ October 02, 2001: Message edited by: jamesw ]

 

[mzem]

Hey guys, I personaly don't understand all the miracle mud bashing. I realy don't care what's in it. I don't call up Kent and ask them the exact chemical makeup of their buffer I use. I just use it. If it works, I keep using it. If it doesn't then I find something else. Are there other products that can achieve the same thing? Sure. After having many different reef tanks over the years, some berlin method, some modified berlin, plenum based systems, etc, etc it is never easy to pinpoint your sucess or your failures. We are current eco-system users and I must say we will never go back. Our current system is thriving. Although I cannot directly attribute this sucess to the mud, I will attribute it to the eco-system as a whole. It really is a filtration method much like Berlin being a method or the DSB approach. Remember that different systems perform in different ways. Is there a right way? Now how about my own question for all of you out there. Can any of you DSB users directly attribute your sucess to your DSB? Or is it really one piece of the puzzle in the whole system approach?

There's my 2 cents.

mzem
eco-system user and never going back