Miracle mud and refugium help...

tankaholic · Jun 17, 2016

Hello,
I'm currently setting up a 40 gallon breeder tank with a 29 gallon refugium. I added water and sand to 40b but had to leave before tank water fully done. So boyfriend thought he was helping and I think he screwed up.
He added sand and miracle mud to refugium and finished adding water to tank. Well now water is muddy murky... how do I fix this?
He didn't put filter sock in system yet. Here's what I came back to lastnight and looks worse today after work.

Russ265 · Jun 17, 2016

itll settle down after a few days

twilliard · Jun 17, 2016

Throw in some 100 micron socks and you will be good to go!

Diesel · Jun 17, 2016

Miracle mud mud mixed into the tank........... You be better off replacing all water but a filter sock will work too.

Russ265 · Jun 17, 2016

Diesel said:
Miracle mud mud mixed into the tank........... You be better off replacing all water but a filter sock will work too.

or replacing the sump housing it. ahhh but i wont rag on MM

Diesel · Jun 17, 2016

I just got 10lb MM but will have to put in a tray and lower it slowly in my sump............ that paletta it's contageous

tankaholic · Jun 17, 2016

I went to lfs and got another 7in sock filter since I couldn't find the one I had for tank...so fingers crossed the sock works

Diesel · Jun 17, 2016

tankaholic said:
I went to lfs and got another 7in sock filter since I couldn't find the one I had for tank...so fingers crossed the sock works

Rinse the sock as often as possible.

Russ265 · Jun 17, 2016

Diesel said:
I just got 10lb MM but will have to put in a tray and lower it slowly in my sump............ that paletta it's contageous

expensive silicon sand... nom nom

Brett H whitt · Jun 17, 2016

Your sump has a very long drop in height from your skimmer chamber to the mud refugium. You might try placing rocks to break up the water flow. I think the large water drop is causing your mud to stir up to much. Most sumps have a hole cut in the bottom of the baffle to allow the water to flow thru without disturbing the mud refugium. The mud should have settled down by now if it was going to.

Most people place the mud in to bottom without mixing it with sand. The mud will stick to itself better than it will stick to the sand. I run 1100 gph thru my sump and my mud never stirs
I use miracle mud and love it.

Brett H whitt · Jun 17, 2016

once a year I change out ½ the mud bed. It’s easy to do. Just drain the sump and switch out the mud, then place a plastic trash bag over the mud and secure it with 4 or 5 rocks. Then gently add the water back into the sump. Gently remove the rocks and the plastic bag and you are back in business.

Russ265 · Jun 17, 2016

Brett H whitt said:
Your sump has a very long drop in height from your skimmer chamber to the mud refugium. You might try placing rocks to break up the water flow. I think the large water drop is causing your mud to stir up to much. Most sumps have a hole cut in the bottom of the baffle to allow the water to flow thru without disturbing the mud refugium. The mud should have settled down by now if it was going to.

Most people place the mud in to bottom without mixing it with sand. The mud will stick to itself better than it will stick to the sand. I run 1100 gph thru my sump and my mud never stirs
I use miracle mud and love it.

can love it all you want. its snake oil. (unless you have a diatom tank?)

silicate sand if you read it's composition. but hey. glad you love it.

Diesel · Jun 17, 2016

Russ265 said:
can love it all you want. its snake oil. (unless you have a diatom tank?)

silicate sand if you read it's composition. but hey. glad you love it.

But...... but........ I love snakes in oil

Russ265 · Jun 17, 2016

Diesel said:
But...... but........ I love snakes in oil

i cant find the article but there was a critical analysis on miracle mud.

it was pretty bad for mm.

either way. it may do things we cant test for.

Brett H whitt · Jun 17, 2016

if have had some very successful tanks setup with miracle mud. that's why i continue to use it.
i have found that almost every product in this hobby has it's positives and negatives, so when i decide on a product
i try to base it off of others peoples experiences. most people that use the mud like it.

Diesel · Jun 17, 2016

Russ265 said:
i cant find the article but there was a critical analysis on miracle mud.

it was pretty bad for mm.

either way. it may do things we cant test for.

There's always that grey area............. with everything.

Rjramos · Jun 18, 2016

Miracle mud has worked wonders in my refugiums for a long time. It has great benefits to the lifecycle of many creatures like worms, amphipods, Copepods, and even mysis shrimp. I have tried refugiums without miracle mud, and they work and grow macro algaes but never flourish with creatures like with mm. What I say is use miracle mud as it shows on ecosystem aquarium web site. Look at the sump sizes per display tank volume, baffle configurations, and very importantly, they have a chart that states a minimum and maximum flow through volume. It works just gotta follow the directions.[emoji106]

Kungpaoshizi · Jun 18, 2016

I too love miracle mud, can't say I use it very often though. I've seen the analysis of it as well, but I think the biggest positive to it is it's introduction of compounds, and the surface area of the mud in relation to anaerobic zones.
I personally use a teaspoon of it and dump that in my tank from time to time. Corals love it, so I put it in there. It's definitely not purely silica otherwise it would look like play sand.

(which people use in their tanks too! lol)