[Caesar Augustus]

I think I'm gonna put a CPR refugium on my 55 in an attempt to go skimmerless. I was going to put an inch of miracle mud, a little live rock and some micro algae. However one of my fellow reefers has told me that many of you have had problems with miracle mud. If this is true what would you use for substrate in the refugium and how deep? FYI I'm planning on putting a DSB in it.
Keep the faith,
Bonaparte

[scubadude]

Hey Napoleon

Im using some MM in some of my systems but I dont use JUST MM I only put it in the lowest flow area of my fuges. I think its great you just need to be careful how you add it so it doesnt stir into the main tank water column.

[tendar]

Just do a search on miricale mud and you will get a ton of treads on it here and at reefcentral. I believe some one sent it in to be anilysed and the findings where not that good but cant remember for sure.

[Reefland]

Simply stated, we know fine sand works so I would probably just go with a few inches of sand.

[Caesar Augustus]

Ah Scott! The voice of reason, I thank you
Napoleon

[bongobrian]

Whether or not it works better than fine sand, I can't say, but I have it in my fuge and I have noticed very good results... it's teeming with life. The stuff is kind of expensive, but I'm still quite happy with it.

[SPasse]

Hi All,

I used the “Miracle Mud” in my last system.

I make no claims for it beyond the following:

1 That it contains a suitable particle distribution for a mud bed

2 That doesn’t appear to contain anything detrimental your system.

3 That it contains a significant amount of iron and is otherwise supportive of the culturing of Macro algae for use as an algae filter.

In my last system, I had a DSB in the main tank and a “Miracle Mud” bed in the refugium.

I have had some discussions with Dr. Ron about this and he was also of the opinion that a mud bed is hosts a different fauna community than a DSB, but these two systems should work synergistically together.

The fauna community that I observed in my mud bed included critters that I did not find in the DSB that was located in the same system. A mud bed and DSB are two different animals, even though there is considerable overlap in the functions that they provide.

Although I was formerly of the opinion that a skimmer was “unnecessary” in these types of systems, further research on my part and this article:

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-1...ture/index.htm

Has caused me to reevaluate this position as it seems that we need to maximize our nutrient export methods. So having a mud bed, a DSB, and a skimmer in the same system is a good thing, the more export methods we can build into our systems, the better. So my next systems will include a mud bed, a DSB, macro algae in the sump, and a probably a good skimmer.

Regards,

Scott

[SueT]

I have had both a berlin-type reef system and an ecosystem. In my 180g sps/clam tank, this system was set-up from the beginning utilizing the ecosystem method. This system is now just over 2 years old. I agree with Scott{Passe} that the ecosystem and a DSB have overlapping similarities/critters/fauna. What is found in one may not be found in the other. My 180 has done amazing and after being talked into using this method while making the decision about the tank, I am very happy with what has materialized. I would use it again with no hesitation.

My 120g, 5 year old system was initially set-up berlin style. Skimmer, DSB, etc, it had one plague after another. A year ago last August, we switched it over to the ecosystem. While we vacuumed all but about a 2" SB out, I left that sand in and it still has done better than it looked at it's best with the skimmer. This tank went from being a heavily skimmed system to none in one day and to no detremental effects.

my 180 ecosystem sps/clam tank:
http://berlinmethod.com/suet/
my 120 ecosystem sps tank:
http://suetruett.homestead.com/home.html