Almost 3 years to the day when i was using Miracle mud.

Used it for a few months and stopped as my sump was to small to go totally skimmless.

Well i am looking to got back to using MM as it seems to be so much easier to look after and based on all the great tanks i see on teh net.

Hollywood fish use it on the coral tank and you have to be impressed how well the tank runs with it.

Will update photos when i change over soon.

Photo on how it works.

The sump is designed to hold caulerpa algae which takes out nutrients

http://www.ecosystemaquarium.com/products/miracle_mud.cfm

here was my sump full of caulerpa

Very nice tank

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showt ... genumber=1

time for a second sump? :lol:

one for skimmer one for MM

Lucky i dont have to change much except move all the corals out the sump.

i will run my skimmer at night only as i dont want to remove to much nutrients otherwise the algae might have nothing to use.

what size is that sump, also what size tank is it running.

How hard is it to get caulerpa in auckland, i don't see it for sale in chch

what size is that sump, also what size tank is it running.

how hard is it to get caulerpa in auckland, i don't see it for sale in chch

Sump is about 1.2m x .6 x .6

You can't buy it , just have to ask around as a few hobbyist have it.

im sure you could get a small plant from someone it wont cost much to send and it grows fast

IMO its a great system. I used miracle mud on my old tank and will on my new tank which gets water this week. My brother uses it on his tank with great results. Sure you have to pay extra to get the mud but you save in less water changes etc and you will get a great looking tank in the long run.

Heres a few tanks running mm

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showt ... id=1053276

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showt ... id=1305485

Nice tanks.

I like the ease of it and there is so much life in the sump with the caulerpa.

Will see if it will improve my acropora colours which is good but not so important for me as i run a all round tank with lots of coral species so i want something that will benefit all live not just the hard corals.

what sort of light does it need?

The algae just needs floros. 6500 k would be very good li.

dont bother with an aquarium light. I have a 26w energy saver bulb costs $7.50 works great. Check out melevs website its a simular bulb to what he uses, 5600k I think

$7.50. man someone is making a big profit.

Good idea i might try two over my sump. my yellow the better as the caulerpa will go nuts.

Will also add ammonia chloride as the alage takes on a nice lush green colour.

So correct me if I am wrong but you are going to add nutrients (ammonia chloride) and reduce skimming (reducing nutrient export) so you can grow algae to remove nutrients?

If your skimmer is more than capable of keeping up with waste production then why bother?

Would it not just make more sense to reverse light the tank and use it as a refuge?

If your skimmer is more than capable of keeping up with waste production then why bother?

skimmer can't remove everything desolved organics for example. vs algae that will use it.

but you are going to add nutrients (ammonia chloride)

Initially to get the algae growing and so i can increase nitrates.

ammonia gets converted to nitrates.

Miracle has other benefits other than just removing nitrates. it adds iron and other vitamins.

Would it not just make more sense to reverse light the tank and use it as a refuge?

Is that not what miracle mud is for? to use as a refuge

i'm going to be doing the same as well, thanks to my home-bodged phosphate reactor splitting and sending clouds of thick red crap flowing around my tank having to do a massive w/c and empty the sump out... grrr

Mud has arrived so time to add, will add over the next few days.

Also trying out NF metal and Iron supplements

Will add mud and then leave lights of on the sump for a week so that that mud settles.

Algae to be added soon.

Cool, I'll be watching out for updates of this subject with interest. Good to see people giving other products and methods a go

First step taken today to get the mud system going.

Cleared sump and then added 4 bags of mud. will let it settle in the dark for a few days and then add 3 species of caulerpa to see which grows the best.

Day two,

Added Caulerpa

Tank has cleared form the initial mud addition.

Algae has only been in the tank for 6 hours and already it is taking hold on the mud.

Should double in size by next week,

Tanks looks good today, however cyno bacteria could be a problem over the next few weeks which is normal when adding MM.

Checked out Hollywoods coral tanks in Albany today, Still looking outstanding especially since they dont run a skimmer on the tank, only MM.

looks good reef i have a small bit of that algae in my tank on a small rock hasnt grown much if anyone in chch wants a go they can use mine to getem started

its looking good reef hope it turns out good

I think it's a cool idea.

Have you ever seen a SW tank, that is non-reef, full of Caulerpa and fish? Or is that not practicable?

full of Caulerpa and fish

I had a little bit, my Naso destroyed it in less than 3 hours

Yes you can have a tank full of caulerpa and fish, only problem is that if you have tangs they will eat the caulerpa if you don’t have it well established.

its looking good reef hope it turns out good

Should work fine, i did it before but did not run a skimmer, the mud sump could not keep up with waste as it was too small.

This time i have the same sump but will run a skimmer during the day and turn of at night,

here is another tank using MM

Very practicle, it would be something like a planted fresh water tank.

The potential disadvantage I would see would be a large swing in pH from day to night due to the abundant photosynthesis during daylight, then plenty of Co2 production at night.

However i've seen photos of some pretty awesome algae packed fuges overseas, with a miriad of life forms living among the greenery.

The main time to watch all the critters is at night with a torch. The sign you have a really awesome ecosystem up and running in the fuge is when you are watching it with a torch in the late hours of the night, then you are suddenly disturbed by an angry wife yelling at you wanting to know why you have spent "hours" staring at the tank at night with a torch! :lol:

(Yes, personal experience! Time can slip away! :lol: )