how should i have my miracle mud in my refugium?

BTW, how old is your fuge?[/QUOTE]

its about 9-10 months, a little less older than my DT, its been up for a year this month

 

I'm gonna defer to Crimson Ghost on this one, he has far more direct experiance with the mixed substrates than I do

 

Cheato does best in fast moving water, Caulerpa prefers slow moving water….you gots urself a mismatch. I follow the tangster 10/10 rule for years and years now. Fuge should be 10% of your DT and the flow should be 10% per hour.

I am not a fan of 24/7 lighting – reverse photo is the way to go. Remember, you are attempting to copy nature in order to help your tiny ocean – so let there be night. Korilia 1 in your refugium ? oh boy….ok wait. A refugium is a slow growing swamp – its not a raging river. I perk about 20 gallons per hour through my fuge, with a reverse photo period which assists keeping my PH level night and day. That’s it – I don’t poke at the fuge, I don’t remove the sand (ever), I never stir the water…..and it does what its suppose to do.

Do water changes with the house water.

My nitrates are undetectable. But its more than my fuge – I use RO/DI, I do not overfeed (hell, I only feed once a month if I remember at all – it’s a reef, they can eat off of it !)

I have several macro’s in the fuge, I trim the tops of the Caulerpa and feed it to my tangs from time to time – other than that I let it be.

 

have you actually used this method? has it worked for you?

 

Its not so much a problem with mixing the substrate and it is with disturbing what he already has built.

As for the mud, it has more organisms than sand and it’s a good way to get the benefits of the sump going faster. I personally don’t know if the mud does more if its together vs. mixed – perhaps it’s a bit more dense and promotes more/different growth of organisms. I just don’t know. But I do know that disturbing the fuge would set it back to square one and could even spike the nitrates in doing so.

 

well you see, if i dont have any flow in their, all the detrius settles on the macro, and it starts to die. or what would you recomend i do?

 

Are you asking me about Tangsters rule? Yes I do.

I have a 180 gallon reef that's about 12 years old, my refugium is 20 gallons (in the middle where the growth is) and I run 20 gallons per hour – works like a charm !

 

sorry i meant the vodka method.

 

huh? it shouldn't - is your fuge separate from your sump or are we talking an all in one ?

The detritus should collect in section one since the water is moving slowly. But I suspect you are using a sump and trying to convert it to a refugium….you will have troubles doing this. Can you post a pic of what you have ?


There are so many inexpensive ways this forum can help you – so lets take a giant step back and see what you have first.

I am thinking of a coil denitrater – I’ll even donate a pump to your cause if you require. All you will need is a hose and a valve. I am about to head off to a meeting today (I am at work – damn taxes !) Search this site for “coil denitrater” if I am botching the spelling – try coil and nitrates and you will get to it. We could also move your refugium to a 5 gallon bucket – many options my friend, but first things first….please take a pic or thoroughly describe what you have there.

 

No, and I wouldn’t - but I might if I didn’t have funds at the ready. My ozinator crapped out yesterday after years of service. So I logged onto Marinedepot and ordered up a $500 replacement (including a new probe) – but if I couldn’t spend money like a drunken sailor, yes – I would try something like this after I put a lot of research into it.

But honestly, I would try a coil denitater first.