Opinions on Miracle Mud...

[dailydriven911]

I recently put about 5 lbs of miracle mud in my small refugium area located in the sump. Since it's only been about 2 days obviously I haven't noticed any changes but I was wondering if anyone else has tried it and what their experience has been good or bad. One thing I did notice last night was that I had a ton of shrimp like creatures floating around in the water. Not pods but actually looked exactly like miniature shrimp. Not sure if I can attribute the miracle mud for it but I have never seen them before in my 9 years of reef keeping. I have just one fire shrimp but it's possible it's eggs hatched? Not sure probably just a coincidence.

 

[IPisces]

If you search RF this thread comes up
http://www.reeffrontiers.com/forums/f14/miracle-mud-33952/
I have not used it my self, but searching...other forums...I have not read anything good about it.

 

[IPisces]

Sorry, not saying its not a good idea to try it. It could have changed since. It would be really interesting to hear how it works for you.
Do they still recommend changing some of it out every so often?
What are the instructions for use? What do you expect it to do for your system?

 

[eartaker]

I also never used it and my tank and fuge do well... I can see pod running all over the sump. I just added some crushed coral to the bottom of my fuge.

 

[dailydriven911]

Sorry, not saying its not a good idea to try it. It could have changed since. It would be really interesting to hear how it works for you.
Do they still recommend changing some of it out every so often?
What are the instructions for use? What do you expect it to do for your system?

Honestly I'm not sure if it will do much if at all for my system but I thought I'd give it a try. After seeing Mike Paletta's success using it for 15 years I thought I'd give it a try. I guess it needs to be changed out 1x year. I expect it to lower my nitrates a bit. Currently at 10 ppm so I'll measure in a week or two and see if it changes. Also it's supposed to help with the overall health of the system and fish.

 

[pandora32]

I have those lil shrimp looking things all over in my fuge too. My mandarin loved them, whatever they are.

 

[TJL]

Hey Jason, I started out my old 75g running Miracle Mud without a skimmer and had great results initially. My Fish and Corals (mainly Softies) did very well. I never replenished it and eventually added a Eshopps HOB Skimmer to assist in heavy bio-load. Kind of wished I had used it again in my 125g but would have needed about 60lbs, I do think that having all those elements available to the system has great potential. I also had a huge Mysid population while it was in use... coincidence... don't know.

 

[IPisces]

Hmm, Do you have some good links to research it more?

 

[Herefishyfishy]

Had it years ago, but since looking into it more feel it's snake oil aka a scam.
Added it to the garden and couldn't tell any difference

I see it as an expensive iron-rich substrate to grow macro-algae? The website claims that one of the biggest benefits of it is that it gradually provides essential elements for a reef system. The fact that the website keeps information on this product rather vague makes me somewhat suspicious. I am always dubvious of any product self-proclaimed as "miracle" and including "natural" yet "20% is a trade secret"

It might be the best thing since buttered brain coral, but I really doubt it's unproven claims after more than a decade of sales...

 

[dailydriven911]

Had it years ago, but since looking into it more feel it's snake oil aka a scam.
Added it to the garden and couldn't tell any difference

I see it as an expensive iron-rich substrate to grow macro-algae? The website claims that one of the biggest benefits of it is that it gradually provides essential elements for a reef system. The fact that the website keeps information on this product rather vague makes me somewhat suspicious. I am always dubvious of any product self-proclaimed as "miracle" and including "natural" yet "20% is a trade secret"

It might be the best thing since buttered brain coral, but I really doubt it's unproven claims after more than a decade of sales...

Yeah you would think that if it truly lived up to it's claims most everyone would be using it. It is rather spendy at $40 for 5 lbs. I hear good and bad things about it some saying they won't run a tank without it and some seeing minimal affects if any. I figure I'll give it a shot and see if it's worth it. If I don't see any changes for the good I'll probably just remove it. I bought it mainly because I needed the free shipping for other stuff I bought online. No real changes yet so I'll update this in the near future.

 

[senji]

i have the fiji mud in the bottom of the fuge ine my sump and had to put an inch or so of sand on top ot it too keep it in the sump or it would over react the skimmer if i messed with the fuge at all. the benefit i can see is the mud is denser than sand letting less oxygen in createing a great place for bacteria. other than that i havent noticed any difference.

 

[dailydriven911]

Yes I'm pretty sure it was tiny mysid shrimp I was seeing. It was at night and I was using a flashlight and could see hundreds of them. I first thought I was having an algae bloom but I looked closer and saw them swimming toward the light. Sounds like you had good results using it but yeah 60 lbs would be almost $500!

Hey Jason, I started out my old 75g running Miracle Mud without a skimmer and had great results initially. My Fish and Corals (mainly Softies) did very well. I never replenished it and eventually added a Eshopps HOB Skimmer to assist in heavy bio-load. Kind of wished I had used it again in my 125g but would have needed about 60lbs, I do think that having all those elements available to the system has great potential. I also had a huge Mysid population while it was in use... coincidence... don't know.

 

[kpiotrowski]

i have the fiji mud in the bottom of the fuge ine my sump and had to put an inch or so of sand on top ot it too keep it in the sump or it would over react the skimmer if i messed with the fuge at all. the benefit i can see is the mud is denser than sand letting less oxygen in createing a great place for bacteria. other than that i havent noticed any difference.

+1 if I was going to use it would for a DSB.