Refugium-What To Use for Substrate

Edison

Edison

Member
The refugium shipped today and should arrive in about a week. I've been trying to decide what to use as a substrate in it.
We want to be able to grow pods and also some macro algae & would also like the substrate to host anaerobic bacteria to help with nitrate processing. Right now, the tank has zero nitrates but I've read that some tanks tend to have their nitrate levels rise as the talk gets older.

Any suggestions or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Miracle Mud sounds interesting but there's so many negative comments about it and I wonder if it works or is just bunk.
 
tnwillia

tnwillia

Well-Known Member
I've got a mix of MM (bottom) and substrate on top with 3 med size rocks & Chaeto. Mines really to small (15gal) to go nuts with macro algae. I tried Ulva and the red grasilla (sp) but the snails made short work of it. Mines full of pods and it's been up * running for about 8 months.

I've been contimplating latley tearing it down and making it a sump only because I want a sump based ER skimmer.

Have fun!
 
BigAl07

BigAl07

Administrator
RS STAFF
I've used MM and honestly (sorry Tom) it accompanied the worst out-break of algae (hair algae, film algae etc) that I've ever had since I started tanks... oh 39 years ago (most of that was FW though). About 4 weeks after adding MM to my system I started having algae pop up on every surface in the tank. Here are some pics of my tank about 8 weeks after adding MM to my fuge
(see where the Sea Hare made a dent in it . . .)
IMG_4667.jpg

IMG_4668.jpg

IMG_4678.jpg


I fought this for months fighting it from every angle I could but I could not make a dent in it to save myself. I removed the MM and almost like magic it started receding and within 2 months it was GONE! I mean literally GONE GONE GONE!

As for what I suggest for a substrate (especially if you want Anaerobic bacteria which I am ALL for) you'll want a Deep Sand Bed of 4" or more. I like to use Aragonite dried sand for that.
 
Edison

Edison

Member
Thanks for the info everyone. Will I see a algae bloom after adding the Aragonite sand due to silicates?

Al, would you recommend the smaller size? I see several grain sizes are available with the smallest being 0.2 - 1.2mm.
 
Reefmack

Reefmack

NaClH2O Addicted
PREMIUM
When I had a refugium in the cabinet (sump only now), I used Miracle Mud, topped off with Red Sea aragonite. The fuge eventually became very dirty with HA and Cyano in it that was covering up the chaeto algae. I think my water quality actually got worse after a while so I abandoned the fuge, and went to a sump only, just for my skimmer, media reactor, ATO. It may have been a lousy DIY fuge design, but I think it had a lot to do with the Miracle Mud being full of nutrients. If I did it over again I'd have no substrate in the fuge - just chaeto and some rock, or just an aragonite substrate.
 
BigAl07

BigAl07

Administrator
RS STAFF
Edison said:
Thanks for the info everyone. Will I see a algae bloom after adding the Aragonite sand due to silicates?

Al, would you recommend the smaller size? I see several grain sizes are available with the smallest being 0.2 - 1.2mm.
Click to expand...

I don't think argonite will have any silicates in it. I may be wrong about that but worse case would be a Diatom bloom which isn't that bad and tend to go away fairly quickly as silicates are consumed.

As for grain size that's entirely up to you. I personally like the larger grain size but I don't have any reason for picking one or the other in my systems.
 
coralmadness

coralmadness

Member
Im not sure if there is a difference or not, but i use walt smith fiji mud. I dont know what the difference is between MM and fiji mud. maybe look into that.:read:
 
Edison

Edison

Member
As for grain size that's entirely up to you. I personally like the larger grain size but I don't have any reason for picking one or the other in my systems.
Click to expand...

Cool. I was just thinking that the smaller the size the denser and thus more Anaerobic bacteria would grow due to less O2 penetration.
 
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