[johnmaloney]

Hi Jay - assuming it isn't protected (if you are in FL it is) give it a shot and let us know how it goes I guess. If it is very compact you may have to look out for anoxic issues. Would think in the estuaries too a lot of tannins...

Our mud starts with a dry fine sand mix that is used in our systems. It then becomes live. The sand from the halimeda tank which is constantly exposed to hundreds of halimeda going in and out develops a layer of halimeda hash, the calcerous skeleton of halmeda. Makes really nice sand, but we are muddying it up for the calcium boost. (Want to grow those caps and brushes in it). It is then placed in a mud tank, that contains a holding tank for extra algae. Dying algae is allowed to decompose in this tank because the nutrients fuel the rest of the algae in the tank. Without going into a trade secret step here, the sand is allowed to mature until it begins changing color. Process takes about 2 months maybe. First batch ran longer b/c we changed it around a little. Crushed shells of various sizes are mixed into the batch to give it a lighter textured quality which allows better root penetration, prevents anoxic problems, while maintaining a high bacteria density environment. Surface area per volume in this mud is very high versus sand because of the fine sand areas that the shells do not take much away and the additional protection they bring made us decide to go that route. What we tried to do is create a product that has lots of compact mud compartments that would have good denitrification ability, but would have areas of water transfer. I think that is what we have achieved. We have some shipping testers that have to receive the product first, can't really duplicate that in the warehouse and then it will be available.

So in short, because of a composting process that involves a variety of algae, a sifting and a grading process fine dry sand is aged and turned into mud, and then mixed with crush shell to a desired consistency. It contains nutrients to grow rooted plants, but has such a high bacterial capacity nitrates in your tank will also go down, at least after initial shipping die off is taken care of if a new setup etc...