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[johnmaloney]

what page is this? got to check this out. by the way basille I may have your acetabularia. first of summer, it has a qt process to go. maybe shouldn't say anything they often fall prey to amphipods during this process. I need a guard fish....

[degibson84]

is the mud able to go over the sandin my fuge???

[johnmaloney]

yes, but ideally it would go underneath. your results would be much better that way.

[degibson84]

i already have the sand in there though.

also i sent you an email a few minutes back

[Basile]

Originally Posted by johnmaloney

what page is this? got to check this out. by the way basille I may have your acetabularia. first of summer, it has a qt process to go. maybe shouldn't say anything they often fall prey to amphipods during this process. I need a guard fish....

Click on my answer page where it says macro algae club, in green. lol in front of your nose lol.

[johnmaloney]

i will check the email, got a few while i was out and i was working my way up.

i saw the thread, but it is long, let me see if it gives me a certain page this time basille....

[Basile]

Originally Posted by degibson84

is the mud able to go over the sandin my fuge???

OHHH for god sake no. Your mud goes underneath your sand, or any , ANY and i mean any movement in the water will cause a cloud for days, i'm not kidding been there done that, lol. Take your sand out and put your water into a bucket and do the transfert,your mud first, you will thank us for that one later on beleive me. Mud at the bottom. lol i'm going nuts here got 15 replies ahhhh its crazy.

[Basile]

Originally Posted by johnmaloney

i will check the email, got a few while i was out and i was working my way up.

i saw the thread, but it is long, let me see if it gives me a certain page this time basille....

Yes when i study ; i make a point of going all the way. LOl.

[Basile]

Originally Posted by johnmaloney

can always add.. I am going to join in the madness now see what you are building...

I'm jalous here check mine too lol

[BigJay]

John do you mind elaborating on the mud at all? I've contemplating taking mud from several feet under the surface layer of mud here in the estuaries but I'm deeply concerned about adding some sort of dormant algal spore or even disease.
I dearly want to change the 5" DSB in my 6g fuge to a mud substrate so i'd appreciate as much information as you can as well as pricing. One thing in particular if you know pretty much what the make up is of the material in the mud (like primararly aragonite) ? Thanks.

[Clownfish518]

I'm interested in the mud as well.

[Basile]

i have mud in my tank but i'm interested in the good and bad of it too.

[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...

[Clownfish518]

Thanks John. I was thinking of doing a seagrass display tank and mud was one of the things I was thinking about. So, how to do utilize your mud in my bed? Because unless it is very cheap, I doubt I could afford to go all live mud to the depth I need. No rush, the build is still a ways off

[yungreefer2410]

don't you have to change out mud every 6 months or so?