mud - do you have to replenish? and a few other general questions

based on researching this site i intend to do 3" of mud, and 3" of oolite sand in my refugium. im still a newbie with only 3 weeks into the tank build so i have some questions that i didnt find answers to while searching.

what type of mud is recommended for a 75gal tank with a 10gal fuge compartment, and does it need to be replaced yearly? i read on one of the sites for eco systems miracle mud that one needs to replace 15% yearly. if thats the case i believe it would be a huge pain to have to scoop out the sand layer to get to the mud. so then i thought perhaps id put half the bottom of the fuge mud and the other half the sand and go 6" high of each but half the width if you follow. id plant the mangroves into the mud side and put a piece of live rock rubble on the sand side with some chaeto.

thoughts on how to put the mud and sand and which to go with?

im currently thinking im going with 2 cans of walt smiths fiji mud

also, if i were to go with the mud on the bottom and sand above it do i plant the mangroves root into the mud and wait for it to grow up and out of the sand layer?

as for inhabitants i was going to seed the fuge with copepods, put a bristle star, two snails, and two hermit crabs. if you feel i should have anything else let me know.

what type of 'maintenance' should be performed on the fuge? i think i just need to do the same basic things such as siphon the substrate at the same time i do a water change on the DT, change the bulbs every 8-12 months, and prune the macroalgae. beyond that i cannot think of anything else unless theres something i have to do with the mud.

thanks for your help in advance!;D

 

Most of the MUDs recommend some sort of replacement schedule to "replenish the trace minerals" there may be something to that but for the most part I beleive it's a marketing plan to increase sales.

on my sump I have an 1 1/2" layer of mud on the bottom and by wed will have a 3" layer of oolite sand over top of the mud. I have 5 mangroves that I will set on a piece of eggcrate a few inches over the sand and allow the roots to grow into the mud below.

the only 'maintenance' you should need to do is pruning the macro algea occasionally to keep it growing

 

I also have and use the Fiji Mud and have also heard the same thing about "replacing" the mud every yr. Not sure if this holds any truth or if its just a marketing plan to increase sales, but I've had the same mud for 2 yrs and so far so good.


luna

 

Perfect! Thanks for the help Luna/Telgar.

Only thing I have read regarding it is that the 'trace elements' that are originally present would eventually be completely leeched out of the mud and thats probably why they say to replenish.

Do you two dose your tanks with anything found in the mud? Did you notice you have to dose more now than before? Trying to get some idea if its BS marketing or not. I guess with a 2 year old system (Lunas) without changing any mud is good enough for me to rule out BS marketing

 

Before I ventured into the mud I also researched it and found the same result as you. But at the time, I had the money and said what the hell. Like I said before, so far so good, havent noticed anything wrong with my system. I will say this thou, it is a P.I.T.A. to work with and it must be another P.I.T.A. to remove it. The day that I must remove it, Im going back to sand.
I dont know if my mud has exhausted its trace elements or not, but I do dose Reef Solutions every second or third day.


luna

 

Thats why I was considering putting a 6"W x 4.5"L x 6"H footprint of it on the left of the fuge and a 6"W x 4.5"L x 6"H footprint of oolite sand on the right side of the fuge so if I ever had to replace it I could literally just scoop and replace with more sand. Because it looks like a p.i.t.a to work with. Thanks for confirming my suspicion

good to know. i will review that product and see what its for. i havent quite figured out yet what ill need to be dosing. my stock list is still incomplete too anyways. i havent even posted it yet for opinions