Sand or Miracle Mud?

[Blazer88]

I got my sump/fuge up and running tonight and need to plan what else is going in there. What are the pros and cons of both Miracle Mud or live sand? Should I remove enough sand from the main tank to cover a few inches of the fuge? I have about a 3" sand bed in the main tank and could easily spare some for the fuge. I plan on having a good-sized chuck of LR in the fuge as well if that makes any difference. Thanks for your opinions.

I have never used Miracle Mud but sand will allow for sand critters. Hopefully someone will chime in, I'm not sure how well pods and such do in Miracle Mud??

How bid is the sump/fuge?? I'd add new sand... leave the sand in the tank alone IMO.

[Blazer88]

The actual water volume for the fuge is 14"x10"x8", which is about five gallons. Which type of sand should I buy? Should I also seed this new sand with a cup of sand from my display tank?

[Gryz]

Is there any fish in the main display tank? If you added non live sand to the fuge it would disrupt your cycle. But if no fish, then it doesn't matter. I like the idea of seeding.

[Blazer88]

I have two fish in the main display tank; Clarkii Clown and a 2-3" spotted Grouper. I was worried about adding new sand to the fuge. Maybe I can added smaller amouts of new sand to the fuge over a week to minimize the effects. I was going to go to the LFS and get a bag or aragonite and add a small amout to the fuge and snag a few cups from the main display. I was thinking that didn't sound too bad.

[FishinInTheDark]

Blazer, that sounds like a great plan.

I agree... sounds like a good plan. With that small of a refuge I'd only go a 1" or 2" on the sand. If you can go to your LFS and see if they will give you a cup of the rubble/debris off the bottom of their LR tank.

[MikeS]

Is there any fish in the main display tank? If you added non live sand to the fuge it would disrupt your cycle. But if no fish, then it doesn't matter. I like the idea of seeding.

Adding some non-live sand to a small 5 gallon fuge won't cause a cycle, nor should it cause any kind of significant bacterial flux. You are not adding more bioload or nutrients, all you are doing is adding additional surface area for bacteria to grow. A minor flux may result, but likely nothing worthy of concern. If your plan is just some sand and new piece of LR, likely all you will see out of it is a more rapid increase in nitrate production, nothing more.

As for the pods...fine substrates are not the direction you want to go. Pods don't live in the fine sand, they venture on to it at night to feed.

Here is what I'd do...go with an inch or two of a more coarse substrate, and maybe one or two small pieces of live rock, or no LR at all. This should create a nice environment for pods, as well as some additional aerobic filtration. Since the fuge will not get nearly the volume of solid waste as the main tank, detritus buildup won't be as significant of a problem, and the coarse substrate will be easy to clean.

Mike

[TranZ]

sorry to jump in here but i too have a question in terms of substrate in the fuge......how about crushing live rocks rubble into a fine sand....will that works? also as of now i have close to 50 lbs of LR in my tank and still have wet/dry filter with BIO BALLS, i'm building a sump and a fuge. shoul i wait to get another 50 lbs of LR or can i set up my sump and fuge but that means i have to remove my bioballs? or can i put my biballs in the sump for now? the will it still work if it submerge in water? i really want to get rid of it but i don't have enough LR as of yet. any comments or advice will be appreciated. thanks

[MikeS]

The substrate in my new 75 will be a 3-6mm crushed LR...

Crushed LR is good....lower phosphate than dry aragonite....it will be an excellent substrate...

Mike

[TranZ]

thanks mike ....i'll use the LR instead so what about the bio balls? can i take them out now or leave it the sump?

[MikeS]

remove the bioballs slowly over time, to avoid sending the tank into bacterial flux...

Mike

[Blazer88]

I started slowly removing the bio-balls a week before I added the new sump/fuge until they were all tossed. Now I was talking to the guy at the LFS (the start of all bad stories) and he said a subsrate isn't necessary in a fuge. They had a fuge running in the store that had tons of life in it without having any substrate; just the macroalgae. What about just keeping the macro and LR in the fuge? He was saying sand isn't necessary in a fuge and can cause excess phosphates, which I've been having a problem with.