Miracle mud

[reefboy]

I started a reef tank in January and bought all the equipment suggested by my local aquarium. One of the things they recommended was "miracle mud" which sits in the refugium part of my sump and is where the macro algae grows. What is miracle mud? As far as I can see the algae is just floating in the sump, so I wondered what it is actually doing to help the system?? Could I be doing things better?Should the algae be "planted" in the mud?

 

[Navarre]

Algae will do better if its planted in the mud but its not essential.
What miracle mud does is to release iron (among other eliments) into the water and this really helps macro algae grow alot faster.

As a sidenote here, miracle mud is very good but far too overpriced. If you can get your hands on "mineral Mud" then you should be able to get it for half the price of Miracle mud. It does exactly the same thing.

 

[reefboy]

Ah, thanks for that. I guess next month my system will have been running for 6 months and the first change of miracle mud will be upon me. Ill look out for mineral mud instead.

Will also see if I can get the macro algae to take root in the bed.

Is it a good idea to try to get several types to grow...there is only one type there at the mo? (unsure of type...it has branches like ferns and each finger ends with a bubble!)