Miracle Mud?

[karpomatic]

I was wondering what the reviews are for Miracle Mud? Is it used only in the refugium or can you put it directly in the tank as substrate? Horror stories or praise? Do tell.

[Jenene]

I was wondering what the reviews are for Miracle Mud? Is it used only in the refugium or can you put it directly in the tank as substrate? Horror stories or praise? Do tell.

I just removed it from my sump. I am not sure if it actually did anything other than make a mess. I replaced it with Brightwell NO3 brick and just left the Java moss floating freely. With the amount of water changes we do with Discus the whole plant/nitrate removal thing seemed to be counter productive with the mud that was getting everywhere in the sump. I have learned you really want to keep things as clean as possible with the Discus. Just my personal opinion but I have not seen anyone here who loves it let alone would put it in their main tank as a substrate. That would be impossible to clean and I would think it would just foul your water and your filters and pumps.

Do you have substrate now? A planted tank? Just curious as to why you would want it in your aquarium.

[nc0gnet0]

Did some one page me?

[pitdogg2]

Did some one page me?

Sounds like a Primus album or song.....my name is mud...lol

[Ryan925]

Don't have any first hand experience using it but I know it's insanely expensive. It would cost an arm and a leg as a substrate. There are many other good options out there at a fraction of the cost.

Will this be your first discus tank? First planted tank?

I used eco complete when my tank was planted. My plants flourished but I ended up making a change in favor of the growth and appearance of my fish.

[karpomatic]

Don't have any first hand experience using it but I know it's insanely expensive. It would cost an arm and a leg as a substrate. There are many other good options out there at a fraction of the cost.

Will this be your first discus tank? First planted tank?

I used eco complete when my tank was planted. My plants flourished but I ended up making a change in favor of the growth and appearance of my fish.

I've not decided on a planted tank or not. This will be my first time with discus. I have kept 100+ gal salt tanks before and had lots of freshwater fish with live plants in the past. After being out of the hobby for about 10 years, I recently purchased a used 125 gal reef setup complete with a 40 gal refugium that I am going to use for discus instead. I am debating on which way to go. My thoughts are that if I plant the tank then what do I need the plants in the refugium for? I don't like the bare bottom look so I am leaning towards a sandy bottom with some driftwood to leave maximum room for the fish. I'm ditching the T5HO lights it came with and getting LEDs. After looking all over here, youtube, and some other forums, It seems some grass and shrimp in the refugium is the way to go. The substrate for the refugium was next on my list to figure out. I've seen Miracle Mud 2, Flourite, and others all mentioned. I am not setting this tank up until I have this all figured out so I'm in no rush. I want to learn all the new stuff so i do it right the first time.

[Ryan925]

I've not decided on a planted tank or not. This will be my first time with discus. I have kept 100+ gal salt tanks before and had lots of freshwater fish with live plants in the past. After being out of the hobby for about 10 years, I recently purchased a used 125 gal reef setup complete with a 40 gal refugium that I am going to use for discus instead. I am debating on which way to go. My thoughts are that if I plant the tank then what do I need the plants in the refugium for? I don't like the bare bottom look so I am leaning towards a sandy bottom with some driftwood to leave maximum room for the fish. I'm ditching the T5HO lights it came with and getting LEDs. After looking all over here, youtube, and some other forums, It seems some grass and shrimp in the refugium is the way to go. The substrate for the refugium was next on my list to figure out. I've seen Miracle Mud 2, Flourite, and others all mentioned. I am not setting this tank up until I have this all figured out so I'm in no rush. I want to learn all the new stuff so i do it right the first time.

That's exactly what I did. I removed all plants and gravel and went with sand and manzanita. The difference in my fish was night and day.

I am currently in the design process of a sump with a 40B I picked up.

I don't have experience with refugiums but from what I gather they have much more benefit in Marine applications. I'm sure if you did it right you can make it work for your setup. I would look into water sprite, water lettuce or pothos. I believe you can float all of those plants as well

Very smart deciding to plan it all first. Not everyone has that patience and winds up making a lot of changes.

[karpomatic]

That's exactly what I did. I removed all plants and gravel and went with sand and manzanita. The difference in my fish was night and day.

I am currently in the design process of a sump with a 40B I picked up.

I don't have experience with refugiums but from what I gather they have much more benefit in Marine applications. I'm sure if you did it right you can make it work for your setup. I would look into water sprite, water lettuce or pothos. I believe you can float all of those plants as well

Very smart deciding to plan it all first. Not everyone has that patience and winds up making a lot of changes.

Well, the patience is not really voluntary. I'm planning on moving in the next few months and I'm not setting this up until I'm settled.

[Ryan925]

Well, the patience is not really voluntary. I'm planning on moving in the next few months and I'm not setting this up until I'm settled.

Smart.

At least that gives you plenty of time to prep. You are doing your homework and that's key

Once you have it all setup up you will be starting on the right foot. Next important choice after that is starting with quality stock

[karpomatic]

I'm about a 90 minute drive from Discus R Us. That's most likely going to be my go to.

[Ryan925]

I'm about a 90 minute drive from Discus R Us. That's most likely going to be my go to.

Well there you have it. Always nice to be able to go pickup your fish. I live very close to Kenny so that's what I do

[Filip]

I was wondering what the reviews are for Miracle Mud? Is it used only in the refugium or can you put it directly in the tank as substrate? Horror stories or praise? Do tell.

Less Mud or any rich substrate you have anywhere in your system less troubles with water quallity and unwanted pathogens for your discus youll have IMO Karpomatic.
Thats why many discus tanks you see are either barebotom or just a very thin layer of plain and simple PFS sand. The simpler the better , when it comes to discus .

Good luck with your new home and your new upcoming discus .

[Willie]

I've not decided on a planted tank or not. This will be my first time with discus...

So you may not want to hear this, but the answer is implicit in your post. You've never kept discus before, so you're going to start with the most complicated system possible. Everyone here is suggesting something simpler, but you believe that your experience will be different from ours.

That's fine, but why keep asking for our opinion?

Willie

[Jack L]

I just removed it from my sump. I am not sure if it actually did anything other than make a mess. I replaced it with Brightwell NO3 brick and just left the Java moss floating freely. With the amount of water changes we do with Discus the whole plant/nitrate removal thing seemed to be counter productive with the mud that was getting everywhere in the sump. I have learned you really want to keep things as clean as possible with the Discus. Just my personal opinion but I have not seen anyone here who loves it let alone would put it in their main tank as a substrate. That would be impossible to clean and I would think it would just foul your water and your filters and pumps.

Do you have substrate now? A planted tank? Just curious as to why you would want it in your aquarium.

sorry for threadjack, but Jenene, would you post how this works out for you. just looked it up, seems a lot like matrix claims, and i never noticed a benefit from matrix on no3 as they claimed

[Jenene]

sorry for threadjack, but Jenene, would you post how this works out for you. just looked it up, seems a lot like matrix claims, and i never noticed a benefit from matrix on no3 as they claimed

The Jury is still out on this Jack. I wish I could give you a better answer but I have been tweaking so many things at once- I really don't know what to say. I have really been messing with the sump so much that I actually had an ammonia spike that caused some issues. I took the new driftwood out, although I don't think that was it. I have been cleaning the sump, because my filter socks were letting too much detritus by for some reason- Floating up a bit? Maybe cleaning a bit too much. I need to just leave everything alone but my Poret just came in- so I have to get that in. Also Swiss Tropicals is working on a solution for the sock compartment as I write this. Just getting better more accurate measurements from Eshopps. If anything I would have built my own sump. The Eshopps is built for reef systems and very hard to keep as clean as Discus require. So until I get that all reset I have no idea if the NO3 brick is working. Just too much going on right now. I promise I will post when I get everything back in line.