Miracle Mud Filtration: Snake oil or not?

[aninjaatemyshoe]

Has anyone been able to determine if miracle mud is anything more than an expensive iron-rich substrate to grow macro-aglae? The website claims that one of the biggest benefits of it is that it gradually provides essential elements for a reef system. The website does not provide a whole lot of information beyond proclaiming that it is an amazing solution to filtration. The fact that the website keeps information on this product rather vague makes me somewhat suspicious. On the one hand, I can see that they might not want to give too many technical details on how it works so as to avoid people copying it. On the other hand however, alot of what they say (like how 80% is oceanic mud and 20% is a trade secret) sounds a bit like snake oil.

I've read some posts from people on this site regarding this topic. Some people say that it is a scam and that it's composition makes it nothing special. I am not sure as to how thourough such an analysis is really though... just looking at the percent composition of different elements and compounds does not really give you a macroscopic view of how well this stuff works. The argument on the other side is from people who have used it and testify that their tanks are doing great. Now, this is all well and good but, at least in the filtration aspect of the mud, does this say anything about miracle mud specifically or does it testify to the use of macro-algae filters?

What I want to know is has anyone actually had experience with both the miracle mud system and another (perhaps home-made) refugium with macro-algae system? If so, have you noticed if there is a benefit of one over the other?

 

[Gallandro]

http://www.reefs.org/library/article/mm_analysis.html

 

[Drewcipher]

I put a HOB refugium on my 26g with MM in it. It said I should see results in 4 months, and I did. I had a somewhat bleached frogspawn, but it started recovering its color. The only thing is that my HOB refugium (the actual tank) cracked, as I have read is a problem. So I had to take it off before it fully recovered. I did not eliminate my skimmer when using this method as Ecosystem says to do.

 

[old salty]

I have been running this system for 5 months now. Whether or not it is "snake oil", let's just say the name isn't helping them out. Mike Paletta has written several articles on this system. Based on what he has to say, this stuff definately isn't snake oil.

My personal observations are............so far so good. Since day 1, my nitrates have been zero. In fact, I have found it almost impossible to grow culerpa in my fuge. I have placed over 20 strands in there at different times, and it has all but died back. There are a few strands left, but they are quite small. What this means I can't say. I haven't had any issues with water quality or a lack of growth from anything. About a month ago, I added a Deltec skimmer to my setup to see what would change. Within 24 hours, I noticed that my water was MUCH clearer. A few of my SPS corals really started to color up nicely as well. Not that they weren't growing but just didn't look as nice as they did pre-skimmer. My xenia and another soft coral that I don't know the name of have tripled in size since I first bought them four months ago.

I would say that it isn't snake oil, but it isn't exactly miracle mud either.

 

[daytonians]

I couldn't afford Miracle Mud. I put Mineral Mud in my refugium. My hippo tang totally recovered from head and lateral line disease. I had been tried many other things, but it worked!

 

[drmnbass]

aninjaatemyshoe,
I use a combination of MM and mineral mud and kent marine biosediment, no skimmer and my culerpa and mangroves go crazy. I have always had my nitrites and nitrates @ 0ppm.
old salty,
what kind of light do you have on your fuge? Not enough light could be a problem for yor Culerpa.

 

[old salty]

I've got a 65W floodlight (uses a PC type bulb; 175w equivalent.) It will temporarily blind you if you look at it. This is the second light I have tried over the fuge (the other being much dimmer) but still no luck.

 

[Boat]

I started my reef tank with MM but I've never changed it out like they suggest. My Caulerpa would grow thick as a brick if I let it, but I'm not using a skimmer which I think deprives the Caulerpa of nutrients. The only sps I have are relatively hardy. I'd probably add a skimmer if I got into more sps. Basically, what I'm saying is that, imo, it's the macroalgae not the MM that helps keep the tank so healthy.