Mud in fuge?

[lagunastudio]

Hello, can I get a little advice please? I am running a 24" fuge with 3lbs of live sand from Premium Aquatics then on top of that 3 lbs of 'Crude'. They shovel what they call 'crude' out of a giant reservoir that has all different types of life. You essentially end up with mud and rocks and whatever that is along for the ride. I'm starting to have second thoughts about mud in the refugium. The problem came when I put macro in the fuge some of it drifted to the bottom and broke off, dying in the mud substrate. I'm afraid this is causing my nitrates to increase. I've been trying to get as much of the dead macro out but it is very difficult sifting through mud.

 

I'm considering taking all of the mud out and leaving the sand if possible. Here is a photo of what my fuge looks like, you can see a some dead / dying chaeto in the bottom. What would you do?

 

 

[Skywarp]

Is your main tank actually suffering? I would probably leave it as is. A bit of macro die off isn't as bad as some might lead you to believe. Keep up with your water changes and it should all be cool.

[lagunastudio]

nope display is fine ereything seems to be looking good. But I do have a bit of a cyno outbreak right now - since I put the mud in.

[andrewguilfoy]

I know Mud contains an abundance of nutrients. The spike could have caused a little cyano outbreak.

[lagunastudio]

Maybe that is why my nitrates have gone up, I've been stressing the orange.. was getting straight yellow for weeks on my nitrate test.. changing filtration methods can be tricky.. also beware if you ever do mud it clouds the tank when you're starting out and the bacteria eats the oxygen causing ph to drop.. My ph went way down I had to do a major water change.

[Radixx]

I had this, and it causes problems slowly over time until it gets really bad. Phosphates will go through the roof, keep the rubble, get rid of the mud all it is is dead matter