New Mushrooms

[allykahn]

I was in the process of upgrading my lighting for mushrooms, polyps, etc, when a relative shipped some mushrooms and polyps to me since he had to move. I am currently running NO lighting (120W on a 72x18x18 FOWLR tank). I ordered some vho's, but they have not arrived. My questions are:
1. Do I need any additives and which brands?
2. What is best to feed them and when?
3. How do I adjust the current lighting NO to VHO? (I will use the NO bulbs for dawn/dusk transition)
4. Will they be ok until the new lights are set up?

I am really thankful for those can help.

[minh_han]

I am relatively new to reefing, and I only have a few mushrooms, but I can give a few suggestions from my limited experience.

VHO's are a lot brighter than NO's, so I would suggest slowly acclimating your tank to the higher light. Either change one bulb at a time, or shorten the daylight hours and then gradually increase them over time. That way your corals won't get burned.

The mushrooms can do well in a wide variety of lights, so I think they would be fine until the VHO's come in.

Do a search on feeding mushrooms. You'll find a bunch of info. Some people do nothing, some use DT's, I spot feed them with fish food and they close up around the food like a drawstring. It's pretty cool.

There's a BIG debate right now on using additives in the tank, mostly b/c of Dr. Ron's experiment. Do a search on it and see. When it comes down to it, there are a million ways to do things and a million reasons why. You have to just end up going with your gut and trying it out. How's that for a non answer? I personally don't dose anything other than kalk, but I might start dosing iodine for my xenia that hasn't ever done well since I got it a week and a half ago.

HTH

[Bryan Thompson]

Originally posted by allykahn
I was in the process of upgrading my lighting for mushrooms, polyps, etc, when a relative shipped some mushrooms and polyps to me since he had to move. I am currently running NO lighting (120W on a 72x18x18 FOWLR tank). I ordered some vho's, but they have not arrived. My questions are:
1. Do I need any additives and which brands?No you do not need additives
2. What is best to feed them and when? brine or mysis shrimp and right before you shut the lights off.
3. How do I adjust the current lighting NO to VHO? (I will use the NO bulbs for dawn/dusk transition)Start out with the new VHO for 4 hours a day then increase weekly by one hour until you get to your desired photo period.
4. Will they be ok until the new lights are set up?Yes

I am really thankful for those can help. See above in Red. Hope This Helps

Bryan

[allykahn]

minh_han and Bryan, Thanks for your replies. I picked up The "Aquarium Corals" book to provide more information. Are there any other books, etc. that you recommend?