mushrooms

Sea · #1 03/20/2002, 07:48 AM

I have small peice of rock I got from store the guy said every thing else died in tank excpt the small mushrooms on rock,there still there & still small how do I get them to grow, is there hope,this was about 4 months ago.

Guy · #2 03/20/2002, 10:05 AM

Assuming your water is excellent

Experiment with placing them in different parts of the tank. Nothing too drastic, just try to get a fel for the amount of light and water flow they prefer.

GoodgREEF · #3 03/20/2002, 10:17 AM

A picture would be great. Some mushrooms require additional feeding beyond photosynethsis. They all like calm water and a good dose of actinic.

Sea · #4 03/21/2002, 07:26 AM

thanks Ill try moving him, and feeding him more

Frick-n-Frags · #5 03/21/2002, 07:46 AM

Mushrooms are like the hard corals, in any given situation, some like it , some don't. Once they get happy, you'll know it.

Also, mushrooms tolerate a wide variety of light and flow. But if you want maximum expansion, keep the flow slow and the lights med/low so they have to reach for it a little bit. In high flow they hunker down and stay smaller. In bright light, when they have had enough, they shrink.

I really like my mushrooms. If you follow a few simple guidelines, like keep them away from the SPS, they are great. Colorful, hard-to-kill, EZ2-frag, what more could you want?

Sea · #6 03/21/2002, 07:50 AM

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GoodgREEF · #7 03/21/2002, 01:16 PM

It is kind of hard to see what they are exactly. The dark purple ones are deep water that is why they are dark. They use their dark colors to absorb as much available light as they can.

Mine sits on the bottom in low current and open twice as wide as he did towards the top. Don't worry about feeding them if they are smooth. They are simply photosynthetic or absorb disolved nutrients from the water. If they have polyps (noticable bump) they may take phytoplankton. (You can't go wrong with that stuff, unless you are not skimming!)

The Reef Tank Volume 1, By J. Sprung - "The only mushroom corals that normally take feedings are elephant ears." MOVING "Do not feed a newly intorduced colony for at least 14 days after you move them, and allow 7 - 14 days to see if any additional moves were successful"

GREAT BOOK!!!