Anyone own a mushroom tank??

[Lilgrasshopper]

I'm just ordered about 16 different mushrooms for my 75gal tank....tired of LPS..keeps dying on me. I wonder if anyone has a mushroom galore tank.

[Duce]

One of my friends seh has pretty mushroom tank...In it she has the red variety which covered almost everything and an umbrella leather...

[clowdy]

my lfs has one that has the most unbelievable mushrooms you have ever seen. they seem to do really well with no other corals to compete with. some of them are so big that they even have a clown which took one as a host. i wish i could get you a pic, you'd be very impressed!

[Fishotch]

i saw some locally that would make me consider it, they were a great green that was glowing under the vho, and were hairy, with the "hairy bits" being a greyish white. the nicest ones were 4 or so inches across. I think it would be a pretty cool tank. The reef tanks at the baltimore aquarium had some large areas that were mushroom colonies that looked really nice as well. Post pics when you get it going. (maybe add some zooathinds for variety)

[marcq]

No, but I'm thinking about trying to turn my seahorse tank into a mushroom tank. I think it is a neat idea plus you can make some good defraying money spelling mushrooms. They grow like crazy, especially if you cut up a few sacrificial ones.

If anyone has some prize mushrooms in the Oregon/Washington area I'd love to trade, BTW.

Mushrooms are a gift to reef keepers: beautiful and hardy as hell.

Marc

[puff the magic fish]

It didnt start that way, but I do have a mushroom tank.

I decided to cut up a few shrooms that I have growing in my 29gal, and now they have overrun the tank, there are a few dozens. They are hearty and spread like the plauge after they get established.

puff

[Lilgrasshopper]

What's the best way to keep mushrooms? I have 2 175 watt MH 14,000K for lighting and not alot of turn over, although I have 2 MJ900 powerheads (one in the back and one infront blowing accross the tank. Do you need to feed the mushrooms? Do they prefer "dirty" tanks or nutrient deficient tanks? Does DT phytoplankton help their growth? Is iodine a must or can I just keep using my C-balance? Thanks for any help.

[Tagamet]

Lilgrasshopper,
How tall is a 75? You should have PLENTY of light regardless. Gentle current to keep debris off and a stable tank (al the normal stuff) and they'll do great. Although considered a beginner's coral, mushrooms are great fun and there is such a variety, that you can create a beautiful display with them. I too, would throw in some button polyps, which are pretty and very hardy.
Just my .02
Tag

[Lilgrasshopper]

I do have a green button polyp and 3 or 4 different kinds of zoanthids. I'm hoping to get a blue zoanthid but that's hard to come by. I saw this orange florida ricordea at this restaurant...so nice. Where in the world can I find that? BTW, my tank is 24" tall and 42" long and 18" front to back.

[Tagamet]

Whew, you might find that the mushrooms want to grow on the SIDES of your LR (vertically) with all that nice solar energy (g). I think the buttons will go nuts (in a good way). I, too, would love to find some more colorful ricordia. I have a ton of brown, but it's hard to get the more colorful ones.
Tag

[Afishianado]

Zoos will lose the war with Shrooms in the long run. But hese are great beginners specimens. All colonial anemones have similar requirements and are fairly easy to keep.

Chris

[Frick-n-Frags]

I have about half of a 55gal long "junk box" full of mushrooms. I always grab a weird mushroom when i see it and I accept all mushrooms at frag swaps.
Now I have about 20 different colors and color patterns. There are some cool ones at an LFS I would like to get, they are orange with iridescent blue dots. I like my sky blue ones and the bright metallic red ones(which don't grow worth a darn for me, I'm dying to frag them)the best.

[Tagamet]

Hi F&F,
I finally got up enough courage to try to frag some of my 'srooms and ricordia, but even though I made several cuts, right down to the rock. it seemed like they "healed" over night. They're as if I never touched them Sounds like you've had a lot of success fraggin. Any suggestions?
Tag

[reeferaddict]

Hey guys..Try etropicals.com for some of the different colored ricordia. I ordered a small rock w/ about 6-8 good sized green ricordia polyps for $15. I know that they also have the orange variety. About half of my ricordia shrooms decided that they didn't like the others, so they jumped ship. They settled down in diferent spots, and now I have several patches developing all around the tank.:p

[Jimbo]

My 7 gallon bowfront nano is pretty much a mushroom tank. They do VERY well in there under just a 32 watt PC.
Cheers
Jim

[seasquirt]

I posted some pics of the shrooms at the Baltimore Aquarium in another thread (but all the pics are pretty cool; one of my friends took them):

http://archive.reefcentral.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?s=&threadid=59939&highlight=Baltimore+Aquarium