Why aren't my mushrooms happy?

[visuvius]

Ok so I've got a 20 gallon tank with all sorts of live rock and 3 fish. A couple of months ago I decided I wanted to start adding some simple soft corals like mushrooms and polyps, and then later on I'd get some cooler stuff. So i went out and bought a 80 watt PC fixture.

In the tank right now i've got 2 mushroom rocks and 1 green polyp rock. The polyps are doing just fine, always open and lookin' good. My mushrooms however aren't doing that great. Once rock has 4 or 5 green striped mushrooms and the other rock has just 3 random ones. None of them get very big or open up, when in the LFS they were nice, large and open. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong.

I'm using Garf.org's Bullet Proof Reef recipe which uses a bunch of SeaChem additives and I also add Phytoplankton on a regular basis.

So really I don't know what I'm doing wrong. I don't have a skimmer, but water specs are a-ok and I do regular water changes.

I really love mushrooms for some reason and I'd like to put some really neat ones in my tank, but not if they're just gonna shrivel up and not be happy. Can someone please tell me what I can do to get my mushrooms thriving?

I can provide pics of tank if necessary.

One thing you might consider is moving them in a semi shaded area of the tank.. Most mushrooms are low light requiring, and they may just be shocked..????

The other thing is, do you have any nuisance algae? like hair algae? this can choke the shrooms and they will really be unhappy...If the water is good, and I mean 0 of Ammonia, Nitrite, and close to 0 on Nitrates and Phosphates, then I would check the PH and Alk as well as the Cal level, even though they don't use the Cal... The PH should be around 8.2 to 8.4 and the Alk should be 9 to 12 dK. Cal should be around 420 to 450 mg/L....

[alrmc4]

i think timbo nailed it with the lighting i have a mushroom on a rock that i just moved to my sump with some pep shrimp to eat the nasty anipistia (sp) off it and the mushroom is doing fine with way less light than was in the main tank.

[visuvius]

I thought they might need less light so about a week ago I moved them to a low corner of the tank that is sort of shaded by rock. I havn't seen any change yet.

I'm going to take a water sample to the LFS to have them test the ALK and Cal levels. Everything else is good. Oh, and I don't have any out of the ordinary algea that would be giving the mushroom trouble.

[loganizzi]

I am at exactly the stage as you. I just started getting into corals and I have a cluster of purple shrooms. I've had them for a few weeks and they opened but never completely. I decided to move them and picked a spot with a little less current then where they were. Later that same afternoon, they sprouted and are bigger then I had ever seen them before. They have been this way ever since.

Something else to consider.

[kidafius]

I have 384 watts over my 55 gallon reef, and my mushrooms have opened up perfectly. They were under MH at the LFS, and the red shrooms don't look as good as they did at the LFS. But I also have some green hairy shrooms, some metallic green, some blue-striped, and a mixed rock that are doing great.

[visuvius]

I guess really the only thing I can do is to keep moving them around the tank until I find a location that they like.

I'm getting a little frustrated -- the ^&*&^% don't seem to be responding to much of anything.

Edited by steve-s 08/21/03 11:07 PST for language

[BBReef]

we have two shroom rocks that are doing great under 260 watt pc's for a 60 gal tank. they are about mid level in the tank under direct light. when we first got them they didn't open up too much, but about a month later they started thriving, opening up bigger than we'd ever seen them, even when they were at our lfs. so maybe they just need a little time to acclimate. you may need to check the flow rate of your tank too. and that your lights are on for the right length of time

[reefrunner69]

I don't think you can overlight the shrooms (although it is possible to photo shocke them, any increase in intensity LFS tank to your tank...should be gradual), but too much flow will keep them closed.