Propogating Shrooms

[derek_s]

So, I got this really cool Kryptonite/white shroom from Saltwater City last weekend, and I really look forward to it splitting. I'm not exactly a big fan of shrooms and I don't know much about them, but under a 20000k, actinics, and moonlights, this thing absolutely glows.

I was wondering, is it best to just leave it be and let it grow, or can you actually accelerate proliferation by fragging it out?

 

[cameron]

I would let it develop at least one more mouth before going at it with a razor blade. Once you got two mouths, you can hack one up and it will likely do just fine.

 

[derek_s]

Ah, ok. So that's basically letting it start the splitting process on its own?

Also, one more question, At night, after the lights go off, it likes to curl up, almost turning inside-out. kinda looks like a donut with the mouth sticking out of the hole. During the day, it looks fine and dandy. Why does it do this?

 

[derek_s]

Man, what a dumb@$$, I just noticed I spelled propagating wrong.

 

[cameron]

It is natural for shrooms to do this. I am sure some expert can chime in here, but I have dozens and many of them do this.

 

[cdub]

i find that shrooms do not like very much flow and will tend to split and leave a colony behind if you put them in flow.

 

[FutureInterest]

corvettecris;144697 wrote:
I was wondering, is it best to just leave it be and let it grow, or can you actually accelerate proliferation by fragging it out?

It is your call. You can definitely accelerate proliferation by fragging it out. Some people have been known to take some mushrooms and chop them up into lil bits and then just pour them back into the tank. I've even heard of reports of people putting them in a blender and then pouring the bits back into the tank. These things are relatively bullet proof like that.

G'luck.

 

[derek_s]

You know, I do target feed all my stuff, since I don't really have too much to contend with currently. I know it's not too big, but I have thought about setting up my 10 gallon mini tank as a kinda experimental prop tank. I'm a new reefer, so I think it would be an inexpensive learning experience. I'd like to try some simple stuff at first, like xenia and shrooms, just to see if I can accelerate growth in ways that I don't want to do in my LPS dominated main tank (higher nitrates, primarily I guess).

What do you think? Could I set up a 10 with a full spec light and successfully prop theses corals?

 

[derek_s]

That's what I was thinking. Could you use fluorescent bulbs, or would you actually need a marine PC? How many watts minimum, you think?

 

[derek_s]

Oh, and I'd probably run it like a nano. Just LR/LS, a whisper 40 filter for water movement, and weekly WC's to keep things in order. Is that legit?

 

[derek_s]

dawgdude;144780 wrote: Well see my problem with floursecent is that the amount of light that they put out in relation to size is extremely poor. In addition you need a reflector because half the light is pointed up....and you get the drift, stick with screw in PC's. Over a 10 gallon I would do a bulb like this:
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=5684723">http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=5684723</a>

or one of the ones similar to this that are a flood light because you will have little heat and wont need a reflector. Just check the spectrum on the bulb to make sure it is a daylight spectrum.[/QUOTE]

Yeah, that was what I was (erroneously) calling a fluorescent.

[QUOTE=]I'm sort of using my 20G upstairs as an "experimental" tank. I bought a cheap $60 PC light off EBAY, and that's all I have up there. It has 1 daylight and 1 50/50 bulb, for a total of 130W. I've learned:

some zoas really multiply better under the lower light.
the red/purple, plain mushrooms multiply faster under the PCs than under T-5s.
digi frags grow like crazy under pcs, but they are all brown.
my plate coral LOVES the PC light much better than the t-5s.
hairy mushrooms stretch out farther than under t-5s, but are skinnier, flatter, and not as pretty or as hairy as they are under the t-5s.
elongated xenia doesn't seem to notice the difference between pcs and t-5s and is about to get completely ripped out of my tank and given a burial at sea......[/QUOTE]Your comparison of T-5's and PCs is interesting, but I would think if wattage and kelvin are the same, the difference is negligible? Or is it? I'm running a 250W 20,000K MH and 2 65W Actinic PC's. I have mostly an interest in LPS (including a plate) and have wondered if I should just stop running the MH completely and work with the 2 PCs. I have all my LPS near the bottom and to either side of the light, but I obviously would like to optimize the environment.

 

[derek_s]

dawgdude;144788 wrote: Ditch the weekly WC's unless you want to prop SPS or something that has to have clean water. Almost ALL softies grow like MAD in high nutrient water. Most prop tanks for softies are DIRTY.

How dirty is safe? I'm guessing ammonia still zero, but nitrates around...20ppm?

 

[liverock27]

I read a thread over on RC about a guy using the blender method with several different types of mushrooms. He blended all the shrooms together and dumped them in the tank. From what I read he really didn't have that great of success with it, but he contributed it to chopping them up to fine and too much flow in the tank. I had success fragging rics by just cutting them up like a pizza. I put a small plastic bowl with a lid that I cut out the top in the tank with sand in the bottom. Then I put the rics on the sand and then put a piece of nylon mesh over the cup and placed the lid back over the top. This made it so the rics wouldn't be disturbed by any animals in the tank or be blown around by the flow in the tank. After about three weeks the rics had attached to enough sand that I could glue them on to rubble and pace them in the tank.
Let me know how the fragging comes along.

 

[derek_s]

dawgdude;144797 wrote: Lighting is WAY more complicated than just wattage and kelvin. For corals you have to take into consideration the invisible spectrums they utilize, the lumen output of a bulb, the par output of a bulb, and many other things.

Right, I understand to some extent that, but speaking in generalities, do PCs differ from T-5's that much, assuming kelvin and wattage are the same? The reason I ask is because both seem very similar to me, but I dunno.

 

[liverock27]

My setup was a 10g tank with a coralife 96w pc unit. I had a HOB filter and a heater and that was it. The rics started healing within the first couple of weeks in the cup. Some of the larger cuts took about 5-6 weeks to become "whole" again and some of the small cuts took over 2 months. I cut a few rics too many times and lost some of the smaller cuts and I think if I were to do it again I wouldn't cut them into more than three slices.
I think I might join in with yall and set back up the small tank. How are yall going to setup your small tanks? Are you going to use live rock and sand or set it up more like a frag tank with egg crate and bare bottom?

 

[liverock27]

I am thinking setting my tank back up but going with just a frag tank and using what I have laying around. I was thinking 10g with 96w pc light and a HOB filter and of course a heater. I would use the water from current setup when I do a water change this weekend and make up the rest of the water with new saltwater. I am just wondering if that would be enough filtration for the tank since there will be no biological filtering in this system. Any thoughts?

 

[derek_s]

I was thinking same as dawgdude, LR, LS, and a whisper 40 HOB for flow.

 

[pfritzbelly]

I have a fleet of riocordea yumas at the moment, the largest being about 4.5 inches in diameter. I have found that if I spot-feeding them small pieces of krill and the brine shrimp out of "Emerald Entree," they will drop fragments relentlessly. I started off with four about nine months ago and I am sure I have well over fifty by now. Many are dime and quarter-sized or better. I find them in every crevice of the "parent" colonies' rock and they have wandered over to other sections of the tank.

 

[derek_s]

Barbara;144824 wrote: Regarding T-5s vs PCs, I think the T-5s get better penetration through the water, and therefore more PAR (if I'm wrong, somebody chime in).
My plate is on the bottom of my 20G tank. I've heard plates like to be on the sandbed anyway. I'll snap a pic when the lights come on. You wouldn't believe how HUGE it is!

haha. I saw one at saltwater city this past weekend that was around 10" in diameter!

 

[derek_s]

dawgdude;144827 wrote: T-5's put out much more light because of the bulb design. The reflector is able to be RIGHT up against the bulb reflecting all the light down toward the tank. Additional HO t-5s are much brighter because of the ballast and wattage run through them.

Ok, so how do MH's compare? Advantages/disadvantages? I guess my real question is, if you have mainly certain types of corals (LPS in my case) is there generally consensus on the best light/s to use?