Mushroom Corals are my first love ;)

[Andreas' Reef]

Admittingly, at first I had a hard time keeping mushrooms. Ive lost soooo many beautiful shrooms. I try and stay away from the wild colonies now. When I owned a store, it seemed like they lasted for about 6 months before withering away. So frustrating to see when you know your tanks are spot on. Now though, Im able to grow them beautifully! I just wish they would lay babies

When I first started with ricordeas I got placement completley wrong. I used to put the on the top half of the tank and everything. Then I tried placing one at the bottom, slightly shadowed and it grew like crazy!

 

[Lavey29]

Beautiful collection, do you find that different subspecies of shrooms can live in close proximity with each other even mixing together in colonies such as rodactis with yuma?

 

[rmorris_14]

Hi, My name is Katherine and I have a SERIOUS Mushroom coral addiction. My first collection started about 3 years ago and I cant stop myself. I literally want to collect them all lolol It would take a lot to post all that I have, but I think I have nearly 30-40 different ones. Here's a small sample of my favorites. I will continue to update this thread as my time in the hobby goes on. Please follow me along! Feel free check out my Build Thread for the details on my parameters and follow me on IG & FB for more photos

Hi Katherine… I like your style

 

[Kasrift]

Cool pictures! Curious to know if you have all the different types of mushrooms? I've been looking for more info on calgreni mushrooms, which seem to be a less common type. Are they rhodactis or discoma?

 

[Katherine Corals]

Cool pictures! Curious to know if you have all the different types of mushrooms? I've been looking for more info on calgreni mushrooms, which seem to be a less common type. Are they rhodactis or discoma?

I have a mix of both, rhodactis and discomas.

 

[Katherine Corals]

Beautiful collection, do you find that different subspecies of shrooms can live in close proximity with each other even mixing together in colonies such as rodactis with yuma?

I try and give everything some "breathing room" to not disturb their neighbors and hope that they will propagate sooner.

 

[Katherine Corals]

Thank you everyone for your kind words and following along! Here is another half dozen to keep you entertained
Follow me on FB and IG

 

[CoralB]

Admittingly, at first I had a hard time keeping mushrooms. Ive lost soooo many beautiful shrooms. I try and stay away from the wild colonies now. When I owned a store, it seemed like they lasted for about 6 months before withering away. So frustrating to see when you know your tanks are spot on. Now though, Im able to grow them beautifully! I just wish they would lay babies

Would you please share what the issues were and how you turned it around to achieve success ?

 

[Katherine Corals]

Would you please share what the issues were and how you turned it around to achieve success ?

I'd love to! So with buying wild colonies, I think they are extremally finicky and temperamental to lighting. I found that they do best under T5 hybrid lighting. When they first ship in, I treat them for 48 hours in QT. This QT process is a chemiclean mixture with heavy amino acids to fight away any possible infections/sickness they may have and the aminos help rebuild tissue. After the 48 hour treatment, I set them in a lower flow area under about 80ish par (right under a t5 fixture). Once I see they are doing healthy for a couple weeks, I slowly move them into a higher lighting and higher flow area. After a month, they end up being in a low/medium flow spot with about 120 par. The key principle Ive learned over the years, is to medicate and QT them when I see them looking sick. When first owning the store, I didnt ICP test as regularly as I do now, and tracking all my major and minor trace elements have been influential with my success.

 

[Koh23]

I wish that i have acess to such selection, plain red, blue and green are all that is available here....

Rarely some ricordeas, but again, just basic colors.....

 

[william Lutman]

I don't think you have any problem

 

[CoralB]

I'd love to! So with buying wild colonies, I think they are extremally finicky and temperamental to lighting. I found that they do best under T5 hybrid lighting. When they first ship in, I treat them for 48 hours in QT. This QT process is a chemiclean mixture with heavy amino acids to fight away any possible infections/sickness they may have and the aminos help rebuild tissue. After the 48 hour treatment, I set them in a lower flow area under about 80ish par (right under a t5 fixture). Once I see they are doing healthy for a couple weeks, I slowly move them into a higher lighting and higher flow area. After a month, they end up being in a low/medium flow spot with about 120 par. The key principle Ive learned over the years, is to medicate and QT them when I see them looking sick. When first owning the store, I didnt ICP test as regularly as I do now, and tracking all my major and minor trace elements have been influential with my success.

Thanks for sharing !! Are you using t5s throughout or a hybrid system ??

 

[CoralB]

Thanks for sharing !! Are you using t5s throughout or a hybrid system ??

Sorry I just reread your response and you are using a hybrid. So maybe I could ask you what T5s your using spectrum wise , and which LEDs ? Would love to see a readout of your latest ICP test and which brand of almond acids your using . Not asking much am I . Lol !!! Thanks in advance .

 

[Pico bam]

@Katherine Corals do you ever have a problem with mushrooms turning white at the base? This happens to me from time to time. They start floating away/bleaching and die? Ive lost thousands of dollars worth of shrooms to this. Mainly my og bounces and og godzilla yumas. @LRT Has a thread that pointed me in the direction of using ciprofloxacin witch is a antibacterial medication. Sounds like you use chemiclean? Why does that ring a bell? It also sounds like you have a good qt system in place. Has this happened to you? Or do I have bad shroom juju? Any help/advice would be appreciated I've turned to chalice corals because I've killed so many shrooms.

 

[CoralB]

@Katherine Corals do you ever have a problem with mushrooms turning white at the base? This happens to me from time to time. They start floating away/bleaching and die? Ive lost thousands of dollars worth of shrooms to this. Mainly my og bounces and og godzilla yumas. @LRT Has a thread that pointed me in the direction of using ciprofloxacin witch is a antibacterial medication. Sounds like you use chemiclean? Why does that ring a bell? It also sounds like you have a good qt system in place. Has this happened to you? Or do I have bad shroom juju? Any help/advice would be appreciated I've turned to chalice corals because I've killed so many shrooms.

Good question . I had a couple turn white after moving a tank and was told to try adding live zooxanthellae which some people swear by when they get stressed however it wasn’t a solution for me . I’m open to new info and suggestions if that should ever happens again .

 

[Katherine Corals]

Sorry I just reread your response and you are using a hybrid. So maybe I could ask you what T5s your using spectrum wise , and which LEDs ? Would love to see a readout of your latest ICP test and which brand of almond acids your using . Not asking much am I . Lol !!! Thanks in advance .

That's a great question and something I forgot to mention in my build thread! I use only blue plus T5 bulbs over my mushroom tanks. For LED lights, I really have grown to like the Orphek ICON. Ive used Kessel before in the past, and there was nothing wrong with Kessil, but I like the controllability of the Orpheks. Even Prior to the ICONs, I used the Orphek V4 panels. The setup to wifi was HORRIBLE and nearly gave up on it, but the customer service support was helpful and have owning a store before, they were very responsive to assisting me. Now that I have the ICONs, they are SO MUCH EASIER and very user friendly. I run a high UV and Blue spectrum around 80%, maybe 10% whites with 5% orange, yellow, and red during my high photo periods.

 

[Katherine Corals]

@Katherine Corals do you ever have a problem with mushrooms turning white at the base? This happens to me from time to time. They start floating away/bleaching and die? Ive lost thousands of dollars worth of shrooms to this. Mainly my og bounces and og godzilla yumas. @LRT Has a thread that pointed me in the direction of using ciprofloxacin witch is a antibacterial medication. Sounds like you use chemiclean? Why does that ring a bell? It also sounds like you have a good qt system in place. Has this happened to you? Or do I have bad shroom juju? Any help/advice would be appreciated I've turned to chalice corals because I've killed so many shrooms.

You and me both! Ive lost thousands of dollars in mushrooms.. Jaw Breakers still to this day, are my nemesis, I dont even try anymore lol
I feel that wild mushrooms are 50/50 shot in the dark whether they will last or not. Since Ive introduced my QT practices, my success ratio has gone up. When they fist arrive, I use a 15 gallon stock tank and do a Chemiclean treatment (10 scoops) with 25ml of Restore Aminos for 48 hours.
If problems like whiting out persist, or shrooms become unattached, I use a dip process - - Shout Out to that boiiii @Chumminghamsreefs for the master dip process: Ill post here below:
*5g container w/ proper heat and flow for a 6-8 hour treatment-
-500mg amoxicillon
-2,000mg Cipro
-half bottle of witch hazzle
-25ml Restore amminos
*Currently, I use a different Dip process, much simpler but more expensive:
-RTN/STN X : 40ml in a 5 gallon bucket for 6-8hours.

Hope this helps!

 

[CoralB]

That's a great question and something I forgot to mention in my build thread! I use only blue plus T5 bulbs over my mushroom tanks. For LED lights, I really have grown to like the Orphek ICON. Ive used Kessel before in the past, and there was nothing wrong with Kessil, but I like the controllability of the Orpheks. Even Prior to the ICONs, I used the Orphek V4 panels. The setup to wifi was HORRIBLE and nearly gave up on it, but the customer service support was helpful and have owning a store before, they were very responsive to assisting me. Now that I have the ICONs, they are SO MUCH EASIER and very user friendly. I run a high UV and Blue spectrum around 80%, maybe 10% whites with 5% orange, yellow, and red during my high photo periods.

Thank you for sharing this information that may help others , myself included . People like you willing to give personal experiences and information that can help preserve the success in this hobby . This to me puts you in the valuable member category and hopefully inhibit some of the people who leave the hobby due to lack of information which can lead to losses which in turn frustrates hobbyist into giving up .

 

[CoralB]

You and me both! Ive lost thousands of dollars in mushrooms.. Jaw Breakers still to this day, are my nemesis, I dont even try anymore lol
I feel that wild mushrooms are 50/50 shot in the dark whether they will last or not. Since Ive introduced my QT practices, my success ratio has gone up. When they fist arrive, I use a 15 gallon stock tank and do a Chemiclean treatment (10 scoops) with 25ml of Restore Aminos for 48 hours.
If problems like whiting out persist, or shrooms become unattached, I use a dip process - - Shout Out to that boiiii @Chumminghamsreefs for the master dip process: Ill post here below:
*5g container w/ proper heat and flow for a 6-8 hour treatment-
-500mg amoxicillon
-2,000mg Cipro
-half bottle of witch hazzle
-25ml Restore amminos
*Currently, I use a different Dip process, much simpler but more expensive:
-RTN/STN X : 40ml in a 5 gallon bucket for 6-8hours.

Hope this helps!

If you please just a couple of more question . Could you share your latest ICP test results and what salt do you use ? On your Orphek icon lights what is your schedule ? How long do you run high UV and high blues ? How long do you run the rest . I know I’m asking a lot but if you would also list your lighting schedule as well I would be grateful . Plus do you feed your mushrooms individual or broadcast and if so what are you using . Thanks again

 

[Katherine Corals]

If you please just a couple of more question . Could you share your latest ICP test results and what salt do you use ? On your Orphek icon lights what is your schedule ? How long do you run high UV and high blues ? How long do you run the rest . I know I’m asking a lot but if you would also list your lighting schedule as well I would be grateful . Plus do you feed your mushrooms individual or broadcast and if so what are you using . Thanks again

I would be delighted to answer more questions! Check out my build thread to fully understand my answers -
--My lighting schedule: I run the two systems on different lighting schedules, this helps me flatline my Ph (less of a swing). On the 300 gallon tank, I run par from 120-250. My white lights are at 15%, Blue lights 80%, UV lights 80% oranges, reds and yellows are 5%. On the bigger Hydroponic tub is my zoa growout collection. Par ranges from 90-150. My white lights run at 10%, blues 70%, UV 70%, reds yellows and oranges are 3%. On the smaller Hydroponic Tub is a mushroom bin. Par ranges from 70-120. White lights are 5%, Blues are 60%, UV are 60%, reds yellows and oranges are 3%. Each system has a ramp up and a ramp down of 1.5 hours. My high photo period times are 8 hours on the hydroponic tubs and 10 hours in the 300 gallon tank.
--As far as feeding, I have a HUGE amount of fish and love to keep them all happy by feeding twice a day, Nori with Frozen foods. I have some big poopers and believe that to be much of my success. I havent had to feed corals in the last two weeks, but if my NO3 and PO4 are low enough to where I can feed corals, I will spot feeding some while broadcasting others. The ones I spot feed are my Ancanthophyillias, Scolymias, Euphyllias and my mushrooms. Everything else (Chalices, zoas, goniopora ect.. ) gets whatever floats around in the water column after the spot feeding.
--ICP test: I will share my next ICP results on this page, so please continue to follow my journey