Mushroom Corals are my first love ;)

[Katherine Corals]

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 .

You have very kind words, thank you
I am very happy to help share my success, I dont hold any secrets and am willing to answer everyone's questions!

 

[CoralB]

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

Thank you

 

[Katherine Corals]

Happy New Years Eve!

 

[reefluvrr]

I am very happy to help share my success, I dont hold any secrets and am willing to answer everyone's questions!

Happy New Year!

Can I ask for suggestion for how much gallon per hour flow you think mushrooms like (to help grow larger, and keep the bounce inflated)?

From reading other posts, it appears poletti, electus, candy cane mushroom can show different colors as they mature. Do you see any other types of mushroom doing the same as they grow older?

People say hitting it with blue light gets the bounce developing. Any other tips or tricks to help develop bounce?

Thank you!

 

[Katherine Corals]

Happy New Year!

Can I ask for suggestion for how much gallon per hour flow you think mushrooms like (to help grow larger, and keep the bounce inflated)?

From reading other posts, it appears poletti, electus, candy cane mushroom can show different colors as they mature. Do you see any other types of mushroom doing the same as they grow older?

People say hitting it with blue light gets the bounce developing. Any other tips or tricks to help develop bounce?

Thank you!

Hi! Thanks for following along and engaging in the post. Ill try my best to answer.
Flow: Flow is a tricky one to explain. I dont have specific numbers, but I keep them shrooms on the sides of my tank, where flow seems to be more gentle. Most shrooms have a cup surrounding them when I first bring them in, and after a few weeks, I then take them out of the cup where they can receive more flow. I watch the bounce, to where if the flow is making an indentation on the bounce itself, flow is too hard. I look to get the bounce swaying, not blowing. (Hope that makes sense)
For Lighting, I run both my blue and UV spectrum higher. I believe it is the UV that actually gets the bounce a bit bigger, while the blues color them up. After a month or two, I do notice more colors coming in. This could be because they finally acclimated after shipping, or it could be due to the lighting parameters I have set.

 

[reefluvrr]

Hi! Thanks for following along and engaging in the post. Ill try my best to answer.
Flow: Flow is a tricky one to explain. I dont have specific numbers, but I keep them shrooms on the sides of my tank, where flow seems to be more gentle. Most shrooms have a cup surrounding them when I first bring them in, and after a few weeks, I then take them out of the cup where they can receive more flow. I watch the bounce, to where if the flow is making an indentation on the bounce itself, flow is too hard. I look to get the bounce swaying, not blowing. (Hope that makes sense)
For Lighting, I run both my blue and UV spectrum higher. I believe it is the UV that actually gets the bounce a bit bigger, while the blues color them up. After a month or two, I do notice more colors coming in. This could be because they finally acclimated after shipping, or it could be due to the lighting parameters I have set.

Hi Katherine,

Thank you very much for taking your time to share your knowledge.
When you mention UV; does that mean actinic 420nm or actually true UV below 400nm range?

Thanks!

 

[Katherine Corals]

Hi Katherine,

Thank you very much for taking your time to share your knowledge.
When you mention UV; does that mean actinic 420nm or actually true UV below 400nm range?

Thanks!

You're very welcome!
UV as a setting on the Orphek ICON setup, in accordance with spectrum

 

[Katherine Corals]

Hi Katherine,

Thank you very much for taking your time to share your knowledge.
When you mention UV; does that mean actinic 420nm or actually true UV below 400nm range?

Thanks!

If I were working with T5 bulbs only, I would run Blue Plus

 

[reefluvrr]

I am using led now. Do you find a difference between T5 vs LED on the shrooms?

 

[Katherine Corals]

I am using led now. Do you find a difference between T5 vs LED on the shrooms?

I have one tank set up with LED only, and another set up with T5 Hybrid. The shrooms set in the hybrid lighting system seem to do better. There could be other variables however, like the sand bottom or flow that make the difference. When I ran a store, I only used LED only and they did great there.

 

[El Reeflero]

Those shrooms are insane KC! Like you, I've got a mad shroom addiction. Have a small collection but my nano is devoted to them. Awaiting arrival of my first j-breaker. Already have a Candy Crush and a few others. I've often thought of how cool it would be to have a representative of every iteration in existence...sort of a shroom repository. One day perhaps. For now I'll keep enjoying that which I have now and others. Keep posting them shrooms!!!

 

[El Reeflero]

My Candy.

 

[Katherine Corals]

Follow me on social media!

 

[Katherine Corals]

I am using led now. Do you find a difference between T5 vs LED on the shrooms?

I use a combination of both in a hybrid lighting system. I use Blue Plus t5 bulbs, with Orphek LEDs. I have a 70 gallon tub that is strictly LED and find that the shrooms like it better in my 300 gallon frag tank that is the hybrid lighting system.

 

[CoralB]

I use a combination of both in a hybrid lighting system. I use Blue Plus t5 bulbs, with Orphek LEDs. I have a 70 gallon tub that is strictly LED and find that the shrooms like it better in my 300 gallon frag tank that is the hybrid lighting system.

Is it a two bulb or four bulb t5 hybrid and are you able to adjust intensity in the T5 system ? How mach wattage is the unit , name of the hybrid unit could prove helpful Etc.

 

[Katherine Corals]

Is it a two bulb or four bulb t5 hybrid and are you able to adjust intensity in the T5 system ? How mach wattage is the unit , name of the hybrid unit could prove helpful Etc.

Have a look at my build thread! I have 3 Orphek iCon LED panels hanging over the 300 gallon frag tank, and between each of them I have a 2 bulb T5 fixture hanging with Blue Plus Bulbs. They are one intensity, and lights are on for 6 hours scheduled from a 5$ timer from HD.

 

[CoralB]

Have a look at my build thread! I have 3 Orphek iCon LED panels hanging over the 300 gallon frag tank, and between each of them I have a 2 bulb T5 fixture hanging with Blue Plus Bulbs. They are one intensity, and lights are on for 6 hours scheduled from a 5$ timer from HD.

My bad , I did see that before . Sorry

 

[BossChief]

It seems we have a similar appetite/addiction for shrooms. What shrooms are you still on the hunt for and do you have any nice Biohazards? (Paul Kammerer on Facebook).

 

[Katherine Corals]

It seems we have a similar appetite/addiction for shrooms. What shrooms are you still on the hunt for and do you have any nice Biohazards? (Paul Kammerer on Facebook).

Hey Paul, yeah shoot me a message on FB!

 

[Katherine Corals]

Hello everyone Thank you for following along..
Tonight's topic in "Mushroom Corals are my First Love" I thought I'd share how I split my mushrooms!
Recently, I split my Flash! (See Picture)
For the most part now, I like to allow nature to take her course and wait "patiently" for the shrooms to leave behind babies. I do motivate natures process by glueing frag plugs upside down all along the foot of the shroom and then turn the mushroom 180 degrees against the flow every few weeks-months to motivate it to move around the glued frag plugs and leave behind a baby. BUT, every now and then, I get a mushroom that just gets really big, no matter how I turn and move her against the currents to induce the "baby laying" process. Some of my mushrooms refuse to lay a baby behind! The Flash, is one of those shrooms for me. So, this is how I frag it.
I take a small width rubber band and wrap it perpendicular across its mouth for 24-48 hours. After this time period, I take the mushroom out of the tank and use a sterile blade to finish cutting what the rubber band has not split. After the surgical procedure, I use the band saw to split the tile, and glue each new shroom to a new tile. The shrooms are then placed in a QT bin mixed with chemiclean, iodine, and ammino acids for 24-48 hours. After the QT treatment, they are placed back in the tank in their respective spots and monitored. If any signs of stress, or infection appear, I re-QT them.
Hope you've enjoyed this write-up! The Flash pictured is looking for a new home! I have several mushrooms in my collection if youre ever looking for something, PM me or find me on FB and IG @ Katherine Corals