What Do You FEED/SUPPLEMENT Your Mushrooms???

Kathleen · Feb 15, 2012

I have asked this question many times and have never got a straight answer, so I'm asking here. What do you feed/supplement your mushrooms. Mine don't seem to do that well. I love mushrooms and probably would have a whole tank full if I could get them big and healthy looking.

aquabull · Feb 15, 2012

Depending on the species, some do not like a lot of water flow (Discosoma), while others like Rhodactis and Riccordea like a little more. Too much flow and too much light will keep them small.
Supplement wise, ammino acids, and iodide dosing will help color and growth. Just be very sparing while dosing, most tanks only need about a fourth to a third of the recommended amounts.

-Logzor · Feb 15, 2012

I really don't think mushrooms need anything special, they're one of the least demanding an easy to keep corals. If you're having trouble, I would directly attribute that to too much light or flow as stated in the previous post. Of course stable parameters and correct salinity are important factors, too.

cdness · Feb 15, 2012

Fish poop and light... That's all mine got minus the little bits of coral food that fell their direction. Stable parameters, correct lighting and flow do help.

I did run into an issue where for 2 years I had 2 shrooms. Then over the course of the third and fourth year I all of a sudden had hundreds... It is wierd for sure.

Kbra · Feb 15, 2012

Solid water parameters and correct lighting and flow.

boehm742 · Feb 15, 2012

Never feed my shrooms and they do just fine!

Glenn · Feb 15, 2012

I don't target feed the shrooms, but I do feed the corals and I'm sure the shrooms take advantage of abundance of 'stuff'... nanochloropsis, oyster feast, cyclopeeze, and arctipods usually make up the weekly "soup" that I pour into the tank. Two MP40s, one MP10, two K2's, and a small offbrand powerhead (at the surface) stir everything up for 30-45 mins while the main pump is off.

Reef Pets · Feb 15, 2012

They seem to grow and multiply well by dosing iodine.

Kathleen · Feb 15, 2012

Hhhhmmmm I have never turned my pumps off. Maybe food gets filtered out too fast in my tank. Reef Pets...how much iodine and how often? Thanks for all your replies.

Kathleen · Feb 16, 2012

I got some Lugols today. I plan to see how that works. I also do a soup type stuff for my corals with oyster feast and some other stuff in it. I turned off the pumps one time when I was killing majano anemonies and forgot to turn them back on till the next morning. I lost a couple of fish and all my shrimp so I am scared to turn the pumps off. I don't know...will have to think about that.

Thom · Feb 16, 2012

Kathleen said:
I got some Lugols today. I plan to see how that works. I also do a soup type stuff for my corals with oyster feast and some other stuff in it. I turned off the pumps one time when I was killing majano anemonies and forgot to turn them back on till the next morning. I lost a couple of fish and all my shrimp so I am scared to turn the pumps off. I don't know...will have to think about that.

Use a cheap egg timer or three. That's what I did till I got my apex which turns my pumps off and back on when with a touch of a button

Glenn · Feb 16, 2012

I use the timer on the oven to remind me .. after too many times of pumps left off, RO left running, etc, I use the timer for almost anything that needs a reminder.

Kathleen · Feb 16, 2012

Wow the Timer is a good idea!

Kathleen · Feb 20, 2012

Reef Pets...How often do you dose iodine? How much?

Glenn · Feb 20, 2012

I just picked up a bottle of Lugol's Iodine - bottle says one drop per 25gallons, once a week ..... so that's my new schedule for iodine

Kathleen · Feb 20, 2012

Glenn...sure glad you posted. I read the directions wrong and have been doing it daily not weekly. Guess I will wait a week or so before I do it again.

Glenn · Feb 20, 2012

I'd do a water change! Iodine CAN be overdosed - I don't remember the issues but it's better to change some water and be certain.

Kathleen · Feb 20, 2012

Funny thing is, I thought my mushrooms were starting to look better.... Wonder if it hurts the fish...

sprinklerdudes · Feb 20, 2012

the best my shrooms ever looked,
I had a mated pair of clowns that
hosted a large group of green
mushrooms, they grew over 8 inches
apiecs tried target feeding, didn't seem to make any difference