Collegeman's Mushroom Dominated Tank

[collegeman]

Hello,

I decided to start a mushroom dominated tank since they are my favorite coral. They are in a 5.5 gallon aquarium with a current usa 36 watt t5 ho light fixture, and a hob filter that came from a picotope. The livestock includes a bicolor dottyback and 2 snails. I plan on adding 2 nicely colored hermit crabs and of course more mushrooms. The pictures were taken with my samsung camera phone so the pictures does not do the colors of these mushrooms justice. I have a few other mushroom that i did not photo since they were a little ****ed.

The tank is topped off with a 1/2 cup of water daily and a weekly 4 cup water change using water from my other tank.

I will continue to update the thread as i add new mushrooms. Feel free to ask questions or make comments.

 

[collegeman]

 

[organism]

Nice! That's an amazing tank, do you have a FTS?

So many cool ones, I'm drooling

 

[sputer]

go , go , mushroom tank ...
we love mushroom ...

 

[skabooya]

Thats part of what im trying to do with my tank. Lots of various mushrooms and macro algaes. I currently have 9 different colour morphs of mushrooms. There are still so many I want. Your tank has some that I want
Love it.
FTS please

 

[collegeman]

This is the best i could do with the camera on my phone. I will be adding a few more morphs in a few weeks hopefully.

 

[Jmnazari]

Wow!!!! This is just crazy awesomeness! Do you glue down all the shrooms? Or are there some free floaters while others attach themselves?

 

[collegeman]

some are free floaters, glued, or already attached themselves.

 

[sassyfrassy]

That is a beautiful tank!!! I currently have FOWLR, and I started w/one mushroom frag which is now 11 shrooms, but they are small. Could you please list your parameters, especially cal., mag., alk. that is required for a mushroom tank? Also what spectrum lighting? Thanks, and congrats on the tank. Pretty soon you'll be selling shrooms with all the variety and colors you have - and I'll be your first customer!!!
Carolyn

 

[organism]

Great FTS! That's quite a selection

 

[Tiny7]

Very cool tank, I really like the small white shroom in the first pic in your second post.

 

[jbowen]

Your tank looks great! The pics are great for a camera phone.

 

[Ritten]

Beautiful tank! Have you ever thought of putting a black background on? That would make those colors pop even more.

 

[asid61]

Great tank. How much did it cost?

 

[collegeman]

Great tank. How much did it cost?

I do not know how much actual cash i spent on the everything. Some mushrooms were acquired through trades, purchases,as hitchhikers, or free.

Beautiful tank! Have you ever thought of putting a black background on? That would make those colors pop even more.

I do plan on putting a background on just haven't had the time to do so.

That is a beautiful tank!!! I currently have FOWLR, and I started w/one mushroom frag which is now 11 shrooms, but they are small. Could you please list your parameters, especially cal., mag., alk. that is required for a mushroom tank? Also what spectrum lighting? Thanks, and congrats on the tank. Pretty soon you'll be selling shrooms with all the variety and colors you have - and I'll be your first customer!!!
Carolyn

I do not test the water in the mushroom tank. The light is a 18inch 36 watt nova extreme. One bulb is 10000k and the other is an actinic. My first mushroom was a hitchhiker and now i am hooked.

I should have a few more mushrooms in next week and will post pics. This will probably be my last livestock purchase for a while.

 

[nanshaw2001]

Quite gorgeous! And fun......

 

[Sugar Magnolia]

I like it! It will look even more phenominal when they start to spread and fill in.

 

[collegeman]

Speaking of spreading. I decided to start dosing my mushroom tank and mixed reef with brightwell's coral amino and restor and one of the hairy mushrooms started to split. I do not know if maybe adding the supplements stressed or benefited the shroom. I think it was a benefit since my acans and lps look much better in my mixed reef. I had this hairy mushroom for almost 2 years without it making any babies and after 4 days of dosing it wants to split.
You can see the hairy mushroom in one of the FTS. The mushroom is located in the top left. I will post a pic of the split tomorrow.

I also ordered a lavender/blue tip hairy mushroom that i was looking for forever. I should have more coming in next week and will keep everyone posted.

 

[collegeman]

Here are some updates of new mushrooms

Green with white stripes

Green with blue tentacles

Lavender tip hairy mushroom(needs a little tlc)

red and blue rhodactis

Splitting hairy mushroom

new mushroom to the right of top splitting hairy mushroom

FTS 1

FTS 2

FTS 3

 

[BANDIT ANGEL]

Nice collection, I love shrooms too. You can consider adding LED lights enhance the colors of the shrooms.