Shroom Frag Tank

[Jiddy]

If you had a shroom specific tank, how would you set it up. I ask because after doing some research I see that shrooms not only tolerate but prefer a "dirtier" water than most corals (explains their beginner hobbyist success rate). Im curious to see if a successful shroom tank could be setup with no skimmer and an easier maintenance routine. Would like to hear some opinions and comments on the matter.

 

[docalatamu]

whatever you do, I would use VHO lighting

mushroom numbers seem to explode under VHO lights

 

[Jiddy]

Now besides fixture overheating. Would it hurt the corals to have 24 hour light on them?

 

[ocellaris123]

I know plants have a light saturation point, and think corals may have one too. I wouldn't light for 24 hours. After a 10 hours of MH lighting my shrooms seem to shrink.

 

[brutus13]

I wouldn't recomend running your lights 24 hours. I think it would stress out the corals too much

 

[Goodwin9]

I run the T5's eight hours a day on my cube and the ricordeas are doing great. No skimmer, and the water parameters are better than any of my other tanks.

 

[Jiddy]

Nice shroom tank Chuck, do you use a powerhead at all?

 

[1DeR9_3Hy]

A 24 hour photo period with corals will lead to bleaching, then disappearance of corals lol.

Nice ric's btw

 

[Goodwin9]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15030165#post15030165 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Jiddy
Nice shroom tank Chuck, do you use a powerhead at all?

No powerhead, just two returns from the sump/refugium about 200 GPH.

 

[blaze2]

goodwin9 would you be able to tell us a bit more about your set up just a bit of every thing really like tank dimensions, how many bulbs, watts etc

or do you have a tank journal anywhere
thanks

 

[Goodwin9]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15050277#post15050277 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by blaze2
goodwin9 would you be able to tell us a bit more about your set up just a bit of every thing really like tank dimensions, how many bulbs, watts etc

or do you have a tank journal anywhere
thanks

The tank is 36x24x12 made out of 3/4" acrylic. I built my own lighting canopy using the 36" 6x39W SLR T5 High-Output Retrofit Kit from Ice Cap. I have the tank tied into a 35 gallon sump/refugium which I use on my 75 gallon QT tank.

 

[madean]

I set up a ric only tank. I started out with 10 and had up to 80 within a few months before one day all but 2 melted away and died. I had t5 lighting, which works great for these guys. I would pay special attention to the temp. I learned very quickly that these guys do not like the temp over 80. The days leading to the disapointing event, my tank temp reached as high as 83 degrees.

 

[madean]

Chuck IMO has agreat setup for a shroom tank. Another thing you need to watch is flow. You will need good flow without strong current! figure that one out. You want enough flow to not aid in algea growth but not enough flow to blow your shrooms around. Its a tough balance. You will hear a lot of people say that shrooms like a "dirty tank". That is fine as long as you let the shrooms divide them selves. If you are "helping them" like cutting them in half or more, you might want to reconsider that dirty tank idea. If the tank is dirty you will risk greater mortality IMO and experience. The shrooms are already stressing out alot trying to repair themselves let alone have to deal with "dirty water".

 

[madean]

oh and if you are doing rics, I would not split anymore than half. The recovery rate is fast and usually with in month they are almost back to the same size assuming your methods are sound.

 

[madean]

last post. chucks tank is great but i would advise against doing anything esle than shrooms. I see zoos and other things. The zoos especially because of the toxin release. Some might not think so but not having a skimmer in that small of a tank with a possible toxin release might be a bad idea. The only other thing that can combat the toxin release, especially if the zoos are fragged, is carbon to my knowledge. So if your not running a skimmer i would run carbon, and if no carbon well good luck and I hope nothing ever happens. So my advice- get a skimmer and one that is rated for like 1.5 times the size of the tank, and a chiller. there is nothing like loosing a thousand dollars worth of rics when i could have spent 3-500 on a chiller, let alone time lost. you will learn a lot.

 

[Goodwin9]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15061132#post15061132 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by madean
last post. chucks tank is great but i would advise against doing anything esle than shrooms. I see zoos and other things. The zoos especially because of the toxin release. Some might not think so but not having a skimmer in that small of a tank with a possible toxin release might be a bad idea. The only other thing that can combat the toxin release, especially if the zoos are fragged, is carbon to my knowledge. So if your not running a skimmer i would run carbon, and if no carbon well good luck and I hope nothing ever happens. So my advice- get a skimmer and one that is rated for like 1.5 times the size of the tank, and a chiller. there is nothing like loosing a thousand dollars worth of rics when i could have spent 3-500 on a chiller, let alone time lost. you will learn a lot.

I keep the tank temperature at 78 degrees with a drop in chiller. I run a TLF phos reactor 24/7. I like to run a little reactor of carbon a few days each month, and do water changes every 4 weeks. All seem to keep the ricordeas happy and growing. I still test the water once a week, but always find that the numbers in this system, better than any of my other tanks. Makes for a pretty easy system to take care of.

 

[madean]

goodwin- do you "help" your rics split or do you let them split naturally? What type of media do you run in your phos reactor? I think, IMO, you hit it on the head with the temp control. I think it is crucial for rics or LPS for that matter. Also do you feed your rics and what food if so. I have noticed that they are quite messy as far as waiste.

 

[Goodwin9]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15061323#post15061323 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by madean
goodwin- do you "help" your rics split or do you let them split naturally? What type of media do you run in your phos reactor? I think, IMO, you hit it on the head with the temp control. I think it is crucial for rics or LPS for that matter. Also do you feed your rics and what food if so. I have noticed that they are quite messy as far as waiste.

I have split a number of the multi mouthed ricordeas, leaving each piece with a single mouth. I have not tried taking a single mouth ric and slitting it by cutting through the mouth. I have to run chillers on all of my tanks and since this one is in the basement where it is warm, it didn't take long to realize that this system needed one also. I don't feed the tank on a regular basis. I will ocassionaly throw in a little clyclopese, or DT's phytoplankton, or frozen mysis. I can't really tell if it has any effect on them, but I am pretty sure it won't hurt.

 

[madean]

I have fed the same and its hard to tell if they are eating it besides the mysis. You can see them eating that. I have cut like you, and in half through the mouth and also in quarters through the mouth. Anything more than half IMO significantly decreases the chance for survival. In half seems to work fine for bothrics and yuma. I have talked to many experienced ric farmers around the world and they all seem to have about 95% or higher succes rate with cutting in half through the mouth, assuming a good clean cut and a healthy ric.
I see you have your rics in a large crushed coral substrate, is that for easy mounting later, and do you find it hard to cut with that substrate. I was thinking of trying a finer substrate ( so that it is easier to cut and having a seperate section of larger substrate for easy mounting. or possibly no substrate at all and just cutting the shroom as close to the bottom of the tank to be fragged. Have you tried any of these methods? And just out of curiousity have you had a chance at fragging acans. Not just tile sawing a large colony into smaller frags, but actuall cutting the acan out of the rock, growing on the sand and cutting it like a mushroom?

 

[Goodwin9]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15061558#post15061558 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by madean
I have fed the same and its hard to tell if they are eating it besides the mysis. You can see them eating that. I have cut like you, and in half through the mouth and also in quarters through the mouth. Anything more than half IMO significantly decreases the chance for survival. In half seems to work fine for bothrics and yuma. I have talked to many experienced ric farmers around the world and they all seem to have about 95% or higher succes rate with cutting in half through the mouth, assuming a good clean cut and a healthy ric.
I see you have your rics in a large crushed coral substrate, is that for easy mounting later, and do you find it hard to cut with that substrate. I was thinking of trying a finer substrate ( so that it is easier to cut and having a seperate section of larger substrate for easy mounting. or possibly no substrate at all and just cutting the shroom as close to the bottom of the tank to be fragged. Have you tried any of these methods? And just out of curiousity have you had a chance at fragging acans. Not just tile sawing a large colony into smaller frags, but actuall cutting the acan out of the rock, growing on the sand and cutting it like a mushroom?

I think that I will stick with splitting the multi mouthed rics. Easy, and I don't think that I have had any losses. I went with the crushed coral so that it would be a little easier to mount to rocks, hasn't caused any problems for me in splitting. My experience with fragging is limited to what I have done with the ricordeas. I have a black thumb.....