Unhappy mushrooms - maybe lighting?

[MattieH]

I bought three green shoots about six weeks ago. I put them on the sand bed under a rock outcropping where they would have low flow and be shielded from direct light. They spread out and looked great for the first three weeks or so, and I thought I was set. But for the last three weeks they've been hard little nuggets. I moved them last week to a different place in the tank, similar conditions, to see if that would make them happier, but they still look the same. As an aside, I have one other shroom, a huge hairy guy, also in a similar place in the tank, yet he seems very happy.

Tank is a 75 gal with a 20 gal fuge. 6 months old. PH 8.3. no phosphates, ammonia or nitrites. Trace nitrates. Alk 12. Calc 420. Mag is only 990 for some reason, but I'm currently dosing it up with BRS mag mix.

What could it be? Could it be the low mag? The only other thing I can think of is my lighting. I have a Current Orbit Marine, the cheap one, 36 watts at full power, supplemented by another 30 watts of additional strips. Could it be that these shrooms are getting too little or too much light? And speaking of lighting, is my lighting sufficient for other coral like LPS and SPS?

Thanks!

Soft and happy six weeks ago:

Hard and sad for the last three weeks:

My current light config:

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[Goatonfly]

Well I don't know anything about your light. I am curious about your rocks though. Aside from the one the mushrooms are on. Is there anything growing on them? Do you have a pic of your full tank? What kind of fish?

 

[MattieH]

Well I don't know anything about your light. I am curious about your rocks though. Aside from the one the mushrooms are on. Is there anything growing on them? Do you have a pic of your full tank? What kind of fish?

Not too much. Bought them dry from ReefCleaners. I had a cyano outbreak during cycle, but that disappeared after a while. Once the tank cycled I wasn't getting any algae growth at all, so I seeded with a few small rocks from the LFS about eight weeks ago. I have a little tiny bit of algae growth now in the display, and the slightest twinge of coralline. My little ball of chaeto in the fuge has grown in the past week or two, and I'm finally reading trace nitrates for the first time. Lots of red and green algae in fuge over the past few weeks.

Fish: started to add about a month after cycle to increase bioload. Currently three green chromis, two bangaii, one yasha hase, one fire fish, a leopard wrasse (very healthy and huge eater, ate all my hermits) and two yellowtails that amazingly don't bother anyone or anything (yet). Yellowtails were wife's choice. All fish small. Also two peppermints, no other Cuc currently cause I don't need em. Oh, and one medium sized hermit in the fuge.

Additionally, I now have a huge 10" Hollywood Stunner chalice and a 5" or so glow tip birdsnest, both given to me because it was suggested my tank might do better with LPS and SPS than softies, but the light situation makes me nervous. Got those maybe two weeks ago. They both scare me. I also bought a small frag of about 25 green zoanthus polyps last week to test them out. (Only cost $10 at LFS so why not?)

I last had a reef tank in 1998, so I'm pretty much starting over - everything had changed since then.

That's about it.

Pics of tank:

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[Dr. Reef]

Unfortunately that chalice and birds nest don't look too good either. From looks of it seems like tank is premature. What are the parameters. Temp, salinity, pH, ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, phos, cal, alk, mag.

 

[rjjr1963]

The Orbit Marine will not be enough lighting for that tank. I used one on a 40b and everything went pretty good but there was a big drop off in light deeper in the tank. It was only 16" deep.

 

[MattieH]

Unfortunately that chalice and birds nest don't look too good either. From looks of it seems like tank is premature. What are the parameters. Temp, salinity, pH, ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, phos, cal, alk, mag.

Temp 78.4
SG 1.024
pH 8.3
Ammonia 0
Nitrites 0
Nitrates less than 5
PO 0
Alk 12
Ca 420
Mg 990

I test every few days. Everything has been consistent. Just beginning to dose brs Mg mix to bring Mg up. 30% W/C every 8 weeks.

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[MattieH]

Temp 78.4
SG 1.024
pH 8.3
Ammonia 0
Nitrites 0
Nitrates less than 5
PO 0
Alk 12
Ca 420
Mg 990

I test every few days. Everything has been consistent. Just beginning to dose brs Mg mix to bring Mg up. 30% W/C every 8 weeks.

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Do they look bad close up? Do you think Mg increase and better lighting will help?

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[MattieH]

The Orbit Marine will not be enough lighting for that tank. I used one on a 40b and everything went pretty good but there was a big drop off in light deeper in the tank. It was only 16" deep.

Do you think I could supplement what I have with some t5s or some of those 3 watt leds, or should I scrap everything and start new?

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[CrayolaViolence]

I think they look washed out because of the lighting---as in the lighting is affecting how the photos turn out. But I do agree that's not very much light for what you have. The chalice and birds nest need significantly more. I think t5 lighting would be a step in the right direction. A few coral plus bulbs and an atinic would be good.

 

[Dr. Reef]

Parameters look fine with mag a bit low but u are already dosing it. Next thing is lights. T5 will bring better lights to the tank like others mentioned.

 

[Sk8r]

Your alk at 12 is a bit high: 7.9 to 9.0 is usual.

 

[MattieH]

Any ideas on what are making these shrooms so unhappy? Could it be too little light?

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[OldReefGuy]

what color are you lights?

 

[MattieH]

what color are you lights?

The whites are 10000k and the blues are 460nm.

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