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View Full Version : help with my mushrooms !!!


calero
02/12/2006, 10:46 PM
hello guys, im new to this forum and i need help, i have 3 tanks, one of them mainly with mushrooms and since 10 days ago they dont look like they should, i have them for like a year some of them, others like 4 months and they were beautifully open and expanded, well, not any more, they re not dying or anything but definetily not the same health, here my water parameters

65 gallons tank
2 fluorescents 40 watt bulbs ( 1 actinic, 1 white )
2 VHO 40 watt bulbs ( 1 actinic, i white )
PH 8.3
phosphates 0.05
salinity 1.022
dkh 14.5
temp 80 degrees
NO2 0.05
NO3 50 ppm
calcium 500

is there anything wrong for mushrooms ?
should i change anything ?

jbplay
02/13/2006, 09:29 AM
I rescued some Yumas that were shriveled up at a Petco. Their water parameters had NO3 over 40ppm when I tested. After a day in my quarantine tank with less than .1ppm NO3 they fully expanded and are now thriving in my 75g. I would suggest a series of small 10 to 20% water changes to get your NO3 levels down.

RA
02/13/2006, 11:48 AM
Your dkh of 14.5 is very high and could be stressing them. Do you measure for calcium, if so what is your reading? Also your salt level is a little low, I would keep it around 1.025. Do you have a refractometer to check your salt level? With a swing arm meter you could be off even further.

BrianPlankis
02/13/2006, 11:56 AM
Thanks for the water parameters, definitely helps. I see three problems.

Salinity for corals should be around 1.025-1.026, yours is too low and should be slowly brought up.

Your dKH is double that of natural seawater. I would adjust it slowly down to 8-11 dKH with water changes

Your nitrates are way too high, you need to do water changes and increase skimming to get them below 20ppm, less than 10ppm ideally.

Brian

RA
02/13/2006, 12:02 PM
I missed the reading of 500 for your calcium. You are obviously dosing for your calcium and alk. I'm surprised that the readings for the alk and calcium together are that high. Why are you shooting for such high levels? What are you dosing with?

calero
02/13/2006, 01:24 PM
thank you guys, i use B-Ionic to dose my ca and dkh, my salt its been at that level for more than two years and everything was all right so im gonna try to reduced my dkh and no3 with water changes, question, is that enough light for mushrooms or should be better if i change the 40 watts VHOs for 110 w VHOs ?

thanks again

RA
02/13/2006, 01:54 PM
If you increased your lighting you would get better growth. A salt level of 1.022 will keep your mushrooms alive but a level of 1.025 would be better for them and your fish. I would also back off on the B-Ionic that you dose, unless you also have hard corals there is no reason to keep shrooms at those levels. As you mentioned some water changes are in order. Good Luck.

calero
02/13/2006, 04:40 PM
thanks my friend, i dont have stonies in there so im gonna low the b-ionic dose and when i do the water change i will increase the salinity.

thanks

jedininja
02/14/2006, 10:54 AM
I agree with what what said. Wanted to add that there is no need to dose calcium in a mushroom tank. Just keep up with the water changes and that will replenish all your calcium needs.

joey77
02/19/2006, 12:47 PM
i had the same problem calero and after reading everyones replys i took there advice (thanks) i have a 55 with 260w pc but i am going to upgrade to a 90rr and i want to add mh what wattage do u recomend 48x18x24