Hello!

[danny zubot]

Well I'm stumped. Try asking Emily B. on this site and in Calgary. I just got some sweet shroom frags from her yesterday and she seemed very experienced with them, I bet she can help you out. When you find out, let me know so I can be prepared.

[Canadian Man]

Originally Posted by cptclever

I add Coralife, magnesium, calcium and phytoplankton on a regular basis. There were 2 polyps (purple with green centres) that hung on to their colour long after the others had faded but in the past few months they have gone as well. They still open and close with the lights and I swear there are more there than when I got them over a year ago, just without colour, greyish purple. I have very basic lighting, but enough for my mushrooms to be thriving and growing quickly.

How about describing your lighting in more detail to start with.

[EmilyB]

As far as supplements I just do water changes, and the big tank has a Ca reactor, so I can't offer any advice there. Glad you like the shrooms Danny, next time you can stay longer when American Idol isn't on....

[danny zubot]

Thanks!

[Cap'n]

Originally Posted by Canadian Man

How about describing your lighting in more detail to start with.

Lighting - I have a 30" actinic flourescent tube and a DIY light bar with 2 screw in 27 watt flourescent bulbs

[danny zubot]

I sounds to me like your lighting is a bit lacking. Do you know the spectrum of your 27 watt florescent tubes? Shrooms don't need extreme lighting but I think a slight upgrade would help considerably. I run a dual 30" balast with a marine glow and a power glow, an 18" 420 actinic, and a dual incandesent balast with 2x 23watt energy savers over my 54 gallon tank. and my corals are doing fine. (Energy saver bulbs run around 5500K to 6500K depending on the brand) I get about 3-4 hours of direct to indirect sunlight in my house that probly helps too.

If any of this info helps I'm glad to give it!

[Cap'n]

My 27 watt flourescents are bulbs are not tubes. I'm not home to check them right now but I believe they are 20,000k. I started off using the energy saver bulbs like you have before I found these. They are made for aquariums, I believe by Coralife, I'll confirm when I get home.

I do plan on upgrading my lighting when I build the new stand and tank and convert this tank to moer of a reef, but don't want to shell out too much for lighting. I don't want to keep anything that will require MH, etc. Your lighting doesn't sound too different than what I want to do, what kinds of corals are you able to support?

Thanks again for the info, it all helps.

[danny zubot]

Right now I have a hammer coral a torch, green candy corals, green star polips, and the shroom frags a got just the other day. All of these seem to be doing well, but I have an anemone that seems to be loosing its green zooan. algae. It has a host shrimp that cares for it but I fear because I son't have MH lighting I may need to give it up.

[Cap'n]

Well, thanks for all the replies but no-one has yet been able to help me find the disappearing colour from my polyps. Has anyone had this happen before?

[AJ_77]

It's light-related. They're fading just like a Calgary tan.

That being said, when you upgrade your lighting they should improve.