Anyone seen a mushroom do this?

[1sttankcouple]

We have a hitch hiker mushroom that came on our live rock. He has grown a lot, but his stalk is super long. All of the mushrooms we have seen have pretty short stalks, but ours is 2 inches long. Is he doing this because something is wrong or should we not worry? We don't have him near a strong water flow because we read they don't like that, but we have found he is really temperamental about everything. Any ideas?

 

[reefboy1994]

probable just searching for light...how strong is the light where he is at? I have mushrooms that look like that and they have long stalks, but not as long as that. I like the mushrooms better with long stalks.

 

[socal57che]

From the color (brown w/white stalk) and the fact that it's reaching up, I would say it needs better lighting. What lights do you have?

 

[1sttankcouple]

We still have pretty weak lighting because we haven't upgraded to PC lighting yet. We are just using fluorescents for now. We also read they didn't need extremely strong lighting so we thought it would be fine for now. We can probably move him up closer to the light. We are going to grab a couple more small pieces of rock tomorrow and can build up that piece higher. The same piece of rock also can with some zoanthids and star polyps that seem to be doing ok. We would be fine with moving them all higher if necessary since it is currently the top rock. No fish or other inverts at this point. Only about 4 weeks in to the setup.

 

[socal57che]

Originally Posted by 1stTankCouple
http:///forum/post/2892624
We still have pretty weak lighting because we haven't upgraded to PC lighting yet. We are just using fluorescents for now. We also read they didn't need extremely strong lighting so we thought it would be fine for now. We can probably move him up closer to the light. We are going to grab a couple more small pieces of rock tomorrow and can build up that piece higher. The same piece of rock also can with some zoanthids and star polyps that seem to be doing ok. We would be fine with moving them all higher if necessary since it is currently the top rock. No fish or other inverts at this point. Only about 4 weeks in to the setup.
Without better lights the GSP and zoas will likely die. The shroom can survive under standard fluorescents, but installing a 50/50 bulb will help it survive until you upgrade lighting. You could upgrade now, or remove the GSP and zoas and trade them off until you can support them.

 

[1sttankcouple]

We have a 50/50 bulb and an actinic bulb, but fluorescent bulbs only come in very low wattage which is something we didn't know since we are new fish keepers. I already had a tank setup that would work fine for fish, but doesn't seem like the right setup for a reef tank. We were going to wait to upgrade the lighting until we started buying new corals for the tank, but it seems like waiting isn't an option.

 

[socal57che]

Originally Posted by 1stTankCouple
http:///forum/post/2892640
We have a 50/50 bulb and an actinic bulb, but fluorescent bulbs only come in very low wattage which is something we didn't know since we are new fish keepers. I already had a tank setup that would work fine for fish, but doesn't seem like the right setup for a reef tank. We were going to wait to upgrade the lighting until we started buying new corals for the tank, but it seems like waiting isn't an option.
Your fish will look better under upgraded lights as well.

 

[mie]

For now build up a spot in the tank so your light sensitive creatures can be placed up as high as possible.

 

[cdangel0]

None of the corals you mentioned need exceptionally strong light. The zoos would probably be the biggest concern under NO flourecent light.
I owuld avoid buying PC lights as you will only need to upgrade again in a few months when you want an anemone or other strong light corals. Skip right to the T5s and save yourself a couple hundred bucks.