mushroom help

J

jamiegrl

Guest
ok so i bought blue mushroom coral like a little over a week ago
it was doing great until like 2 days ago
they kind of pulled back and shriveled up....
I checked the water levels and they are ok (nitrates 20, nitrite 0, alkalinity 300, ammonia 0, pH 8.2, salinity 1.024) i also add purple up to the tank
the rock i bought it on seems to always be overwhelmed with hair algae
i bought it like that and it never went away in my tank even though i always see my cleaner crew on it...
The one mushroom is falling off the rock... do you think it could be just too much flow?
i moved them and they seems to be doing a tiny bit better but does anyone have any more advice?
I thought mushrooms were fool proof... i guessed not for me
 
albfishin'

albfishin'

Member
Jamie, dont worry about your shroom falling of the rock. They will do that as they try to expand the colony. It will prob leave some of itself attached to the rock that it is falling off of and a new shroom will grow there. Once it fall you can either let it gather sand and use super glue gel and glue it to a new home. Or, you can place it on a new rock with no flow and it will attach itself to the new rock in a couple of days.
But I think we may have found the prob even with your Sun Coral. You need to try and get your trates down to as close to 0 as possible. You may need to do several h20 changes to accomplish that. How old is your tank?
 
J

jamiegrl

Guest
3 months
the thing is my reg water has 20 nitrates so it leaves me no room for error
im in the process of trying to find a way to lower them
im in college and have no cash to buy a RO DI unit and am trying to find an alternative
im running out of ideas... anyone got any?
 
J

jamiegrl

Guest
my calcium test is def broken cuz it says my calcium was off the charts when i first started it
 
patandlace

patandlace

Active Member
Your calcium may be off the charts if you add to much purple up. If you need a source for RO water the Culligan machines that are in wallmart and other grocery stores sell it. You may want to try there.
 
albfishin'

albfishin'

Member
Originally Posted by patandlace
Your calcium may be off the charts if you add to much purple up. If you need a source for RO water the Culligan machines that are in wallmart and other grocery stores sell it. You may want to try there.
True and a good point with Walmart. Also, check your lfs. I know mine will sell RO h20 to its customers, you just have to bring in the container(s). It's relatively cheap.
 
albfishin'

albfishin'

Member
The other thing to is that I use tap h20 also and at the beginning I had high trates (as well as high phosphates) and make tank was not doing real well. As a last resort (trying not to take the plunge into a RODI unit) went onto either QVC or HSN and purchased an on-the-counter water purifier, fully thinking and expecting it not to work. Well I got it and had the water tested and it tested great. Its good for 10,000 gallons. I havent had a problems with trates, etc since the purchase. The problem is I cant remember how much I paid for it. But that can be an alternative as well.
 
groupergenius

groupergenius

Active Member
Originally Posted by jamiegrl
ok so i bought blue mushroom coral like a little over a week ago
it was doing great until like 2 days ago
they kind of pulled back and shriveled up....
I checked the water levels and they are ok (nitrates 20, nitrite 0, alkalinity 300, ammonia 0, pH 8.2, salinity 1.024) i also add purple up to the tank
the rock i bought it on seems to always be overwhelmed with hair algae
i bought it like that and it never went away in my tank even though i always see my cleaner crew on it...
The one mushroom is falling off the rock... do you think it could be just too much flow?
i moved them and they seems to be doing a tiny bit better but does anyone have any more advice?
I thought mushrooms were fool proof... i guessed not for me
Trates are high but seems like alkalinity is off the chart. Maybe a typo???
 
J

jamiegrl

Guest
yea i actually heard britta takes care of nitrates but not phosphates... but i can laways add a phosphate sponge or something
thanks for the advice!!!
 
J

jamiegrl

Guest
na alkalinity is really at 300.... i thought that was good?
 
J

jamiegrl

Guest
I use Quick Dip test strips
ok im reading the bottle for total alkalinity and the numbers range from 0-300 (KH) ppm
and the 180-300 are ideal
 
J

jamiegrl

Guest
i kno they they were free haha
hmmm what other ones do you suggest?
 
albfishin'

albfishin'

Member
NP, I hope the advice helps. Yeah natural seawater has a KH of 8 or alkalinity of 2.9. Numbers to shoot for neway. I use the Salifert test kit. It's a little tougher to use and involves some math, but from what I understand, its one of the more accurate test kits. Good luck!
 
D

dshin1

Guest
off the subject but does anyone know how long before a mushroom will split. i have some that are about 7 months old and they look the same. (same number of polys)
 
groupergenius

groupergenius

Active Member
Originally Posted by jamiegrl
i kno they they were free haha
hmmm what other ones do you suggest?
I have API at home and Salifert at the office. API is easier and cheaper, and Salifert I think is more accurate. But the Salifert ones to me are a PITA.
 
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