so, do some just do srooms?

poksal

poksal

Well? .. I AM trying
I am getting the idea mushrooms like me and zoras don't nearly as much..

So, do some others do mushrooms best? Or am I strange? ... no skip that question...LOL.
 
I've just had a massive zoa melt-off, but my shrooms are doing great and dropping little shrooms like crazy. So I've come to the conclusion that if the shipment of zoas I'm getting from Matty don't do well, I'm done with zoas in my big tank and sticking to shrooms. OTOH, the zoas in my tiny tank are growing like MAD! I use the same salt and have the same water change schedule with both tanks. Params are very similar, and my tiny tank is stocked far heavier than my biggun. I have no idea why zoas are flourishing in one tank and melting in the other. Oh well. Like I said, if this next crop of zoa frags doesn't do well, I'm a shroom girl all the way!
 
Samhain said:
I've just had a massive zoa melt-off, but my shrooms are doing great and dropping little shrooms like crazy. So I've come to the conclusion that if the shipment of zoas I'm getting from Matty don't do well, I'm done with zoas in my big tank and sticking to shrooms. OTOH, the zoas in my tiny tank are growing like MAD! I use the same salt and have the same water change schedule with both tanks. Params are very similar, and my tiny tank is stocked far heavier than my biggun. I have no idea why zoas are flourishing in one tank and melting in the other. Oh well. Like I said, if this next crop of zoa frags doesn't do well, I'm a shroom girl all the way!
Click to expand...

So it leads into a question about ..or wondering... if zoas like more fish.. more ammonia.. and fish crap... ? you have just presented a controlled case study.. of sorts. My 95 with a sump and refuge... is very light on fish inches.. I have 6 fish and none are bigger than 2". And it apparently isn't a very zoa friendly tank either.
 
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poksal said:
So it leads into a question about ..or wondering... if zoas like more fish.. more ammonia.. and fish crap... ? you have just presented a controlled case study.. of sorts. My 95 with a sump and refuge... is very light on fish inches.. I have 6 fish and none are bigger than 2". And it apparently isn't a very zoa friendly tank either.
Click to expand...

Entirely possible. There is another variable; i run T5s over the tiny tank, and marineland LEDs over the biggun, but i know others running the marinelands have had flourishing zoa gardens, so i don't feel that's too much of an issue. My 90 is stocked with fewer, larger fish, and my 10 has three small (under 2") fish in it. The 90 has three sizeable fish, two medium fish, one on the small side, and one very tiny little nano blenny. Due to the size of the large fish, i have fairly well decided i'm close to max capacity on that tank. I'm not really sure how much difference that makes, but i didn't want to overload the system.

The tiny tank, despite it's massive bioload, has stable, healthy parameters and flourishing corals of all three 'classifications', SPS, LPS, and softies. All corals are healthy and growing. Not sure if it's the light making the difference, or the bioload, or just the magic of a different tank with a different environment, but there you have it.
 
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I love shrooms and zoahs but the shrooms do better...I am in the same place..I think my next buys will be mainly shrooms...however there was this cool looking flower pot at the lfs.......
 
Zoas haven't done well in my system either. I decided that I would try one last time with them. That was 3 months ago and dang id they aren't still in the tank! Not only are they still around, but the are growing! Still, I'm not buying anymore.

I have 5 different mushroom colonys in my tank now. I really like them. They seem to thrive and add some nice color and texture. If I could find another color I'd put it in my tank too. I have Green striped, red, purple, blue and metallic green hairy right now. Thats all my LFS has. I was there today and nothing new.:(

FWIW, my tank is pretty heavy on the stock side. 124 gallon total volume. 90 in the DT and the rest in the sump system. I have 10 fish, a SSS and some snails as well as other forms of corals. LPS and SPS.
 
We are about equal tank for tank.. mine is about 95 & there is a sump and a refuge. Except I am light on the fish. I am thinking my tank needs more fish to better balance out with the coral for bio production.

It seems as I have stated already that those with healthy zoas tend to have more fish than I have.. "those" need to speak up and express if they agree.... I think I will add fish one at a time so as not to upset the tank. Thing is, I have two pair of damsels.. they are only about 1.5" long but they think it is their tank. .. yellow tails & blue fins... when I put my arm into the tank near where the yellow tails have a cave they will nip at my arm to chase me away.

. so my choice in fish has to be a careful one. I have peppermint shrimp, hermits, a lavender tang, a clown "nemo", and the four damsels. ............suggestions on fish to add will be taken seriously... I had a six line but it didn't make it.. and it was hard on my shrimp...

I have removed all my zoas.. they were only accomplishing water pollution.. :shock:.

OK.. my turn to tell you about my sroom colors.. I have; gray, lime green, bright green, smokey blue gray purplish, deep green, rust, & emerald green, ........and two forest green mini carpet anems about silver dollar sized..
 
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Ted & Non,
I think I witnessed a turn of events in my tank this afternoon. After our posts and speaking with one of the owners of a local LFS, he, I, and our post seem to agree that while you can over stock with fish and other live stock you can also under stock. My 95 with sump and refuge only had 6 small fish. and some shrimp (I'm not sure how many are alive and well).. . My observations have lead me to believe that you need enough fish weight (be it a couple decent sized or several small) to provide a required balance of fish produced bio feed. I now think my failed attempts at snails ended in their starvation. (this tank is only 4 months old).

So.. I bellied up to the bar and now instead of two yellow tailed damsels I have a school of five. (I have evolved to a damsel tank). Then I added a five line as my five line of several weeks ago past on and I now believe it most likely starved... please read on... .

Then, I purchased a small "nemo" to pair up with my 2.5" nemo. I added more pods to my refuge after transferring most of the LR rubble from the bottom of my tank (much of which was from scrubbing off passed away zoa families) into my refuge with additional rubble purchased today from one of my LFS's.

The nemo pairing went better than I could of imagined... they hit it off instantly and were buddies. The larger established nemo swam right to the new little guy and started to posture along side and head snap.. wheeew what a relief.

Then I purchased a bottle of Phyto Feast and added a squirt to my refuge and to my main tank during feed time.

So currently, my total fish count is (all small) five yellow tails, two blue fins, one lavender tang, one six lie, two "nemo's". ..........> one nemo is 2.5" long, as is the lavender tang, ... everything else is around 1.5" long.

OK.. here is the big one... :
I went back to look my tank over after about five hours.. and WOOOW..
my srooms that I thought were doing fine were all even more flared and shapely than I have ever seen them even at the various LFS's when I purchased them.

This was only after five hours.. magic has popped... FINALLY!

I realize that much of the pop was from the addition of the Phyto... if so I'm a new and careful... Phyto feeder...

I can't wait to see how it goes tomorrow. I expect a small bloom of bacteria of some kind but that is good.

Now, maybe in few weeks I can try zoa's again.
 
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Agreed you can defiantly under stock. This hobby is all about finding the balance of your tank. No two tanks will be the same. Even the same size tank in the same room running the same equipment will be different. Right now I have 4 small fish in my 45 and things are finally starting to look good to me. I will be pushing my boundaries a little bit when I add a pair of clowns. However because I am not running a sps tank I think I can push it. Shrooms and Zoahs like a little bit of a "dirty" tank. I have no science to back that up but just my observations.
 
Ted said:
Agreed you can defiantly under stock. This hobby is all about finding the balance of your tank. No two tanks will be the same. Even the same size tank in the same room running the same equipment will be different. Right now I have 4 small fish in my 45 and things are finally starting to look good to me. I will be pushing my boundaries a little bit when I add a pair of clowns. However because I am not running a sps tank I think I can push it. Shrooms and Zoahs like a little bit of a "dirty" tank. I have no science to back that up but just my observations.
Click to expand...

Happened to be up at my system.. I think you nailed the "dirty" tank... syndrome. Am trying to switch towards an algae scrubber method. With the skimmer and GFO/carbon reactors as back-up... but haven't been able to wean off the skimmer yet.. but do feel perhaps my skimmer keeps the tank a little too clean.
 
I run a skimmer, just not a top of the line mega skimmer...Its a cheap pos that does skim and my cheato grows like crazy...
 
While you absolutely can understock your tank, you also cannot just dump everything in at once.

By my numbers, you went from six fish to ELEVEN. Slow and steady is the way to take it in this hobby. I would make up some water and get ready to do some changes if I were you. Adding that many fish at once is just ridiculous.
 
yep,, I got lucky... I know.. and I do have the water ready for a change...

update: I had to take the three yellow tails back.. my two tank owning yellow tails would not allow them to live here.

So.. I'm not as far over the line... and THANK YOU!.. you are right..mom.
 
got ya.. yes'em. ....I promise to d better..

but at this point my tank is sooo much better... today... and .. and... I'm soo bad...;)

I'm no good at slow and steady... in fact I suck at it.. but I'm trying to learn to be.. so keep keeping me in line!
 
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