Bigger, Better Mushrooms

[Brian5000]

My muchrooms seem to be doing well. The multiply fairly well and I have dozens throughout my tank of various colors, but their all small (ranging in size from dimes to silver dollars).

The 'shrooms at the LFS and in another tank I saw at a dentist office were huge (like a tea cup saucer). The LFS guy said it was iodine (I currently add nothing but calcium to my tank). Will this help them grow? Any other tips for big, healthy mushrooms?

 

[Anonymous]

Mine are around 6" across. Gross neglect of the tank seems to work well.

 

[Ben1]

I think its more then supplements, besides species, things like current will effect the size. Obviously Rhodactis sp. will be bigger then most discosoma shrooms.

 

[Anonymous]

McFeely may well have a point. You're not running BB are you?

 

[Brian5000]

BB (bare bottom?)...no I'm not.

 

[Anonymous]

OK, just wondering if much reduced nutrients might be your problem. Not to say that you should be aiming for a positive nitrate reading, but I would have thought a sand bed might be a positive with mushrooms.

 

[Brian5000]

Yeah, as I said, they seem relatively happy. They multiply and spread about as fast as I would ever want (I have dozens out of 6 that I actually bought). The individuals stay baby size though (individuals that are smaller than a dime after two years).

 

[Anonymous]

Are you certain that it's not just you have different varieties? I'd imagine that would affect size as well as color, morphology etc.

 

[Brian5000]

The originals from the LFS are larger. While I'm sure you are correct that I have a smaller variety of 'shroom, shouldn't they at least grow as big as the parent?

 

[Anonymous]

The originals from the LFS are larger. While I'm sure you are correct that I have a smaller variety of 'shroom, shouldn't they at least grow as big as the parent?

not always - every coral is going to react differently to every tank
Example, a buddy of mine, with my help, built a reef tank EXACTLY like mine- same size tank, same equipment, even timed his lights to come on and off like mine- I could not for the life of me get GSP to live, let alone thrive, and yet, my buddy had GSP spread to plague proportions - it seriously looked like rolling fields of grass in his tank...the only difference was the type of salt we each used, and our location(he bought the same RO/DI I had too)
Its possible that iodine is the key, but then maybe not. Iodine isnt something you really want to overdose the tank with however - I've only used it for dips.

 

[Anonymous]

The originals from the LFS are larger. While I'm sure you are correct that I have a smaller variety of 'shroom, shouldn't they at least grow as big as the parent?

Ah, sorry, I hadn't picked up that they were exactly the same type. In which case, what are the other variables between your tank and his? Greater/lesser flow, different types of lights, different positioning?