[Marsey]

Not sure where to start- ricordias are dying off while the yellow and button polyps thrive. Nitrate levels are too high- I'm working on that- but could they be causing the problem. What about lighting? I haven't changed my bulbs in at least 8 months. Suggestions?

[newreefman1]

Your ricordeas are not causing any of the problems. Your tank params cause problems.

What are the full details on your parameters and setup information ie tank size and equipment.

Your lights arent the cause either. Need more details than you gave though.

Jason.

[Marsey]

I didn't mean to make it sound like the ricordias were the problem- I was just trying to find out if they have something they are particularly sensitive to- such as lighting. It's a 70 gal mini reef, 20 gal sump. 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, I need to measure nitrate again- last time I checked it was over 100- I know that's really high. I use r/o water from the store and can only buy so much at a time. I'm trying to do more water changes to bring the nitrate down now. The lights are on about 8 hours a day and the temp stays around 78-80. Do you think they are responding to the nitrate levels? I really hate to see them not doing well and just want to help them out.

[ConnieH]

Marsey,

You didn't specify which type of Ricordea you have (i.e. Florida, or Pacific - more commonly called, Yuma), but if it's the Florida Ricordea it grows very, slowly and needs a lot of light. If you have them too low in your tank, or if they're sheltered from your lights, that could be one of your problems (keep working on those nitrates). I've found that the Yuma is much less demanding, and seems to grow faster too. (Albeit, not quite as pretty as the Florida IMO.)

I love Ricordea, best of luck with yours...

[ConnieH]

You might try increasing your daylight lights to 10 hours.

[Marsey]

I believe it's a Yuma Ricordia due to the powerful sting I got from it a couple months ago. Thanks for the help. I will increase light time starting today.

[newreefman1]

The sting has nothing to do with the type of ricordea to my knowledge. Actually, I didnt know they possess a sting as I keep ricordea yuma in my tank and have seen florida tons of times. Yuma will thrive almost anywhere and doesnt like intense lighting. Florida loves intense lighting.

Even if your mushrooms died off completely, in a 70 gallon reef, you wouldnt have a nitrate spike like that. You need to do a few small water changes and test again.



j

[Rin]

I don't think Marsey is suggesting that the mushrooms are the cause of the high nitrates. (I could be wrong.) Another way to look at it is that the mushrooms may not thrive all that well in an environment with such high nitrates.

Marsey,

As ConnieH has suggested, keep working on the nitrate problem. Water changes are a good idea, but you need to find the root cause for the nitrates. How old is your system? What is your sump configuration? Do you use Bio-Balls? Do you use a DSB? Do you skim? How much do you feed? Anywhere detritus builds up is a concern. What sort of cleanup crew do you have?

The questions go on, but you get the idea.

My 'shrooms are the Florida variety and thrive quite well at the bottom of my 75 under 1000 watts of light. The place I bought them from kept them at the top of the tank under NO fluorescent.