The reason for this post is below, but I'll ask the question first.

Have any of you ever blenned up a few mushrooms for a couple pulses and then dumped it back into a tank just to see how many, if any, you would end up with? And how long it would take to see growth?

People on RC were saying that it's the best way to frag shrooms for mass propagation if you don't care about having something to look at right away. They were saying you could end up with thousands... Seems very exaggerated to me.

It got me to thinking, I wonder if you could make some kind of a "Propagation Mushroom Smoothie" with a couple types of mushrooms blended up for a bit and then let them grow out in their own tank. I wonder if you could add Xenia to the Mix.

I have an extra tank that's setup and cycled with no idea what to put in it now. I was thinking this might be fun to try.



The reason I saw this is.

I cut a mushroom last night to move it to a new location and it spat it's insides out, I decided to look that up just incase it was bad for the tank (my first time cutting one) even though I knew they are damn hardy and nearly immune to anything outside of a nuclear explosion. I figured that considering what I'd read before about cutting them into pie shapes and many of the slices will live lead me to the conclusion that a cut foot would just stress it a bit. I was going to move it to the empty but cycled tank just in case, better safe than sorry. Things seem fine now and I left it in the main tank. And yes, it pulled it's guts back in while I was searching about it.

I don't own a blender and am patient, but don't know if I'm that patient. I'd like to give it a try sometime though.

Heard it works...

Sounds interesting.

I’ve never used a blender, but when I used to have a shroom frag tank in my garage years ago, I used scissors to chop the mushrooms into a bunch of smaller pieces and it worked pretty well.

I'm thinking maybe someone should try with ricordias because they reproduce much slower than shrooms.

I've cut mushrooms with a blade into 8 tiny ones, but never tried the blender. It might be worth getting a 2.5 or a 5g and trying it in there its not like mushrooms would need a lot of light.

I think I may go for it guys. Just get some mushrooms, chop them really fine with a knife, and throw them in my 2.5g. How many wouls I expect to survive?

I believe Floorlord uses this method.

That's interesting. Maybe I should try it on my rics.

I think I might too, and am wondering the same thing. Also wondering how fine you could make them and still have them grow out. I might pick up some random mushrooms the next time I go look at frags.

How much longer to rics take to grow than regular shrooms?

Hmm, would the bits also grow out on sand substrate or would a top layer of CC be better...

I've got a 3g pico with 2.5 fuge setup (in my sig) with nothing in it. Maybe some hermits, a couple snails and some mushroom smoothie would be fun.

Anyone think Xenia would possibly live through a blending?

I'm wondering if anything else could be blended in too. lol.

i used to out xenia threw my powerheads, same effect i guess

worked a treat, had 2-3mm baby frags all over the place 3 weeks later

Hehe, this is getting even more interesting. Ty.

anyone wanna try a huge brain coral in a tiny powerhead? LOL!

i think this has some serious potential. i will try it tonight or tomorrow and post on its progress.

lol

I'm thinking that if I do this I'll use 3 mushrooms of easily identifiable colors, like red, green and striped or something. I will chop/blend one mushroom to about 1/4" chunks, one to 1/8" chunks and one to 1/16" or so. Though that might be too small. If anyone has a suggestion let me know. This way I can keep track of what ones seem to do better.

I don't know If I'll try the Xenia as mine is still only about a 2" frag and not ready to be fragged off, maybe if I can find a cheap frag I'll try some Xenia.

When I add the mix to the tank I'll probably just dump some right in, then put some onto a CC area of substrate if I can get a bit from the LFS for free or cheap and then put some into/onto the rocks and see if any spores stick. I may also dunk some rubble into the container and let it sit for 5 min to absorb some of the mix, then put those pieces of rubble back into the tank.

This is just speculation atm though. I need to go to a 2nd hand store and get an old blender cuz I'm not using mine for mushrooms lol.

Reminds me of Jurassic Park, life finds a way.

If you plonked it straight into the water, wouldn't the filter get clogged by it?

Random.

lol, i would take any filter media out first

Ya, the way my tank is setup there is only one exit for water and that's on the top of the tank...



So I'd probably not lose too much, the rest would drop into filter floss or into the fuge if I removed the floss.

Might just turn the flow off overnight, there's nothing in it but pods.

someones got to do this... i wonder how long it would take to get some good mushrooms growing... and I wonder how finely they can be chopped? 4? 8?

I'm probably going to go get some mushrooms when we get paid. First I have to find a used blender because I want to do it that way, not with the knife. I'll let you know how it goes within a week if all goes well.

Only thing that might slow it down is that I broke up a chunk of LR a week ago and put it back in the tank as rubble. If there are any big worms or whatever that died it might have caused a mini cycle, I'll know when i water test. (nothing alive is in the tank yet)

If anyone has other ideas of what might survive in this smoothie, let me know.

PS. I plan on doing my best to keep a photo journal of any growth. We'll see how out going I am when it's boring me to death.

I'd totally do it if I owned a blender. I think there was a small mini food processor on sale dirt cheap, like under 10 bucks, at walgreens this week.

The only problem would be my skimmer would suck them all up!

What if you took a specimen container, attached a small powerhead to it through a hole drilled on the side of the container, then drilled another hole on the other side. Then line the hole with a bridal netting to prevent the shrooms from entering the tank. Then place it in the tank add some rubble to it place the chopped shrooms inside, then let them settle on the rubble, then turn the small powerhead on. This could work pretty good and you could set up different ones for different types of shrooms.

Personally I wouldn't run a skimmer on a prop tank unless you are propping sps. Most mushrooms, zoos, softies, etc do grow great in tanks with a little extra nutrients.

id love to see a play by play of this.

also, make sure the blender is then denoted as a coral only blender. mushies are pretty noxious and we wouldnt want an accident!

I would like a daquari... or a mudslide please

But yea, this is real interesting. Ill be tagging along for the ride.

You're no fun.

Haha, yep, that's why I want to find a used blender.

I still don't have super high hopes for this, but I'll keep my fingers crossed.

What should I feed a tank like this... if there won't be anything really in it besides some snails. Maybe I should stick in a hermit and a clown Goby or something.

my prop tank is attached to my main tank, so thats why I run a skimmer, also by containing the peices of shrooms it would be easier it frag and sell, ect.

C'mon gang----those mushrooms aint gonna blend themselves!!

29 posts and no one has a shroom or a blender!!!

Go to the thrift store--maybe you can find one of the small "prep" choppers--like a mini food processor. You will only pulse it for a few seconds. Maybe you can use it to chop meaty coral food afterwards.

Blender works, but doesn't work on rics unfortunately. Hell, even ripping a shroom in half works. I did that once on accident and both pieces are round again and doing great!! That was roughly 2-3 weeks ago.

Are you saying this from first-hand experience?

Someone just PM Floorlord and he'll tell you about it.

Asin is right Floorlord uses the blender method he told me about it after I bought the chemleon mushrooms from him. Hey if everyone starts doing this you could just sell the shroom shake.

I'm gonna try this tonight I work at the LFS and I'll pick up some stray mushrooms and toss em in a blender, BTW how much of a blend should I give em I mean when I'm done blendin' should I see small little chunks or a goo like substance?

Little chunks should be good. Careful about the tank, you might get a small ammonia spike from the pieces that don't live.

Works like a charm!
It's not as simple as just chopping them up, and then letting em loose in your tank, atleast not for me.
I get a propping tub, fill it with LR rubble, blend the mucks, and then dump them into the tub of rubble.
It generally takes a while to have a bunch of mushrooms, but, in time, boom! You don't even really need flow IME. Just use a Home Depot bucket. Alot of them stick together once you cut them, so I just continue to stir it with chopsticks, yes gang, another use for chopsticks in the reef hobby
Good point Six made about using a specific blender for the job.
D

I was told by Floorloord that it doesn't work on rics. Think about it though, whatever lives if you physically rip it in hlf, it'll probably work for. You can't just rip rics though, they are a bit more sensative.

How much time we talkin here? Weeks or days? Do you have lights, carbon, etc on the bucket? Got a pic of your bucket setup FL? A lot of questions, I know, but I was thinkin about tryin this in my barren 10 gal that's basically a LR holding tank but I didn't want to 'infect' all the LR in there with the brown mushie I was goin to try with. The bucket thing would allow me to experiment.

As long as you're using a bucket, knowing that mushrooms don't require too much light, I'm thinking you could get away with a big cheap CF bulb that's not necessarily 10k, 20k or 50/50, something from home depot perhaps. It wouldn't look too pretty while it's in the bucket, but it should allow it to grow without killing your checkbook and look pretty in a tank under better lighting later.

Thoughts?

Definetely weeks, atleast a few.

I usually use a 18W Clamp light for about 10 hours a day over the tub, and do a careful water change after about a week and a half into it, to remove detritus.
Next time I do it, I will make a whole video/tutorial/pics.
It won't infect anything! They like the dirty water! They eat too! It's really a whole lot easier than it seems.
The key is to not blend them into a puree, just chop them. Dull blades are even a good thing.

If you do decide to do it in a tank full of LR, chances are, the mushrooms will attach themselves EVERYWHERE on the LR. Not that it's a bad thing, but they do grow faster typically, after you prop them.

Phixion is absolutely right about rics, I would'nt even try it. They are sensitive to high flow, let alone a blender! lol
D

What size mushroom chunks do you aim for? 1/4", more, less?

Yup, that's what I meant by 'infect'. Ugly brown demon seed. Thanks for the tips FL, def take a vid/pics next time you do it, that'd be great.

How long do you put them in the bucket for? any filter or anything?

would a coffee grinder work? or do you blend them with SW?

Okay I just got finished building a dedicated blender bound acrylic tank. It is 10.25" x 8.25" x 7". I plan on putting a Aqua clear 50 on it. Do you think that I should cut the impeller to just two blades or just leave it stock. I am fortunate to be great friends with the owners of Exotic Reef & Pets in Louisville, KY. They are donating the mushrooms to this experiment. For the lighting I am going to use the screw in 50/50 CF, not sure if 1 or 2 of the bulbs. Would you go with 1"x1" marble tiles or sand for the substrate. I would rather not use live rock rubble. Please send me all of your thoughts and experiences with this. I own a lawn service and acrylic shop so I have the time to devote to this. Any help I get will be greatly appreciated.

You're really not going to end up with anything recognizeable, til after a couple of weeks.
Just do your best to get the peices seperated, after about a week. You wanna aim to have peices the size of confetti.
Whoever mentioned a Coffee grinder, that works GREAT, or esspresso grinder.
Lately I have been using one of those food choppers like this, they really do a good job for smaller batches.

D

I will jump on the bandwagon. Give me a few days to get some supplies together and I will try it and videotape it.

im thinking about doing it too. we should start a thread for "Experimental Mushroom Propagation via Blendation"!

i'm thinking about the bucket, a crappy light, and rubble. maybe some of those tiles everyone used for frags to keep it ubber cheap....

I hjust finished my acrylic light for my tank. Do you think that a coralife 11 watt 6500k CF light will be enough? If anyone cares the tank in pics that I posted earlier comes out to be exactally two gallons of water. Exotic Reef gave me 7 or 8 mushrooms to blend and try. I scooped some .25 in sand/gravel out of one of their tanks, then used some water from my 7 gallon. I will cut up the shrooms tomorrow.