sponges in refugium

[petemichelle]

I have a 150 gal display tank with probably 30-40 gal the refugium. its a trigger system refugium "Ruby 36S." I recently started dosing Red sea Nopox, which I think is like a vinegar or volka dosing for nitrates/phosphates. anyway, I took all of the macroalgea out of the refiugium and turned out the lights which were on whenever the display lights were off. say like 14 hours. Now after about 3-4 weeks I have a lot of sponges. I think somebody id them as pineapple sponges. they are just in the sump though. I don't see any in the display, and I WANT TO KEEP IT THAT WAY. anyway is there anyway of getting rid of them. should I just turn the lights back on like they were? But then I was getting this kind of black algae on the sand and on the rocks in the refugium. all I have in the refugium is lots of live rock, worms, pods, and snails, some nessarius snails also.

any suggestions would be helpful. they seem to be getting everywhere and more in numbers.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I'm not sure how you'd confine them, but the sorts of cryptic sponges we get in the dark don't usually grow in lit areas.

Why do you dislike them?

They may be feeding off the bacteria that the NOPOX is encouraging, and may consume some of the organics directly.

FWIW, one of the main reasons I dose vinegar (a main ingredient in NOPOX, along with vodka/ethanol) is for bacteria to feed filter feeders like sponges.

 

[petemichelle]

I'm not sure how you'd confine them, but the sorts of cryptic sponges we get in the dark don't usually grow in lit areas.


Why do you dislike them?

They may be feeding off the bacteria that the NOPOX is encouraging, and may consume some of the organics directly.

FWIW, one of the main reasons I dose vinegar (a main ingredient in NOPOX, along with vodka/ethanol) is for bacteria to feed filter feeders like sponges.

I wouldn't want them to get into the display. they are unsightly to me and I have seen them (in my 29 gal bio cube) take over parts of my live rock. mostly underside and areas where the light isn't strong. I would assume that since it is covering the live rock crevices, that the bacteria that grow on the live rock would not be able to do it's job. Also I have seen it grow right up to and onto the stems and stalks of some of my corals.

any ideas on how to get rid of them? and keep them gone. I did the dry rock thing, when I started this 150 gal, just to try and avoid some of these issues I had in my smaller tank. seems like that didn't help much...

I guess they got in anyway.

I can't be the only one with these invasive sponges. how does everyone else deal with them...

if I give it a blast of like say 48 hours of straight light, then leave the lights on... say 5 hours a day, do you think that would be enough to keep the sponges at bay, but yet not give enough light for the mysterious black algae to come back...???

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I don't know how you'd get rid of them except manual removal.

I agree that if you think they are unsightly, that may be reason enough to remove them, but there's no concern about them crowding out and bacteria preventing things like the nitrogen cycle from functioning properly.

 

[petemichelle]

still... any ideas for removing them??? do you have them in your display tank or refiugium? how do you keep them under control. I remember that the sponges would take over the entire underside of a rock if it wasn't on the sand. like say, if the rock was suspended between two other rocks, like a bridge or the roof of a cave.

anyway, the whole idea of this post was to try to get some insight on how other people were getting rid of, or keeping them under control...

again, I can't be the only person with these sponges. especially since this isn't my first tank, and they were a problem in my last tank as well.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I suggested manual removal, which means picking them off one by one by hand. That's the default way to remove a number of things we consider pests that don't have any better methods available.

To find more folks, I'd search on "pineapple" and locate the threads. Most people don't mind them.

 

[NanaReefer]

I'd look into why your getting the nasty black algae. Maybe a new light source for your fuge is required.