Do you keep sponges?

[LadAShark]

Talking about sponges, I found this growing in the back of a frag rack.
I guess it's a sponge, cuz it's soft. But im still unsure if I keep it or not.
It grows a lot btw.

Definitely a sponge. It's a little hard to tell if it is harming your reef by producing toxins, but if it grows quickly and not near your corals, it's definitely an active component of nutrient export/uptake. Sponges in natural reefs are either beneficial or competition with corals, and it's a little hard to tell which is which in our tanks.

 

[Subsea]

I always wanted to keep them. I was thinking about this pack.
I don't have mechanical filtration so... theoretically they should like.

But im curious to read more insights from the ppl who are currently keeping them.

Do you have any sponges @Subsea ?

Yes, I have been keeping ornamental sponges for several years. I like GulfCoast EcoSystem as an excellent source of Caribbean & GOM livestock & plants. Silicates are a must for sponges. I recenty got a blue photosynthetic sponge that is a very fast grower.

 

[WrasseyReefer]

Yes, I have been keeping ornamental sponges for several years. I like GulfCoast EcoSystem as an excellent source of Caribbean & GOM livestock & plants. Silicates are a must for sponges. I recenty got a blue photosynthetic sponge that is a very fast grower.

Thanks for the info. I’ll check them out. Would the silicates be ok in a mixed reef if I wanted to keep the sponges in there?

 

[Subsea]

Thanks for the info. I’ll check them out. Would the silicates be ok in a mixed reef if I wanted to keep the sponges in there?

I have mixed reef with no skimmer. Silicates grow diatoms, so keep a sufficient clean up crew..

 

[WrasseyReefer]

I have mixed reef with no skimmer. Silicates grow diatoms, so keep a sufficient clean up crew..

Yeah, maybe no sponges for me. It sounds like it requires no skimmer, and I carbon dose, so I have to run a skimmer.

 

[WrasseyReefer]

Yeah, maybe no sponges for me. It sounds like it requires no skimmer, and I carbon dose, so I have to run a skimmer.

Even though I’ve had random tiny sponges grow in my rocks.

 

[Cichlid Dad]

I have volunteer sponges under sides of some rock. Was worried when I first saw them, but finding out they were pineapple sponges and just left them. Never became an issue

 

[WrasseyReefer]

I have volunteer sponges under sides of some rock. Was worried when I first saw them, but finding out they were pineapple sponges and just left them. Never became an issue

Yeah, only time it did become an issue was when they started growing on the side of my Goniopora and killing it. Scrubbed them off of my Gonis skeleton. They were obviously irritating it.

 

[Subsea]

I operate a cryptic refugium and have numerous cryptic sponges that complete biochemistry in dealing with dissolved organic carbon. Cryptic sponges also proliferate on dark side of rocks in display tank and convert DOC from Algae & DOC from coral into DIC which is recycled back into glucose during photosynthesis.

 

[besskurz]

Hey talking about sponges, look what I found here!

an aiptasia! lol
They started to grow spontaneously in a low flow area of the display.

 

[sergifed91]

i have a purple sponge. got it a few years ago and the past 8 months I have been neglecting my tank. noticed just yesterday that my purple sponge like gsp has taken over my tank. it's every where. So i moved my pencil urchin back to my dt from the sump. and it has already cleared one are of my live rock and hope fully will continue to destroy more of that purple sponge in other spots in my tank. when its done it will be going back into my sump for the algea issue again. now if i can just fine a resolution on how to deal with my gsp issue...

 

[Piznipy]

I just don't run a skimmer and supplement the sponge to do the skimmer's job. Good news is it works, bad news is there's a sponge that likes to periodically reappear under a goniopora colony, which irritates it into closing.

I don't think you need to keep a 25 year old tank like dennis said. The tank in question is only a few months old and I get crazy sponge growth. The trick is silica dosing, diy coral snow, pns bacteria, and allowing some detritus to turn into mulm.

Stirring up the substrate works great, though my tank is a bare bottom and the accumulated coral snow is really what's getting kicked up.

Pretty late to the conversation but I've done it the way you are saying more or less, just added oyster feast to the equation. I stopped silica dosing however and just use Chaetoceros Muelleri phyto once in a while. The silica seemed to cause problems.

The only thing I would add is that he has managed to keep the sponges longer than us so there's probably something to what he is saying. How are your sponges now? My tree sponge, red frilly, and yellow ball sponge all show growth after 4 months. The elephant ear seems to grow a transparent layer and then not fill it in over and over. Not sure if I'm dosing enough food tbh, I put in about a cup of food a day.