Macro Algae / Sponge DT question.

[Brady4000]

Hey all,

I am working on a macro and sponge display tank. My question is about water changes. How often should these be done in this setup?

Tank is a 60g, livestock is going to be all meat eaters, peacock Mantis and yellow tail damsels.

I am hoping the bio load will keep up.

 

[lapin]

I would start with 10% a week for starters. Only time will tell how your tank will mature.

 

[dennis romano]

If you are doing non-photosynthetic sponges, they need a lot of attention. I have nine in my tank, including three tree sponges. They have to be fed several times a day with tiny food... phyto and oyster eggs. Lighting should be low because algae will smother them. They also do not do well in a new tank...too clean. My tank is over twenty years old. Every evening, I stir the bottom to get crud into the water column so that they can filter out microscopic food.

 

[Brady4000]

If you are doing non-photosynthetic sponges, they need a lot of attention. I have nine in my tank, including three tree sponges. They have to be fed several times a day with tiny food... phyto and oyster eggs. Lighting should be low because algae will smother them. They also do not do well in a new tank...too clean. My tank is over twenty years old. Every evening, I stir the bottom to get crud into the water column so that they can filter out microscopic food.

I was planning on only photosynthetic sponges. Since I “read” they do ok in low lit tanks.

The light I am running is:

CURRENT USA SereneSun LE PRO Freshwater Plant Aquarium LED Light with 24 Hour Timer Control | High Output Full Spectrum with 460nm Red | Wireless Remote | Tall Fish Tank Brackets

I picked this light because of the reds. I’ll be running it without any white.

Blue 30%
Red 30%
Green 20%

 

[Subsea]

Red spectrum may well grow macro but it does not display well. Understand this about white led spectrum, it is composed of red/green/blue.

I have numerous macros & various sponges. I suggest you leave the sponges out of your livestock choices until your tank matures. I grow all macro under 10K spectrum. For comparison sake, a Caribbean reef has
5K color rendition at noon, 6500 color rendition at 3pm and 10K color rendition at 6pm.

This is a 3 year young 120G display with 10K color rendition.

 

[Subsea]

Hey all,

I am working on a macro and sponge display tank. My question is about water changes. How often should these be done in this setup?

Tank is a 60g, livestock is going to be all meat eaters, peacock Mantis and yellow tail damsels.

I am hoping the bio load will keep up.

I noted your location as Canyon Lake. I don’t drive around much, but that is a beautiful area. I am about 20 miles from you and just outside of Austin. I noted your other threads and you seem to have many tanks in operation. Kudos to your passion. I had numerous tanks in my house and a 10K gallon propagation system in a greenhouse. Come visit.

I have opted out of mariculture but still enjoy the hobby. The reason your thread caught my attention is that you want a display tank with macros. I have two display tanks but because of tangs & asterina starfish macros are demolished. To that avail, 2 weeks ago, I started a 30G macro lagoon tank. It will be a mixed garden with many inveterate and while sponges are in that category there is much more variety that doesn’t have such stringent live food requirement. Feather dusters and anemones come to mind as perfect companions in your meat eating tank. In my case, the fish I choose for my macro lagoon are mollies converted to salt.

First pictures are temporary test run using 30G tank on 55G stand. Light bar for 4’ tank is 10K spectrum.

Now that the blizzard is finished and I have controlled running hot & cold water in my home, I will remove 30G to another location and cycle a 55G tank as a display macro lagoon.

75G display at 20 yrs mature just came on with 10K color rendition.