Seeding a tank with sponges?

[BlueFynn_Ian]

Is there a way to broadcast seed my reef tank with sponges? Right now it has a small population of pineapple sponges all over. Trying to boost the biodiversity and potential food sources in the tank. Love all the layers in a reef tank, not just the shiny corals and fun fish.

 

[Lavey29]

Is there a way to broadcast seed my reef tank with sponges? Right now it has a small population of pineapple sponges all over. Trying to boost the biodiversity and potential food sources in the tank. Love all the layers in a reef tank, not just the shiny corals and fun fish.

I would say your existing population will increase or decline depending on available nutrients for them apparently they do like silicate to some degree. I would let your tank determine the appropriate population.

 

[BlueFynn_Ian]

I would say your existing population will increase or decline depending on available nutrients for them apparently they do like silicate to some degree. I would let your tank determine the appropriate population.

I usually target feed larger sponges, but this new tank was started from sterile and then coral frags, plugs, etc so I am just trying to boost the different types of sponges not just the existing population.

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

I usually target feed larger sponges, but this new tank was started from sterile and then coral frags, plugs, etc so I am just trying to boost the different types of sponges not just the existing population.

Order some real live rock...

 

[stoney7713]

You build it they will come, on frags, snails, and everything else.

 

[BlueFynn_Ian]

Order some real live rock...

I've had horrible luck with real live rock. Fire worms, murderous gorilla crabs, vermetid snails, etc.

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Is there a way to broadcast seed my reef tank with sponges? Right now it has a small population of pineapple sponges all over. Trying to boost the biodiversity and potential food sources in the tank. Love all the layers in a reef tank, not just the shiny corals and fun fish.

You might be able to "frag" a sponge, as some sponges can be scraped and "planted" and regenerate into full sponges that way under proper conditions, but not all sponges are capable of that - and the pineapple sponges will probably die off after a while. The only real way to get more sponges is by purposefully buying more sponges or by having them come in on things as hitchhikers.

Some possibly helpful info below (and pineapple sponges - genus Sycon - have somewhat surprisingly been shown to eat phytoplankton in decent amounts):

The info I’ve compiled on sponges so far:

Most sponges that I’ve looked into primarily consume Dissolved Organic Matter (DOM - sometimes called Dissolved Organic Carbon, or DOC, which is actually a component of DOM) and specific kinds of bacteria (which kinds vary at least a little from one sponge to another). Most of them seem to have no preference for where their DOC comes from, but they have a preference for algal-derived Dissolved Organic Nitrogen (i.e. DON produced by algae). Giant Barrel Sponges and some Boring Sponges have had their diets analyzed, and they primarily consume DOM (~80% of their total diet, with the remaining ~20% coming from Particulate Organic Matter (POM - primarily phytoplankton and bacteria, though, as mentioned above, bacteria is taken in much higher quantities than phyto). This ratio of approximately 80/20 seems to be pretty typical(though it can vary from what I've seen by +/-15% or so one way or another) for most sponges from what I can find.

Unfortunately, we don’t have an easy, hobbyist way to measure DOM, DOC, DON, or POM (or POC or PON) that I’m aware of, so we don't really have any way to determine if the sponges are getting enough food consistently to thrive (to say nothing of measuring the amounts of specific bacteria in our tanks), but there you have it.

If you do some reading on sponge keeping here on R2R, you'll probably find pretty quickly that most people recommend low lighting low flow for sponges (exceptions for photosynthetic sponges), but the truth is this also depends on the sponge species. The most common photosynthetic sponges in the hobby are the photosynthetic plating sponges (like you can find/buy on LiveAquaria's site), but there are quite a few other sponges that are photosynthetic too (such as Aplysina cauliformis, for example), and these would benefit from high lighting. Similarly, some species of sponge do best in very high flow areas, including high flow areas with laminar flow (a lot of people talk about random flow on the site, which would be called turbulent flow, as they're trying to get the water moving basically randomly throughout the tank - laminar flow is just a continuous flow that doesn't change, so the water keeps going the same direction nonstop and there's nothing random about it). If you're not sure if the sponge is photosynthetic or not, you can try starting it in one lighting (such as low lighting), see how it does and then compare it to a different lighting (moderate or high) and figure out its needs from that. Same with the flow. Light will probably be the most important part for photosynthetic species and the food/flow the most important for NPS species - some people have found stirring up their sand to be an effective food source for sponges, likely because it puts bacteria and DOM into the water column. It’s probably safest to start low light/flow and move up, rather than starting high and moving lower.

Some sponges do well in some tanks but not in others for no discernible reason, and some some sponges travel well while other sponges don't. Plus, sometimes a sponge will basically disintegrate into a ton of tiny pieces and look like it's dying, but it'll then proceed to grow and live on afterwards. Similarly, some sponges grow invasively while others grow incredibly slowly, so a lot of keeping these guys at this point really just depends on the luck of the draw (so to speak).

 

[Genetics]

You can break off the sponge variety you want to introduce and just place it someplace shaded or completely dark. I found using either a refugium or addition of organics greatly increased sponges to sometimes problematic levels.

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

To add to the above, knowing that bacteria and DOC are important, some people might recommend carbon dosing and/or turning off a UV if you have one running so as to encourage bacterial population growth (you may need to be careful if you try this though, as too big of a bacteria bloom could cause issues in your tank).

For general sponge health, I've heard good things from people dosing ChaetoGro, and some phyto dosing and/or macro in the tank may help encourage sponge health/growth too.

Also, a couple of things pertaining to sponges and silicates - most sponges do need them, so it may be a good idea (as mentioned) to dose silicates if you're trying to promote sponge growth. Supposedly pineapple sponges do too, but I can't figure out why they would need it in anything less than small quantities:

Pineapple Sponges (genus Sycon) are in the taxonomic class of Calcarea. Sponges in this class are characterized by having spicules made of calcium carbonate, and Sycon is in the order Leucosolenoida (whose skeletons are composed entirely of their spicules), so I can’t imagine them needing the silica for their structure. However, from all of the anecdotal reports I’ve read, these sponges are silica limited, so I’m curious if they really are, and what they would need the silica for.

If it's a calcareous sponge (a sponge whose spicules - and by extension, skeleton - are made of calcium carbonate - taxonomic class Calcarea), then it would use calcium, and depending on how fast it grows it could potentially affect the calcium level in your tank. However, aside from pineapple sponges (genus Sycon), calcareous sponges are relatively rare in our aquariums (which makes sense since they make up up less than ~5-10% of all known sponge species at the moment).

So, odds are that they shouldn't use a meaningful amount of calcium, but there's a very small chance they may.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Is there a way to broadcast seed my reef tank with sponges? Right now it has a small population of pineapple sponges all over. Trying to boost the biodiversity and potential food sources in the tank. Love all the layers in a reef tank, not just the shiny corals and fun fish.

they will seed themselves. Most of us acquire them than planting them. Some are toxic or can release toxins, so be selective

 

[Spare time]

You can buy sponges at places you get coral. There are some pretty photosynthetic ones too. If you have a skimmer it might help to carbon dose or run it on a timer so you don't strip the tank of sponge food

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

With regards to sponge toxicity:

To preface this, I’m not an expert - I’ve been doing a lot of reading up sponges, but I’m not an expert. So, with that out of the way, I know this is vague and somewhat unhelpful, but it depends on the sponge.

Some sponges are highly toxic, some moderately toxic, some mildly toxic, and some not toxic at all. Generally speaking though, sponges produce toxins to avoid predation and/or parasites, or (like some corals) as a form of chemical warfare to compete for territory. With these toxins, some of them are specifically anti-fish, some anti-echinoderm, some anti-parasite, some anti-coral, etc. As I understand it, some of these toxins are deadly to other marine species, and some just make the sponge taste bad or be less preferred by predators.

To address your actual questions now, though, some sponges constantly put out toxins (I know this one has been demonstrated), I’ve heard but can’t at this moment confirm that some might only put out toxins if disturbed/threatened (as you suggested in your post) and some might only be toxic if eaten (this one I find highly likely, but, again, I can’t confirm it at present), and - as mentioned above - some species aren’t toxic at all, so they don’t put out toxins period.

Whether or not a sponge’s toxins are harmful to fish, corals, etc. is - as I hinted at above - dependent on the toxins produced by the sponge and the quantity produced. To give an idea here, sea cucumber toxins (known as holothurin) are ichthyotoxins, meaning they are primarily toxic to fish. So, if a sea cucumber releases their toxins into a tank at a low dose, the fish in the tank will likely suffer (and possibly die) even though the amount of toxin is small, but other inhabitants will likely be unaffected. At a high dosage, however, these other inhabitants may suffer (and/or die) as well.

So, if a sponge produces fish or coral specific toxins, those may suffer or die even if the amount of toxin produced is small. Similarly, if the toxin produced is not a coral or fish specific toxin but the sponge produces a large amount of it, those might still suffer or die regardless.

I’ve never heard of a fish dying from just swimming by a toxic sponge (I’ve only heard of fish dying from eating highly toxic sponges in a laboratory, force-feeding setting at the moment), so I would assume that sponge toxicity is not a big concern under normal circumstances. If you happen to have a highly toxic (either in potency or quantity) sponge that is not being eaten, however, I suppose it’s possible it could pose some health concerns for your tank’s inhabitants, particularly if you don’t do regular water changes or run carbon.

Now, all of that said, I would guess that, in most circumstances, sponges in our tanks are probably either mildly toxic (probably edible but not preferred as a food) or only seriously toxic when consumed (and most tank inhabitants, being chemically sensitive, would likely know better than to eat highly toxic sponges). So, I would guess that in the overwhelming majority of cases, the sponges in our tanks are essentially perfectly reef safe and harmless (though, much like many soft corals, I suspect they would engage in manageable levels of chemical warfare for space in the tank - in that regard I guess you could argue that they are detrimental to corals). This is just a guess, but - like WheatToast - I’ve never heard of a sponge’s toxins causing issues in a tank.

Also, for anyone who’s interested, only a handful of sponges are really considered toxic to humans - they basically give an itchy, painful, swollen rash when touched (contact dermatitis), usually a few hours to days after the contact is made.

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

With regards to sponge toxicity:

Thank you!

 

[BlueFynn_Ian]

Wow, thank you for that. Never even considered the toxicity portion of it. Definitely will need to be selective on what types I even attempt to add.

Mostly interested in trying this due to a family reef tank that is completely full of different types of sponges, any piece of rock you pick up is densely packed with networks of encrusting sponges.

Aside from the worm population and its disease history this has been one of the healthiest and most self-sufficient tanks I have worked with. Was hoping to replicate some of the potential benefits of it in a "controlled" setting (new tank) without taking from this tank due to its known issues.

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Wow, thank you for that. Never even considered the toxicity portion of it. Definitely will need to be selective on what types I even attempt to add.

Mostly interested in trying this due to a family reef tank that is completely full of different types of sponges, any piece of rock you pick up is densely packed with networks of encrusting sponges.

Aside from the worm population and its disease history this has been one of the healthiest and most self-sufficient tanks I have worked with. Was hoping to replicate some of the potential benefits of it in a "controlled" setting (new tank) without taking from this tank due to its known issues.

A bit more food for thought with regards to sponge toxicity:

…people have heard that most sponges produce toxins and interpreted that to mean that most of them are dangerous/deadly. In reality, most sessile (stationary) creatures in the ocean produce toxins - corals included. The important thing for sponge toxicity as it relates to this conversation though is that many toxins are only harmful in huge quantities or to specific organisms.
…
basically, the toxic sponges we care about in our tanks are usually the ones that are invasively smothering corals, as the other toxic sponges don't really cause any problems.
…
TLDR; if it can't move and it lives in the ocean, it's probably toxic to one degree or another. Most of these toxic things (like corals and most sponges) are actually harmless though.

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

Wow, thank you for that. Never even considered the toxicity portion of it. Definitely will need to be selective on what types I even attempt to add.

Mostly interested in trying this due to a family reef tank that is completely full of different types of sponges, any piece of rock you pick up is densely packed with networks of encrusting sponges.

Aside from the worm population and its disease history this has been one of the healthiest and most self-sufficient tanks I have worked with. Was hoping to replicate some of the potential benefits of it in a "controlled" setting (new tank) without taking from this tank due to its known issues.

I believe the point was that most are only selectively toxic...