Sponges

[PFisher]

I am interested in adding an orange sponge to my tank after I move and upgrade this spring. I have done a fair bit of research on sponges, but I was wondering if anyone has had any experience that they would be willing to share. How do you ensure that there is enough food in the water for them to filter out?

[MitchM]

Orange sponges process a LOT of water in their feeding process. Our tanks do not have enough plankton for long term success, IMO, and they are non-photosynthetic. I had one for 6 months and saw pretty much zero growth. I kept it in my sump, and had the sump run dry one day....it was toast. Try to expose it to as little air as possible, as I've read that that is really bad for them as well.

Mitch

[TANGOMAN]

I've had an Orange Cactus Sponge for close to two years. It has been a challenge for me from day one ! It was a "cyano-magnet" for a long time. It has shown color improvement and cleaned itself up since I found the right location in the tank for it. Unfortunately that is a dark recess where it is hardly visible. It has never grown.
Exposure to air will destroy their tissue as Mitch stated.

[Samw]

I've tried 3 different kinds of sponges with mixed results.

The orange flower sponge that I bought on Oct 5 last year is still with me and is doing fine. It has not grown significantly but is healthy.

The pink vase sponge that I bought on Oct 5 started dying immediately but at the same time it was attaching itself to the liverock. I would say that I lost 70% of it but recently, it has stopped dying and is now recovering. I've removed it from the large live rock at the back of the tank and am trying to place it in a better lit location as an experiment. Although it is now recovering, it is uncertain that placing it in light helped or not. The little pieces of pink sponge that were left behind on the rock that it was previously attached to are also still alive for a couple of months now. I think this sponge has a good chance of survival.

I also tried a blue sponge on Nov 4 but that died in about 2 weeks turning completely white. Some say that the blue ones are photosynthetic and need very intense lighting.

I don't really do anything special in terms of feeding. Once a week, I add some DT's.

[BCOrchidGuy]

Thats great to hear all the cautions I almost bought a blue and a yellow sponge today. If sponges aren't such a good idea, what can I put in the lower light areas of my tank, I also have a cave/covered area with nothing in it. I have a 90 gallon with just an inch + of sand in the bottom so the bottom is a good 23 inches from the water surface and I have two 175 watt 10,000 bulbs about 6 inches off the water. Any low light ideas?

[Canadian Man]

Dont know if this helps or not.

I have some sponges growing in my tank and sump that are a white color with purple pigments througout them.
They just poped out of the rock.

[Samw]

Here are pics of the sponges that lived and the one that didn't. I might give a blue one another chance when the MH lights go in.

Pink Vase and Orange Flower (Oct 2002)


Pink Vase Sponge (Nov 2002)




Orange Flower and Blue Sponge (Nov 2002)



Orange Flower Sponge (Jan 2003)

[ldzielak]

I have had a blue sponge for about 1 1/2 years now. No signs of growth, and has fallen off rocks and still suvives. From what I read they create there own water movement (filtration) so they don't need flow. I believe this now since I broke off a small piece that it down in a hole almost under my love rock. This "frag" had been doing fine for 1 month. The frag is almost out of the light, no flow, but my main piece is in high light, does not make much difference from what I have been through.

Lee

[Samw]

Originally Posted by ldzielak

I have had a blue sponge for about 1 1/2 years now.

Lee, is your blue sponge hard? The blue sponge that I had was very hard. Whereas the 2 sponges that I have still alive are very soft.

[Samw]

Originally Posted by Canadian Man

Dont know if this helps or not.

I have some sponges growing in my tank and sump that are a white color with purple pigments througout them.
They just poped out of the rock.

I've got those too growing on my rocks. They're plain white though, no color yet.