No more pineapple sponges

[Kit with Cat]

Hi everyone,
Just wondering out of curiosity. When I started my tank, 4-7 months in, I had a whack of pineapple sponges. I was told that's because I had silicates (probably introduced via tap water top ups). Now, 14 months in, not a single pineapple sponge. My anemones used to be brown, then split, and is now colorless. My hammer and frogspawn are also now colorless....am I missing an additive of some sort??

I was using H2Ocean, then switched to Instant Ocean, now I have switched back to H2Ocean. Could this be the culprit?

All other water parameters are in great condition. My reef tank is 90G, with a refugium, running a HOB Remora skimmer, Eheim Classic Canister (2217?) and Rena XP3 Canister, T5 lighting. I dose calcium infrequently.

My livestock in the tank are: 2 false perculas, 1 hippo tang, 1 mandarin, 1 bicolor dottyback (still free if anyone wants to catch him!), 2 fire shrimps, hermits, snails.

Here are pictures....thoughts?

[FitoPharmer]

If its not the water, its probably the lights.
How long do you run your lights? and how old are the bulbs?

[whatcaneyedo]

Looks like lots of bleaching which means something is really stressing out the tank. Based on the information you've provided my guess is source water, temperature, water quality or general instability. More information would be helpful.

[jtbadco]

I would think we would need your parameters to be helpful.

Temp
salinity
pH
Ammonia
Nitrates
Nitrites
Phosphates
Calcium
Magnesium

I try to keep the calcium and magnesium levels at appropriate levels. I also add a Strontium complex with iodine and trace elements.

[daniella3d]

They usually disapear to the profit of other sponges. Mine are all gone as well but I have so many other sponges growing everywhere that I know it's not the water. Surely not the light because pinaple are not photosynthetic and don't care for light at all. They only care for nutrient in the water but for some reason they don't hang very long.

I have tons of pink and blue sponges growing everywhere on my liverock, so I know the tank is healthy for sponges.

The anemone getting bleached is not a good sign. Since they can move around, I am guessing that it does not have too much light or it could move out of the way of the light. It's probably not having enough or the water quality is not right and it has expealed its zooxanthellae. It's really not a good sign.

YOu will need to feed it often since it cannot get its food from symbiotic now. I would check for copper as well.

Originally Posted by Kit with Cat

Hi everyone,
Just wondering out of curiosity. When I started my tank, 4-7 months in, I had a whack of pineapple sponges. I was told that's because I had silicates (probably introduced via tap water top ups). Now, 14 months in, not a single pineapple sponge. My anemones used to be brown, then split, and is now colorless. My hammer and frogspawn are also now colorless....am I missing an additive of some sort??

I was using H2Ocean, then switched to Instant Ocean, now I have switched back to H2Ocean. Could this be the culprit?

All other water parameters are in great condition. My reef tank is 90G, with a refugium, running a HOB Remora skimmer, Eheim Classic Canister (2217?) and Rena XP3 Canister, T5 lighting. I dose calcium infrequently.

My livestock in the tank are: 2 false perculas, 1 hippo tang, 1 mandarin, 1 bicolor dottyback (still free if anyone wants to catch him!), 2 fire shrimps, hermits, snails.

Here are pictures....thoughts?

[Kit with Cat]

Thanks for the response so far guys:

Temp: 81 F
pH: 8.2
Salinity: 1.025
Ammonia: 0
Nitrites: 0
Nitrates: 0
Calcium: 520-540
Phosphates: 0

I don't have a test for Mg or Cu...I'll go grab those in a a few days. The anemones have been like that for months, as well as the frogspawn and hammer corals.

I run the lights 8 hours per day. Last changed 3 months ago.

[reefwars]

Originally Posted by Kit with Cat

Thanks for the response so far guys:

Temp: 81 F
pH: 8.2
Salinity: 1.025
Ammonia: 0
Nitrites: 0
Nitrates: 0
Calcium: 520-540
Phosphates: 0

I don't have a test for Mg or Cu...I'll go grab those in a a few days. The anemones have been like that for months, as well as the frogspawn and hammer corals.

I run the lights 8 hours per day. Last changed 3 months ago.

with your calcium that high i would bet your alk and ph are off a bit too.

[reefwars]

i think we talked about this when you were here about the high calcium, what are you adding to the tank i cant remember if you were adding anything or not???

[reefwars]

[quote=Kit with Cat;714845]I dose calcium infrequently.

quote]


without testing i wouldnt be adding calcium to your tank, how are you doing it and with what??


unless your tank is demanding on calcium it really does not need to be dosed, there is enough to get started in salt alone

[Kit with Cat]

I use this reef complete by sea chem which raises calcium and maintains magnesium and strontium? I use 1 capful (which would treat 20 gallons) maybe once every 2 weeks....guess I need to stop that for sure haha