KEEPING SPONGE IN FOWLR

[MAG]

GOOD DAY.

AFTER 1YR INTO THIS HOBBY I NOTICE MY TANK LOOKS ABIT BORING. SO I DECIDED TO ADD SOME SPONGE INTO MY TANK.

I HV 4FTS TANK w OVERFLOW BOX AND SUMP(ONLY COTTON+CARBON). NEEDLE WHEEL SKIMMER,13V UV AND OZONISER. 80-100KGS ROCKS+SANDBED2INCHES. T5 LIGHTS=4TUBES(BLUE+WHITE)

Q:IS THERE A LIMIT OF HOW MANY SPONGE I CAN PUT INTO MY 4FTS TANK?

Q:WILL SPONGE CAUSE CHG IN H20 PARAMETER?

Q:ANY WEBSIDE THAT I CAN REFER TO FOR MORE INFO ON SPONGE?

Q:IS THERE ANYTHING I NEED TO ADD/FEED SPONGE

Q:WILL HIGH TEMPERATURE EG 30'-31'C AFFECT SPONGE LIFESPAN?

CAN ALSO SMS ME @ 98453428 TO SHARE SOME LIGHT ON THIS TOPIC.

THX

[Caleb]

Like you, I once asked about sponges.. but not many responses...

the trouble with sponges are their intolerances to air.. apparently, they are very simple organism.. and the slightest exposure to air.. means that they will get internal injuries and die.. so during the packing of the sponges in the shop.. you need to ensure that they are submerge all the time..

hth...

[KTLK]

Hi Mag, if u wanna keep sponge,make sure u don't keep angel as sponge is their favourite food

[bawater]

Hi mag, pls keep pics at 800pixels wide (easy to view), any bigger & it stretches the screen making posts difficult to read.

A sponge is a very simple animal. They are basically a mass of cells. They posses no nervous, digestive or excretory systems.

When you get your sponge home you should acclimate it to your aquarium very slowly.

Sponges are not sensitive to temperature, but do not like drastic shifts in salinity. Add a little bit of tank water to the bag containing the sponge every 10 minutes for about one hour. This will enable the sponge to slowly adjust the changing water conditions.

Place your sponge in an area of the tank that has good water flow and minimum lighting(somewhere low light but not dark). The good flow will bring food to the sponge.

As caleb has said, removing most reef sponges from the water even for several seconds will kill them. If you remove the sponge from the water, airlocks often form in their channels and there is no way to force that air out of their body.

Trapped air causes those cells in the area to die, and as they decompose they produce gas which makes the problem worse, and the sponge starts to decay.

The best way to deal with a dying area in your sponge is to cut that portion away in the water and discard it.

Feeding your sponge is fairly simple. A Phytoplankton supplement on a regular basis.

The other foods like diatoms, dinoflagellates, organic matter, bacteria grow naturally in the aquarium.

The main point is that you do not get too large a sponge. A sponge the size of a golf ball can filter over 2 liters of sea water an hour. Do not put many sponges into one aquarium, and keep your sponges small. If you keep sponges well fed, they will grow according to the water conditions.

You may find it difficult with 3 or 4 sponges in your 4ft (with typical LFS sponge sizes).

Silicate in your tank water does help in growth - regular water change with saltmix & Tapwater will do.

Sponges are easy to grow if given the right conditions.

Sponges will not affect water quality - its the feeding that does, but as you are with a Fowlr it should not be much of an issue.

If you find you are having problems with your sponge in a few days or in 1 or 2 weeks - You may find the need to stop your ozone.

Ozone oxidizes organic matter (which bacteria grow on which is a part of the food items for sponges)

and most probably kills some free floating diatoms and dinoflagellates.