Attackof the Scypha sponges!!

[GigaFish]

Hey everyone,

2 weeks ago I noticed a little white puffy thing on a piece of rock that kind of looked like the shape of a hornets nest or something. I got an id from melevsreef and it is listed as a scypha sponge. The page says that it is reef safe and that I might find them in my tank, and sump, but my question is, how many is too many? Over the past two weeks I have seen a huge amount of these things popping up all over the place, my sump in particular. I must have 50 of these things in my sump and another 50 in my tank at least. My tangs, hermits, and cleaner shrimp dont touch them, and I cant keep an angel due tank size with the tangs. Does anyone think I should just pick them out and keep them under control, or are they good?

 

[1-9-06]

Gigafish-i'm in gilbert and have what sounds like the same issue as yours! i'm following this one with you...sorry i can't help

 

[GoingPostal]

Newish tank? I had a bloom of them in the beginning but they died off, limits nutrients and increase skimming maybe, they are filter feeders after all, starve them out. They will always overpopulate your sump most likely though.

 

[GigaFish]

the tank is almost a year old. the funny thing is, I just got an octopus skimmer the week I noticed this had started.

 

[JeffKirk]

I have quite a few in my tank too, and one large one (1 1/2" round) inside a cave in my LR. I've been told they are safe and can be controlled by limiting feeding.

 

[GigaFish]

I am just afraid that limiting nutrients to kill off the sponges will directly affect my corals and that is not a risk I am willing to take. I just started picking them off as I see them. I leave them in my sump because if they are there, they are eating something, and that something is not something I want in my tank.

 

[1-9-06]

would a UV sterelizer kill the sponges on the return loop from the sump or not? mine is pumped from from the sump back to the sump at 500 gallons p/hr. since my last post i did the recirc mod on my g5 skimmer.

 

[GigaFish]

I have a UV and it doesnt seem to affect them at all.

 

[1-9-06]

does your macro grow as well as the sponges in your sump?

 

[dadonoflaw]

i had them when i stated my tank but they are slowly going away. i assume that they went away due to better skimming and less food but i have a cb angel so that may be a factor.

 

[GigaFish]

does your macro grow as well as the sponges in your sump?

I dont have any macro at the moment.

i had them when i stated my tank but they are slowly going away. i assume that they went away due to better skimming and less food but i have a cb angel so that may be a factor.

The funny thing is, this all started when I got my new skimmer. I was using a remora on a 72g w/sump totally 100g of volume. So I was pretty much not skimming at all. Then I got my Octopus 200 skimmer and its been pulling nog out for weeks, but the sponges just keep coming. I did have a flame angel and a red general sea star in there right before it happened and I think they were keeping the sponges at bay. Unfortunately my two tangs tag teamed the flame angel and killed it and I moved my sea star to a different tank due to the addition of some corals that it would have eaten.

 

[1-9-06]

Gigafish-do your sponges grow only in direct light? I'm going to scrape my glass and try to get a picture up. mine are all in crevices on rock directly in the light. also I'm running very intense lighting,is that the same for you?

 

[GigaFish]

No, I have them in my sump where I have no light, and they are even growing in areas of the rock that never see light. I am running 4x65w 10k PCs.

 

[1-9-06]

mine are all in spots that hermit crabs would have a hard time getting to. you got hermits?

 

[khoivo1]

happen same thing here still don't know what to do ,,any pro here help us out ,,should we worry about it??

 

[racrumrine]

The sponges are harmless.

They tend to like low light and skimmerless tanks (since they are filter feeders). When I feed a lot of DT, all my sponges grow faster.

About the only thing you could worry about is a sponge growing next to a prized coral and who would win the fight.

Fortunately, these low light loving sponges tend not to hang out where you have SPS corals.

Some other species of sponges love bright light. It just depends.

Some people, such as Steve Tyree, use low light sponges rather than skimmers to filter their tanks. http://www.dynamicecomorphology.com/

Best of luck,

Roy

 

[1-9-06]

so would you frag these and put them in an extra sump compartment? i've got one at the base of one of my xenia colonies about the diameter of a dime. that one's going to go first!

 

[racrumrine]

You can frag it off the rock and toss it in the sump.

If they are growing like crazy in your tank, your skimmer is probably not working as well as you think and/or you are feeding a lot.

Are you happy with the growth of your corals? If so, perhaps you should cut back on the feedings and try to find a balance between coral growth and sponge growth.

Best of luck,

Roy

 

[1-9-06]

my corals aren't growing much but i've also been running halides only on the 150 for about 2 months. i just bought some t5s to hook up for the actinics and the phyto is used very sparingly and not everyday. the clowns,mandarin,and tang all eat what i throw in in minutes and i've got a g5 asm skimmer "rated to 700" with the recirc mod. i'm going to order the stuff for the mesh mod but it's working hard for the amount of livestock. i also have 300 nassarus snails wich i move around as i see needed but stay mostly in the mangrove sump out of sight!

 

[1-9-06]

i must have high nutrients. a stray hair of chaeto got in my 54 and is growing sooo fast under my coralife light setup