Hello, Geezer coming back to this forum. Paul B

[Paul B]

I did a little investigating on my morning walk. I wanted to get into this old barn because no one lives here any longer but I think I still could have been shot so I didn't go inside. There was no sun so they are a little Blah.
The others were open.

 

[Paul B]

I walked down to the beach this morning and it was beautiful and calm.

 

[Paul B]

I am not exactly sure what I am going to do with my tank. The sponge took over most of the real estate and it killed all the hard corals and some of the others. I have been having luck killing it by injecting vinegar into it but as it dies it creates hair algae and a stringy slime which I am sure isn't good. It doesn't affect the fish at all as they are still spawning and looking great.

I don't have another tank (yet) but I may have to start one just so I can take out the sponge infested rock and maybe leave it in the dark for a few weeks. I am doing an experiment now with some heavily encrusted rocks that I dipped in tap water for one minute to see if that kills the stuff.

I would rather not dip all my sponge infested rock in tap water because it is loaded with brittle stars, bristle worms, copepods and amphipods that I want to keep and I am not sure if the fresh water will kill that. I know it kills brittle stars in a few seconds but I have thousands of them.

I know I can't keep it going like it is because I can't put anything else in there. My workshop is full now with non-fish projects so I have to finish those before I start this difficult, time consuming task. My wife also takes up much of my free time now as her MS is slowly progressing so she can't do much.

 

[BeanAnimal]

Workshop full?

So you are making me a fish?

 

[BeanAnimal]

Plant blue clove polyps - it will out compete the sponge and look pretty

 

[Reefing102]

Not sure about the dipping but if it is photosynthetic, I would imagine a few weeks in the dark should do it in. I’d just likely use the new tank for the darkness and keep your main tank set up

 

[Paul B]

Workshop full?

Yes. Pretty full now.

That is a motorized "drawer" that will go in the Master bath into a hollow wall and automatically come out 30" for storage in the bathroom of towels. I just like to build. Under it will be a granite "appliance garage" for tooth brushes, hair driers etc.

Plant blue clove polyps - it will out compete the sponge and look pretty

They died. The toxins in the sponge would kill a horse. A non quarantined or medicated healthy horse with a few years on him.

Not sure about the dipping but if it is photosynthetic, I would imagine a few weeks in the dark should do it in. I’d just likely use the new tank for the darkness and keep your main tank set up

I will put it in the dark but the sponge will die either way and the water will get very scurvy as I have many pounds of sponge. Luckily the Atlantic Ocean is behind my house because I will have to change the water almost daily. Under the surface rocks there should be clean rock with no sponge so there will be enough in the tank to keep the fish happy or I can also remove half the rock and clean that, then do the other half.

 

[wvned]

My angels eat sponges, maybe a dwarf of some kind. I have 3 and they are very nice fish

 

[Paul B]

They won't eat this. It's like shoe leather.
I also have 3 filefish and a large Koran angel that just laugh at it.

 

[Paul B]

The hardest part is that this tank is old so the corals are not on plugs but growing on the rock. I will need to cut them all off the rock and re glue them on clean rock. A real pain.

I will get through it. I have to collect about 80 gallons of water because when this sponge dyes, I will have to change all of the water in the vat.

 

[Vinny Kreyling]

Paul,
Any chance you could spray the algae with Peroxide & put the rock back after deleting the sponge?
Peroxide does a pretty good job & turns to water.
That damn sponge is a real PITA.

 

[Paul B]

I probably could but I can't kill the sponge in my tank because of the toxins in the sponge and the toxins from deteriorating sponge. I have a Styrofoam container that I will fill with NSW and keep the sponge covered rocks in in the dark for a while and see what happens.

I just picked up this tiny guy.

 

[montepora]

Hi, could NSW you collect/use fueling the growth of the sponges in your tank? They love phosphates and nitrates. Also, how is water flow in your tank? They tend to grow in low flow areas. Maybe you can increase the flow?

 

[Paul B]

Good Morning Montepora. That is a very good question and totally correct. The NSW I collect here is very high in silicates and maybe phosphates. The nitrates are very low. The water here I am sure feeds the sponge and if I switched to ASW that may make a big difference in slowing the growth.
I may even fill the tank with ASW just to slow the growth but I think I will also have to remove it to kill it then maybe the ASW will not allow it to re grow.

The flow in my tank is very high, and higher and the water will splash out.

I was going to try this but your question probably pushed me to go ahead and start using ASW at least for a while.
Thank you and have a great day.

You can see the flow here. Usually it is higher but I need to clean the pumps.

 

[Paul B]

Morning walk

 

[Paul B]

I am in the process of mixing a lot of ASW. I am going to make the biggest water change I ever had, maybe 80 gallons because I think all the silicates from my NSW are feeding this invasive sponge. I will change the water then in the old water in a huge vat I will put the sponge rock in the dark until the sponge croaks.

I will have enough clean rock from the bottom of my aquascape to keep the fish happy and I also have some dry rock laying around if needed.
I have not cleaned my tank in the 5 years I am here and a undergravel filter needs this cleaning eventually anyway so this will give me an opportunity to do this.

Unfortunately I will lose many corals and anemones because none of my corals are on those frag things and all of them are growing on the rock so I will have to cut off what I can save and leave them in the tank. I can't save them all as they are stuck everywhere but it is what it is.

I only have enough capacity to hold about 80 gallons of water so I will need to buy another garbage can or big vat to do such a large change because I need to save water to put the rock in and due to the sponge hopefully disintegrating, I will need to change that water often.

After all the sponge is eliminated, I will again start using NSW for water changes.

I am also getting much to old to do this myself.

 

[Vinny Kreyling]

Paul,
I have a 30 gallon vat with a top you can borrow.
Let me know if that works for you.

 

[Paul B]

Vinny that is just what I need. I have one but I will temporarilly need another one because I need to hold about 100 gallons of water while I make this change. I was going to buy one because they are not that much but I am not sure I will use it again.

I will let you know, Where do you live?

 

[Vinny Kreyling]

Miller Place right off Mt. Sinai Coram Rd.
2 miles south of Stop & Shop.

 

[Paul B]

OK Vinny, I will let you know. Thanks.

You are near Aqua Hut.