How do I mount a sponge?

[findingnemo2]

I don't know if this is the right area of RC but, I bought a reef sponge, it is a orange branching one, and I really don't want to wedge it in between rocks, is there a way other than wedging? Can It be super glued or eposyed? Thanks in advance!

 

[philter4]

It can, you can epoxy it to a piece of rubble and then place it in the tank, but be very careful, sponges can not be exposed to the air, if they are air gets trapped in the cells and that portion of the sponge dies. if that happens you need to cut the dead part off to save the rest of the sponge. If you lift the whole thing out of the water it will be hard to save if air is in it. If when you bought it did the store lift it to put in the bag? If that happens it isn't easy to save them.

 

[findingnemo2]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13081232#post13081232 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by philter4
It can, you can epoxy it to a piece of rubble and then place it in the tank, but be very careful, sponges can not be exposed to the air, if they are air gets trapped in the cells and that portion of the sponge dies. if that happens you need to cut the dead part off to save the rest of the sponge. If you lift the whole thing out of the water it will be hard to save if air is in it. If when you bought it did the store lift it to put in the bag? If that happens it isn't easy to save them.

They took care to not expose it to air and so did I.
I knew what ever I used would have to be under water, just didn't want to epoxy it or super glue it and kill the sponge. Tomorrow I am trying this out. Wish me luck! Thanks!

 

[dtaylor123]

Use a tooth pick and a hole in some LR rubble, spear the sponge and then the hole in the LR rubble.

The thing with a sponge and air, I wouldn't recommend just picking it out of the water and looking at it, but if you think that sponge made it from the ocean to your house with never being exposed to air, it's unrealistic. They get exposed to air and they are fine. It's a bit of a misnomer, I have a beautiful purple sponge that I had out of water and it is not worse for the wear. Some sponges can be photosynthetic too, not with zooanthelle but with bacteria, I think my purple one is. Place in a good current area, algae will cause death. I blow mine off with a turkey baster two times a day, to keep it clean.

Dan

 

[dtaylor123]

Use a tooth pick and a hole in some LR rubble, spear the sponge and then the hole in the LR rubble.

The thing with a sponge and air, I wouldn't recommend just picking it out of the water and looking at it, but if you think that sponge made it from the ocean to your house with never being exposed to air, it's unrealistic. They get exposed to air and they are fine. It's a bit of a misnomer, I have a beautiful purple sponge that I had out of water and it is not worse for the wear. Some sponges can be photosynthetic too, not with zooanthelle but with bacteria, I think my purple one is. Place in a good current area, algae will cause death. I blow mine off with a turkey baster two times a day, to keep it clean.

Dan

 

[philter4]

dtaylor, I used to collect for a living and the sponges are never exposed to air by good collectors, and though yours was exposed, past experience shows that yours was just lucky. If air gets trapped in the animal it can not flush it out and the bubble will cause that area to die, like I stated earlier this doesn't mean the whole thing will die, but if you don't remove the section it will eventially disintigrate.

 

[Nano Chris]

I have a question, cant you just stick it a little bit in the sand to hold it up?

 

[philter4]

The problem with that is the parts below the sand usually die and that will end up causing damage or death to the whole sponge.

 

[natan]

I wish sponges would just die from air exposure. while some of them do, some are impossible to get rid of. i have 2 types, and removing them from the tank, scrubbing and drying out with a paper towel, than living the rock to dry for a couple of minutes defore returning it to the tank dod absolutely nothing to the dumb sponge.
Depends on a species in question i guess.

 

[philter4]

Natan, the problem with your sponge is that the parts attached to the live rock don't dry out and they are so thin they can hold water, if you want to kill it you need to just let it dry out. The problem is this kills all the other life as well. I am talking about decorative sponges that people collect and buy for there tanks not the hitch hiker types.

 

[mollymonticello]

If the sponge doesn't have rock attached at its base, you could also try this -- get one of those plastic toothpicks used for holding olives in drinks. Make a flattened base out of epoxy and stick the toothpick pointy side up in the base and let it dry and harden. Then spear the base of the sponge on the toothpick. Eventually, it will overgrow the epoxy base.

If the sponge has some rock attached at its base still, you could try gluing or epoxying it to your rock. Never put the base of a sponge in the sand, like philter said.