OK to place Tree Sponge in substrate? *pic inside*

[jimrawr]

So I bought this Tree Sponge today, and I want to place him low away from the MH lighting. Is it ok to keep him in the substrate like this? Part of the sponge(about an inch) is burried so its not getting and light or waterflow at all.

One more question, on liveaquaria it says to feed it disolved organic food. What exactly would that be?

 

[graveyardworm]

Its a sponge so it relys on being able to pass water through its tissues to filter out food, by placing it in the sand you are limiting, possibly eliminating that portion of from getting food. I would guess that the portion in the sand will eventually die. Youd be better to wedge it in between the LR in an area of good water flow.

They feed on phytoplankton, so a product like DT's would work as food for it.

Just a FWIW sponges should never be exposed to air, so hopefully you didnt do this. Air gets trapped in its tissue and that portion of tissue will die. Quite often exposure to air is detrimental for the entire sponge.

 

[jimrawr]

Thanks. I made sure not to expose it to any air at all when I put it in my tank. What exactly is DTs? Type of Phytoplankton product I am guessing, but what exactly does it stand for??

 

[graveyardworm]

DT's phytoplankton

They dont feed only on phyto, like Fosters indicates they feed on dissolved organics as well, and other fine particulate matter. This stuuf comes into the tank as fish food and other foods. There are other filter feeder foods available as well.

 

[greenbean36191]

Most of their diet is things like bacteria and protists, which you can't really add to the tank. Phytoplankton will help, but it's not really a complete diet.

The best way to mount this thing is to stick a few toothpicks into the bottom of it and then glue the toothpicks to a rock. You don't want to wedge or bury any part of it, since the part that isn't getting flow will die and start a chain reaction.

Unfortunately, these sponges don't tend to do well in captivity. It's hard to give them the right food and it's unlikely that they feed very efficiently with the type of flow found in reef tanks.