Sponge and Kenya tree questions

Toisoljer

New member
I have a 3 gallon pico, with a 9w 50/50 compact light. I have a pretty large sponge in it, I'm not sure what it's called but I know they require low light and high flow. I figured because my light is nothing special, more like the bare minimum for this size tank that the lighting would be ok for it. I'm finding though that the back of the sponge is deteriorating, and I think it might be because it's facing the light? Would this kill a sponge? Or is it that I haven't been feeding the tank? I just bought some marine snow and I plan to start feeding the tank this week, but I'v ebeen waiting for everything to stabalize before dirtying up the tank. Does anyone have input on sponges and what might be causing it to deteriorate? Just a note, it never touched the air when I added it, and it's been about 3 weeks since I got it.

The other question is about my kenya tree, it's been doing great always open and waving and grabbing particles as they float by. But since I changed my filter, (I got a skimmer/filter combo and took out my stock filter because it wasn't doing a good job) the polyps aren't opening anymore and I don't know if it's related. It still has good flow and the same lighting. Will it open up eventually? It's been 3 days and no luck so I thought I'd ask if I'm doing anything wrong.

Thank you in advance if you can give me any input on either of these things.
 
There are lots of sponges. Some require light and some don't do well with it. This sponge might be having problems with algal growth caused by the light. That's common for deepwater sponges. Can you post a picture?

The kenya tree might just be adapting to the change in the water parameters. How is the ammonia level doing? Taking out a filter can cause ammonia spikes, if it has bio-media in it.
 
I'm not too knowledgeable in the hobby yet, but I have sponges in almost every color of the rainbow! If you can show me a pic or describe it I will tell you how they do in my tank. FYI I have bright blue, purple, green, orange, black, yellow, and "earwax." :)
 
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