Sponges and Gorgs?

[Yogre]

Hiya Richard, long time no chat. Hope you're well. Got a couple of questions for you...

How do the sponges and gorgs look this time of year? I could use some color in my tank. On your pricelist I was looking for the purple gorg that has little white polyps, which one is that?

I need to freshen up my sand bed, and think your live sand would do the trick nicely. How many pounds of sand should I order to cover an area 3' by 2' one inch deep? My tank is bigger than that of course but the live rock covers a fair amount of it.

Thanks!

 

[liverock]

Hiya Richard, long time no chat. Hope you're well. Got a couple of questions for you...

How do the sponges and gorgs look this time of year? I could use some color in my tank. On your pricelist I was looking for the purple gorg that has little white polyps, which one is that?

I need to freshen up my sand bed, and think your live sand would do the trick nicely. How many pounds of sand should I order to cover an area 3' by 2' one inch deep? My tank is bigger than that of course but the live rock covers a fair amount of it.

Thanks!

Hey Capt!

will be diving this week...or soon as the weather allows...and grab you some...the purple guy is a sea fan....

would take about 40-50#...but be careful putting it on existing sand as it will smother what you already have unless it is bare in that area...or after adding the new sand, knead it in a bit......to prevent that...

And FYI United has been doing well with freight lately since the merger!!!:dance:

sea ya!
Richard TBS
www.tbsaltwater.com

 

[Yogre]

Excellent!

Great to know United has been doing well with freight, cuz here's what I was thinking...

I finish up at ORD this Thursday the 12th about noon. I was thinking about having you throw my shipment on UAL 793 TPA-ORD, leaving at 11:08 arriving ORD at 13:05. I could run over to the freight terminal after my flight and pick the shipment up before I head to Madison.

What do you think?

 

[liverock]

Excellent!

Great to know United has been doing well with freight, cuz here's what I was thinking...

I finish up at ORD this Thursday the 12th about noon. I was thinking about having you throw my shipment on UAL 793 TPA-ORD, leaving at 11:08 arriving ORD at 13:05. I could run over to the freight terminal after my flight and pick the shipment up before I head to Madison.

What do you think?

Yo...email me...

sea ya

 

[Yogre]

Will do!

 

[liverock]

100 pieces of tank color!

100 pieces of tank color!

Sponges and gorgonians you say Capt??

orange tree sponge....was in the Gulf yesterday!



and the red tree version



Red encrustintg...orange mushroom, yellow flower...yellow ball sponges...



Silver gorgonian



Candelabra gorgonian



and the Captains fav....purple sea fans....



Have about 100 pieces...in stock and ready for your tank!!
Richard TBS
www.tbsaltwater.com

 

[Yogre]

Those are awesome! You've got mail!

 

[liverock]

Those are awesome! You've got mail!

And you know I saved you the two best purple sea fans, Capt!

sea ya
Richard TBS
www.tbsaltwater.com :lolspin::lolspin::lolspin:

 

[tah532]

Sorry to jump into your convo but, Live Aquaria shows that these sponges are for expert care only....are they that difficult to care for. Richard my 1st batch of rock is headed here to Fort Wayne, IN this Saturday and for future reference I was just curious how hard the sponges you guys are talking about are to keep alive?

 

[liverock]

Sorry to jump into your convo but, Live Aquaria shows that these sponges are for expert care only....are they that difficult to care for. Richard my 1st batch of rock is headed here to Fort Wayne, IN this Saturday and for future reference I was just curious how hard the sponges you guys are talking about are to keep alive?

Most sponges are short lived...as you just can't feed them enough...some folks do better that others ...look at Brandons....he has had his orange tree almost a year and it looks look great.....sponges are one of those critters that you enjoy while you have them.....remember..nothing lives forever.....especially in the ocean...everything eats everything else....is how nature works!

Richard TBS
www.tbsaltwater.com :rollface::rollface::rollface:

 

[Yogre]

I ghosted the first batch of sponges that came with part two of my package 5 years ago. I got involved in a battle with a terrible infestation of green hair algae and dosed Algaefix Marine, my sponges were goners within days.

This time I'm hoping they last a little longer. I dose vinegar, so there's bacterioplankton in the tank for food. I also feed quite a bit more than in those days, as well I know to keep the sponges out of direct halide light and to provide plenty of flow.

If they don't last, I'll know I've done my best, and they're beautiful while they're here.

PS I've got some kind of wild white sponge growing like crazy in my tank now, as well as a ton of small feather dusters that came back almost two years after the Algae Wars. It's absolutely amazing to me how resilient life is.

 

[tah532]

What are some signs and symptoms that the sponges are starting to die? I just wanna catch it early and get them out asap before they foul my tank if and when they do die.

 

[Yogre]

In my case they just started to get smaller, then when I dosed the Algaefix they turned completely white at the edges. Within days the white had progressed through the whole sponge.

Sponges are ancient, ancient animals, but they do seem to be pretty sensitive, at least in my experience they're challenging to keep in an aquarium.

As Richard said, some people have better luck than others. There was a TBS customer her handle was Divemonster, her sponges grew like hothouse plants, she had the pics to prove it.

 

[CzarQwerty]

I got my package 5 years ago. 1 gorgonian is still alive. I still have some yellow sponge left, and a lot of gray, encrusting sponge. And never any algae problems. Still happy with the 'package'.