sponges and nitrates

[richard snyder]

Anyone have any success keeping sponges in a high nitrate tank. I have some large angels being kept with large predator fish and the nitrates are next to immpossible to keep low.I would like to introduce live sponges for them to nibble on

 

[Ryanqk]

I have had sponge growing in my tank for quite a while and i nearly always have moderatly high nitrates, some do better than others and if its too high they will die off but slowly

 

[racrumrine]

What are you defining as high nitrates? I have sponges growing in environments from 0 to 25+ nitrates.

In my opinion, sponges grow better in skimmerless tanks because more nutrients remain in the water for them to filter out.

Best of luck,

Roy

 

[richard snyder]

By high nitrates I mean 200-300ppm.Heck if they were under 100 I wouldn't even worry. I have a fuge on the tank with chaeto and other macro algaes. The fish do not seem to be affected by the high nitrates. The tank inhabitants are:
1 Emperor angel 14"- 16"
1 Queen Angel 7" and 5yrs old
1 Black and white spotted puffer 8"
1 show sized desjardini tang
1 show sized yellow tang
1 green bird wrasse
1 fuscus trigger
1 Very large 24" snowflake eel
1 Banded cat shark 30" and laying eggs
2 Tomato clowns
and a 4 year old cleaner wrasse
I just thought that if I could get the nitrates down a bit the fish would even do better

 

[racrumrine]

If you change your water regularly, I don't know how you could have nitrates that high.

What sort of test kit do you use? Those little test strips can be extremely unreliable (I found out the hard way before).

You may already have sponges in the tank. They are probably hiden in your rock work.

Do you have a protein skimmer?

Best of luck,

Roy

 

[richard snyder]

Just did a 250 gallon water change and nitrates were still high. Ther is a kick butt MR 3 PS from My reef creations on the tank.The best performing skimmer I've ever had. I would have nothing else.The skimmer has 2 Beckett foam injectors with an eight inch by twelve inch riser,with an add on riser if desired of another twelve inches. The fish simply have to be fed alot.

 

[racrumrine]

What test kit do you use? Do you have the ability to take a sample of your water to be tested by the LFS or someone else? I'm still thinking your getting a false reading.

If you just did a 250 gallon water change, you should have seen a big drop in nitrates.

In my experience, water changes give an immediate drop. Then, if nothing else changes, nitrates creep right back up to where they were.

Best of luck,

Roy