Sponges

[rowjimmy]

Incredible pics I noticed what appears to be a coral that I have in my tank as well in the third pic reeftank (021.jpg (56.9 KB, 14 views)) its orange and reddish. I'm embarrased to admit I have no idea what its called where its from or much else about it,lol...what do you know about it?

Thanks oh by the by where do you get the Fauna Marin F

The coral in the third pic that you are asking about is Distichopora sp. It goes by the common names Lace Coral, Lace Stick Coral, and I've seen them labeled as Fire Corals even though they are similar they don't sting the way true Fire Corals do (Millepora sp.).

It is a non-photosynthetic coral that depends on regular supplemental feedings of small "micro-planktonic" food particles to survive. I would keep it in a low light area of the tank since they are often found in low light areas on the reef in caves and overhangs. They also appreciate good to strong water flow. Also helps to keep algae from choking out the branches.

How long have you had your specimen? Have you noticed the clear "hair-like" gasterozooids expanding through the pores of the coral to feed (generally at night in the dark, but not always)?

Distichopora sp. is generally very hard if not impossible to keep long term in captivity. It has a bad track record. I've kept a pink specimen, and a purple one in the past (many years ago), and the longest I could get them to survive (sustain) was about a year.

I just obtained this specimen last month, and with the new foods available to the hobby now catering to non-photosynthetic corals I plan to give it another try.

I got my Fauna Marin F from reefconcept.com (they are in Canada though). When I tried faunamarindirect.com for US shipments the site wasn't working right (I'm sure the glitches are worked out by now though).

 

[rowjimmy]

How long did it take before you first noticed sponges growing? And how old are your sponges in general, best guess.

My tank is new as of Jan 6th. I had a itty bitty dime sizes piece of black sponge given to me during my tank seeding, and just the other day some orange and a bluish pieces also. I rubbed one of the orange pieces under a little overhang after reading about people doing that to propogate new sponge growth.

I started with cured Pacific rock with this particular tank (over 3 years ago). It had minimal "visable" life on it. Mostly the only life "visable" was some coralline algae. I did notice some minimal small sponge growth that survived.

But that is the beauty of "live rock". The spores and life within the rock have the ability to surprise. You will see life start to grow on the rocks after the cycle if not sooner.

With the same rock 3+ years later I still find "new" things sprouting about here and there from time to time. So to answer your question in general the sponges growing on my rock (that I didn't add) are over 3 years old that I know of. It's hard to put a timeline on something that you don't introduce intentionally that just sprouts up.

The ones I did intentionally add to my tank go back to before I started this tank to some I added last month. I have a yellow ball sponge that I had in a previous tank that I added to this one that is over 7+ years if my memory serves me well.

As far as rubbing pieces of sponge on your live rock to "seed" them I'm sure it's hit or miss. You may end up killing the frag, or you may get lucky and have a sponge that the spores will populate your existing rocks.

If it was me I would take those frags and just put them in areas of my tank favorable to their growth rather then smash them in the rocks and hope the spores take. But that is just my opinion. Here's some more of my sponges:

 

[rowjimmy]

...

 

[rowjimmy]

Be careful! There is too much of a good thing.....sponges I never added before growing out of the rockwork and starting to choke out a zoanthid colony:

 

[jfw60]

Thank you

Thank you

The coral in the third pic that you are asking about is Distichopora sp. It goes by the common names Lace Coral, Lace Stick Coral, and I've seen them labeled as Fire Corals even though they are similar they don't sting the way true Fire Corals do (Millepora sp.).

It is a non-photosynthetic coral that depends on regular supplemental feedings of small "micro-planktonic" food particles to survive. I would keep it in a low light area of the tank since they are often found in low light areas on the reef in caves and overhangs. They also appreciate good to strong water flow. Also helps to keep algae from choking out the branches.

How long have you had your specimen? Have you noticed the clear "hair-like" gasterozooids expanding through the pores of the coral to feed (generally at night in the dark, but not always)?

Distichopora sp. is generally very hard if not impossible to keep long term in captivity. It has a bad track record. I've kept a pink specimen, and a purple one in the past (many years ago), and the longest I could get them to survive (sustain) was about a year.

I just obtained this specimen last month, and with the new foods available to the hobby now catering to non-photosynthetic corals I plan to give it another try.

I got my Fauna Marin F from reefconcept.com (they are in Canada though). When I tried faunamarindirect.com for US shipments the site wasn't working right (I'm sure the glitches are worked out by now though).

I appreciate the feedback that is in fact exacttly what my specimen looks like. If I may ask just few questions about your system, how often do you perform water changes and what form of filtration do you use?

Thank You

Incredible pics

 

[rowjimmy]

I appreciate the feedback that is in fact exacttly what my specimen looks like. If I may ask just few questions about your system, how often do you perform water changes and what form of filtration do you use?

Thank You

Incredible pics

My system is a standard 75 gallon tank. I perform a 15 gallon water change at least once a week. If time permits I try/like to perform two 15 gallon water changes a week. I keep alot of NPS corals and filter feeders, so I feed ALOT. If I don't keep up with regular water changes for nutrient export the water quality suffers.

As for filtration I use natural live rock as well as a shallow live sand bed. Lots of filter feeders. I do not have a sump on this system. I use a Deltec MCE 600 hang on the back protein skimmer w/ media basket. I fill the media basket half with carbon and half with GFO.

I use the largest CPR hang on the back refugium w/ light that I grow macro algae in and harvest (to help with nutrient export). I also use two Hydor Koralia #4 power heads w/out guards on each end of my aquarium to provide nice water movement throughout the tank.

 

[cherubfish pair]

tagging

 

[Airwolf75]

My other purposefully added sponge is this one. A brilliant purple, fast growing and actually really easy to care for.

 

[polka]

My other purposefully added sponge is this one. A brilliant purple, fast growing and actually really easy to care for.

Are you willing to frag those in IL chicago LMK