What kind of sponges are these?

[gabev44]

Hi all,

I've got a ton of these sponges in my refugium and all over my skimmer. Are they pineapple sponges? Also, from what I've read, they are basically just free filter feeders and nothing to worry about, yeah? Should I worry about the population increasing or will they just come and go naturally?

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

 

[Michael Hoaster]

Welcome gabev44!

You are correct, they are harmless, free filtration. If they grow on anything you don't want them to, just brush them off with a toothbrush or similar. You can net out the brushed off pieces to prevent them popping up somewhere else.

 

[gabev44]

Ok thanks!

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

 

[makscopes]

I have this all over. No issues other than covering some of my zoas. Take a toothbrush to it before a water change.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Timfish]

Looks like one of the cryptic sponges that are essential for a healthy reef ecosystem. They recycle the labile DOC 1000X faster than bacterioplankton. Steve Tyree has been championing them for over a couple decades and has a couple books out discussing their use with"Zonal" filtration. Here's more recent research showing how critical they are:


Element cycling on tropical coral reefs.
This is Jasper de Geoij's ground breaking research on reef sponges. (The introduction is in Dutch but the content is in English.)
https://www.rug.nl/research/portal/files/14555035/13completethesis.pdf

Sponge symbionts and the marine P cycle
https://www.pnas.org/content/112/14/4191

Phosphorus sequestration in the form of polyphosphate by microbial symbionts in marine sponges
(Chris Kenndall had a problem with low PO4 and had problems raising it with Neophos. Samples sent off showed phosphorus crystals developing in some of the sponges in his system accounting for at least some of his systems consumption.)
https://www.pnas.org/content/112/14/4381

Differential recycling of coral and algal dissolved organic matter via the sponge loop.
Sponges treat DOC from algae differently than DOC from corals
https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1365-2435.12758

Surviving in a Marine Desert The Sponge Loop Retains Resources Within Coral Reefs
Dissolved organic carbon and nitrogen are quickly processed by sponges and released back into the reef food web in hours as carbon and nitrogen rich detritus.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/279061640_2013_deGoeij_Science_Sponge_loop

Natural Diet of Coral-Excavating Sponges Consists Mainly of Dissolved Organic Carbon (DOC)
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3934968/

The Role of Marine Sponges in Carbon and Nitrogen Cycles of COral Reefs and Nearshore Environments.
https://search.proquest.com/openvie...9d1e5/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=18750&diss=y