Hey everyone,
I have a blue sponge that is connected to a chunk of live rock. When I got it about a month ago, it was firm and porous; a really nice specimen! Well, I went to move my tank around today and noticed that the sponge is still porous however, it feels almost mushy (not nearly as firm). Before the sponge begins to get any worse, I hope to find out what I can do to help it out! I have 3 1050gph power heads in my 75 gallon tank connected to a wavemaker. Water perameters are great (temp is 78-81 w/in 24 hour cycle). I feed the sponge Microplex 3-4 times per week. Today, I moved the sponge directly in front of one of the lower power heads that is always on, while the other 2 cycle on the wavemaker (the sponge was about 14 inches away from the closest direct flow) and started introducing calcium, iodide, and strondium (recommended by sunpet rep) to my tank this evening in addition to the Microplex. Perhaps these steps will help the sponge to improve? My lighting (new bulbs) is a 4-strip T-5 (216 watts) and I recently added 4 Icecap Reflectors (does anyone know how much these things actually increase the lighting output on average?). My tank is 18 inches deep btw. The other potential problem IMO is I do not know if this sponge requires direct light or prefers darker regions (I understand they vary based on species). My sponge looks identical to the one below (only mine is larger). Any info would be greatly appreciated!! Oh, and I do not have any crabs in my tank that could be eating the sponge, so I can rule that problem out.
Also, the sponge has never been exposed to air by me or my LFS (I was there when they got it from the distributor and took it before they even introduced it to their tanks).
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I have a blue sponge that is connected to a chunk of live rock. When I got it about a month ago, it was firm and porous; a really nice specimen! Well, I went to move my tank around today and noticed that the sponge is still porous however, it feels almost mushy (not nearly as firm). Before the sponge begins to get any worse, I hope to find out what I can do to help it out! I have 3 1050gph power heads in my 75 gallon tank connected to a wavemaker. Water perameters are great (temp is 78-81 w/in 24 hour cycle). I feed the sponge Microplex 3-4 times per week. Today, I moved the sponge directly in front of one of the lower power heads that is always on, while the other 2 cycle on the wavemaker (the sponge was about 14 inches away from the closest direct flow) and started introducing calcium, iodide, and strondium (recommended by sunpet rep) to my tank this evening in addition to the Microplex. Perhaps these steps will help the sponge to improve? My lighting (new bulbs) is a 4-strip T-5 (216 watts) and I recently added 4 Icecap Reflectors (does anyone know how much these things actually increase the lighting output on average?). My tank is 18 inches deep btw. The other potential problem IMO is I do not know if this sponge requires direct light or prefers darker regions (I understand they vary based on species). My sponge looks identical to the one below (only mine is larger). Any info would be greatly appreciated!! Oh, and I do not have any crabs in my tank that could be eating the sponge, so I can rule that problem out.
Also, the sponge has never been exposed to air by me or my LFS (I was there when they got it from the distributor and took it before they even introduced it to their tanks).
