Out of Control Sponge growth

[sooz]

I have a FOWLR tank - 55 hex - and I have a really aggressive growth of sponge on my live rock. It started off small - a little here, a little there, but it is spreading and growing especially in the "undersides" and "backsides" of the LR, where not much light goes (I have cheap lights - this used to be a FW tank). I posted some pics a couple months back, and everyone said "harmless sponge, no worries" but it is really spreading and to be frank, it is getting kind of ugly. It is whitish-beigeish-brownish, sometimes it grows in puffballs, other times it coats the rock or produces stingy pieces. I took a small piece of LR out and tried to remove a puffball of sponge manually, and it was really hard to do so. I don't want to damage my LR or my coraline, so I am nervous about manual removal on a large scale.
Would higher intensity lights halt this aggressive sponge growth? Or is there something that will eat it? (My dwarf angel doesn't touch it). Or am I bothered about nothing?
I will take some more recent pics when I get home today, but I am attaching the ones from a couple months back. There is a lot more of it, now.
Suggestions welcomed!

 

[bkvreef]

I would wonder more about water flow than lighting. If the sponges are like mine they grow in crooks and crevices that con't have much water flow.

 

[renogaw]

personally, i like my sponge growth. if you have sponges, they are sucking nutrients out of your tank, so i consider them a good thing

 

[sooz]

Well, they were not bothering me at first but they are really expanding and I don't understand it - I have never seen another tank with this much sponge growing over the LR...
bk - I only have 2 powerheads, which seems like enough for my tank since it is taller than it is wide, but that's something I can look at.

 

[cprdnick]

mechanical filtration should cut their food source down

 

[mcbdz]

Your tank goes through different stages and this will probly shift at some point. They really are good and if they are abundent it usally means your nutrients are high. Are you going to add some corals later? or maybe macros. They will help cover them up.

 

[sooz]

Originally Posted by mcbdz
Your tank goes through different stages and this will probly shift at some point. They really are good and if they are abundent it usally means your nutrients are high. Are you going to add some corals later? or maybe macros. They will help cover them up.

I don't plan to do coral, just fish, but if I did invest in the higher intensity lights, do you think it would slow the growth a bit?

 

[earlybird]

I doubt if light will do anything. Sponges are harmless filter feeders. You have excess nutrients or just the right nutrients in your tank to keep them thriving. It's a good thing IMO. However, there are several species of nudibranch that are known to eat sponges. The problem is finding one. Generally when they arrive at LFS it's difficult for them to tell what they are feeding on. With time they should thin themselves out when they use up the nutrients that your tank is creating.

 

[sooz]

Thanks for the info. I guess I am worried over nothing - or maybe I should cut back a little on my feeding! I might play with the water flow, as well, to see what that does.

 

[cprdnick]

As far as your lighting, no, it won't change anything, sponges are not photosynthetic.

 

[iowafish]

Originally Posted by sooz
Thanks for the info. I guess I am worried over nothing - or maybe I should cut back a little on my feeding! I might play with the water flow, as well, to see what that does.
Brilliant! This was what I was going to suggest too. Increase your flow and cutting back on the amount and/or frequency of your feeding should do the trick as far as getting the rapid spreading under control. Just keep an eye on your water quality, as I would think once the die-off begins from the increased flow and lack of nutrients, that temporarily increasing your water changes might be in order. Good luck!
P.S. Don't forget that we'd still like to see pix!

KH

 

[shrimpi]

I have that same sponge its like stringy white snot... for lack of better description.... exactly like your pic! and it grows like wildfire.

 

[mie]

My sponge that grows like mad is this purple sponge, i have no problems with it. Here is a pic.

 

[sooz]

Sorry - things got hectic this weekend. I will do my best to take & post some good pics tonight. That purple sponge is PRETTY! If mine ws purple, I might not mind so much. Mine is snot colored!

 

[sooz]

Ok here are some pics of the gross snot-colored sponge growth! What do y'all think - am I worried about nothing?
I am also including a pic of the tank as a whole - as you can see it is very clean and as a whole the sponge does not look "that bad." The large upright LR is about 30% covered in the sponge growth, though! Most of my babies are hiding - I am not using a flash, but they don't like the red light that shines when the camera is detecting light levels.

 

[sooz]

bump

 

[ketill]

ok, if ou are really worried, from what i hear just take the rock outa the water for a little bit, sponge should die. . .

 

[sooz]

Would that raise my ammonia or nitrates, like when an organism dies?

 

[alex4286]

in my expierence sponges appear when i slack on water changes and the nitrates get too high. sponges are filter feeders as well, they could be appearing because your over feeding your tank as well. try lowering your nitrates to 0-5 and you should be seeing them all vanish one after another. (thats what happened to me). goodluck!

 

[sooz]

I do struggle with nitrates as I have a closed system and CC, as well as the hex shapr. I have cut my feeding WAY back since my last cleaning, so we shall see if that helps! Thanks.