plum70rt

debbers

debbers

Member
Hi,
From what I've seen, you're one of the resident experts on sponges. I have a couple questions that I'm guessing you can answer for me.
You can see my tank specs in my signature. My lighting coming soon is 2 x 65 watt pc's and I think I may keep my 20 watt N.O. on it as well. Am I right in assuming that sponges will be ok in that lighting?
Also, do you have any info. and/or experience with an "orange freely" sponge (astroclera sp.) or the "chilli" sponge (carotalcyon sagamianum)?
I'd appreciate any info. you could offer. Thanks!!
~D~
 
plum70rt

plum70rt

Active Member
I will try to help you as best I can, Im no expert,
but IMO , Sponges need no special lighting so you will do fine with that setup, Best care for a sponge is great water quality, Algae suffacates them, so keep that minimal, and if you can post a pic of that sponge , or describe what it looks like , the one you question that would help,
 
jonthefb

jonthefb

Active Member
deb, the chili sponge as you have it labeled, is actually a soft coral. these guys require very low lighting and are kinda hard to keep. they require direct feeding of zoo or phytoplankton, and their polyps usually open only at night. i have one in my 135 that is in a dimly lit cave, and have had him for about three years, but only recently with the addition of dt's have his polyps been out all the time. a very cool coral, but a little more demanding than most of the average ones!
good luck
jon
 
debbers

debbers

Member
Thanks Jon... I'd seen posts re: chilli corals, but I didn't know they were one in the same. I'll pass on that one.
Any info. on the orange freely sponge??
~D~
:D
 
plum70rt

plum70rt

Active Member
I have never seen the freely sponge offered anywhere here, but I do have some chili ,yes its fragile had some on a branch that faded away, now have some on a large oyster shell, it does open during the day though
 
debbers

debbers

Member
Thanks for taking a looksee...
Any general thoughts on the orange freely? It's for sale at another site and I'm pondering getting it because there's a couple other things I want to purchase from the site.
I think it's a beautiful specimen! ;)
~D~
 
plum70rt

plum70rt

Active Member
If you like it go for it,:) Sponges like great water, if your conditions are right, it should be fine:) also when I started using DTs it made a difference, Good Luck!
 
debbers

debbers

Member
I've already got some DT's in the 'fridge. I've got some unidentified things growing on my LR and the guy at the LFS suggested I add some DT's to keep whatever it is alive. So far, so good...
My amm & trites are 0, trates are barely over 0, but significantly less than 5 (I hate the increments on those test kits)... SG is 1.022, calc is 400, alk is 3.6, temp is 80 and pH is 8.1 . Did I leave anything out?
I'm just trying to get my research done while I wait for my lighting to arrive (I just have a 20 watt N.O. now). Research, research, research!! :D
Thanks for your help, plum70rt, and any other suggestions would be more than welcome!!
~D~
 
plum70rt

plum70rt

Active Member
One other thing that I learned is to check your phospate levels, it will help keep the slime algae away, keep it 0.05 to 0.1,ppm and you will be happier:)
 
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