At what point do you remove a sponge?

[Troylee]

This thing has exploded in growth the last month ugh… it’s not affecting my hammer yet as it still fully opens but it’s moving onto the rocks now. Not sure if I should let it dry in the air for a few minutes or try and scrape etc.. I don’t think it’s a bad one but gonna take over real estate quickly if I don’t do something..

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Generally speaking, the only times I personally would remove a sponge are when it's killing corals or when it's spreading like a weed (and in some cases with quick spread, I might just trim it back if I like the sponge enough).

That said, my favorite recommendation that I've heard for sponge removal is to scrape it off and siphon it out with a steel straw.

 

[Troylee]

Generally speaking, the only times I personally would remove a sponge are when it's killing corals or when it's spreading like a weed (and in some cases with quick spread, I might just trim it back if I like the sponge enough).

That said, my favorite recommendation that I've heard for sponge removal is to scrape it off and siphon it out with a steel straw.

This one is def like a weed so far lol.. I should have removed it when it was small like the size of a dime last month.. I thought it was cool and now I’m like woah!

 

[Timfish]

It's feeding off something. Sponges are essential recyclers in reef systems and can process labile DOC 1000X faster than bacterioplankton. I'd leave it but if it bothers you I'd just siphone it off.

 

[c-horse]

You can remove most of it and wait to see if it will grow back. Most sponges remove silicates, so can be used for this purpose.

 

[Snoopy 67]

Blue light hinders any ID on whatever.
White light is what we need on ALL pictures please.
There is a blue sponge that spreads fast. Nothing eats it & it takes over a tank.
If it is blue get rid of it!!!!!!

 

[taricha]

seconded others. If sponge matter is growing that fast, then it's consuming large amounts of something in the water (that you may prefer to be removed) and I'd simply cut and scrape and allow to grow back until the growth slows down to sane levels. That's how I'd think about it anyway.

 

[taricha]

seconded others. If (a non-photosynthetic) sponge matter is growing that fast, then it's consuming large amounts of something in the water (that you may prefer to be removed) and I'd simply cut and scrape and allow to grow back until the growth slows down to sane levels. That's how I'd think about it anyway.

 

[Troylee]

Blue light hinders any ID on whatever.
White light is what we need on ALL pictures please.
There is a blue sponge that spreads fast. Nothing eats it & it takes over a tank.
If it is blue get rid of it!!!!!!

It’s white.. that was taking under moon lights when my hammer closed up.. I’ll see if I can get the hammer to retract today and get one under whites

 

[bushdoc]

I just removed the whole colony of Hammer coral because it was overgrown by a photosyntetic, black sponge, possibly Terpios hoshinota.It was effecting growth of my coral. Yours is almost certainly not the one, however it seem to grow like crazy. I would try exposing it to air and scraping out.

 

[Troylee]

seconded others. If (a non-photosynthetic) sponge matter is growing that fast, then it's consuming large amounts of something in the water (that you may prefer to be removed) and I'd simply cut and scrape and allow to grow back until the growth slows down to sane levels. That's how I'd think about it anyway.

It’s possibly silica but I’m not sure.. I had Dino’s for awhile and pretty much beat them! I have either diatoms or a small amount of Dinos left in my sand bed.. I changed out my di resin cause I was getting 2 tds a couple weeks ago..

 

[Troylee]

I just removed the whole colony of Hammer coral because it was overgrown by a photosyntetic, black sponge, possibly Terpios hoshinota.It was effecting growth of my coral. Yours is almost certainly not the one, however it seem to grow like crazy. I would try exposing it to air and scraping out.

Yeah def not that one! I have an orange and purple that grows super slow under rocks.. this is white and grows like a weed lol.. almost looks like a large cob Webb.

 

[Troylee]

Here’s some under white lights.