spspirate
Tidepool Explorer
Click the picture above to watch the video!!
Walking out on a boat ramp in Key Largo I saw what appeared to me as a Black Ball Sponge. It reminded me of a article I read a ways back explaining the great roll of sponges in the reef aquarium and how they can be so beneficial in removing excess nutrients from the water column.
I knew that sponges were great filter feeders but watching this black ball sponge really put it into perspective. These guys are powerful filter feeders filtering out and breaking down nutrients 10x faster than our friendly beneficial bacteria. Looking at sponges you can see that they are full of tiny canals called ostia and a handful of big canals called osculum canals. The walls of these cavities/canals are lined with hundreds of thousands of cells called collar cells. These cells propel water like you see this sponge I found in Key Largo with tiny little hair like structures called flagellum. These collar cells also capture teeny tiny food bit particles and nutrients. Have you ever found a dead sponge on the beach and broke in half? Talk about surface area! These guys clean some water! In my older reef I had a couple sponges growing that were hitch hikers from some live rock I had. I remember it was a yellow cathrina sp. I also remember it growing like wild fire and I know it helped me achieve great water quality. Every time I saw some one selling some locally I would try to grab some up to culture in my refugium.
So to sum this up if you see any sponges thriving and doing well in your reef system smile that it's there and encourage it to grow. I think my new build will be a sponge dominate refugium
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