Out of control sponge.

[I am Maul]

Wire brush is a horrible idea with the round sponge. It destroys it and sends spores into the water column. I'm going to try to cut back the unnecessary feeding that my wife does, she says that she worries that the green chromis don't get enough food.
On a funny side note, the 3 black mollies that we used to cycle the tank over a year ago are continuing to thrive, a few of their fry made it into the sump and are keeping algae under control. I can't believe they are still alive.

 

[Cory]

Id be happy with those sponges.

I actually am purposely trying to grow a diversity of sponges to eliminate my skimmer. Biology is better than technology sometimes. Plus my skimmer pump died.

I actually just bought an orange ball sponge. Its grown 25% bigger in just 2 weeks! And no skimmer.

Fwiw, just grow corals on those rocks and they will hide them.

And i think your wife is right about feeding the chromis. I have four in my tank and they get fed 4-7 times a day. Not one has died in 4 months. Most people see them die. I think feeding lots is a key.

 

[I am Maul]

It isn't the number of times they are fed, it is the insane "pinch" of food the she uses when she does it. The chromis are doing good, this is the 3rd batch that we have had in one of our tanks. The previous 2 tanks they would die off one by one, until we had one left. That lone chromis would hang on for another month or so, then disappear as well. These ones are doing great, but I think the sponge and spaghetti worms did start getting out of hand right after we added the chromis and started feeding more.

 

[Rob's Reef]

Little off topic but isn't it crazy how chromis disappear! I started with 15 awhile ago and have 7 that made it. They have been doing great and getting big. Where the other 8 ended up I have no clue!

 

[I am Maul]

Little off topic but isn't it crazy how chromis disappear! I started with 15 awhile ago and have 7 that made it. They have been doing great and getting big. Where the other 8 ended up I have no clue!

Ya, we have noticed the same thing. I actually just found one behind the tank today when I was cleaning. I had the cover off for 20 minutes, and one jumped out during that time. I think the rest have just died off, and were eaten by other fish and the clean up crew.

 

[Rob's Reef]

Ya, we have noticed the same thing. I actually just found one behind the tank today when I was cleaning. I had the cover off for 20 minutes, and one jumped out during that time. I think the rest have just died off, and were eaten by other fish and the clean up crew.

Yeah I've found one that jumped out. The others I'm guessing hid in the rocks to die and get eaten up.