Pineapple sponges!?

32biocube · Sep 25, 2020

32biocube · Sep 25, 2020

Does anyone know if these are good or bad for a saltwater reef tank?
I think they are pineapple sponges!?

tankstudy · Sep 25, 2020

They are good. I actually like seeing them in all my tanks.

32biocube · Sep 25, 2020

tankstudy said:
They are good. I actually like seeing them in all my tanks.

Oooh good to know, thanks, i have a lot of them in my tanks and just dont know if they're good or bad

KrisReef · Sep 25, 2020

Good animals but be warned, they don't taste like pineapple.
Sponges are good and improve the ecosystem is probably a better answer, but it's Fryday!

32biocube · Sep 25, 2020

KrisReef said:
Good animals but be warned, they don't taste like pineapple.
Sponges are good and improve the ecosystem is probably a better answer, but it's Fryday!

Good to know! Ill try no to taste them

Tired · Sep 25, 2020

Yep, pineapple sponges. Harmless. They don't really do anything one way or the other.

vetteguy53081 · Sep 25, 2020

Pineapple sponges fade over time because they are a sponge that has a silicate skeleton. The mystery appearance in an established tank often is an indication of silicates in the rodi. They usually prefer darker places( why they end up in sumps). They will occasionially be on top of rocks or on the old stony growth at the bases of a coral skeleton. They can grow on the glass as well. Pineapple sponges usually don't last long in brighter areas. More often than not, they start to turn green or brown from algae or diatoms growing on them and eventually smothering them out.

Timfish · Sep 25, 2020

Cryptic sponges are critical for maintaining reef ecosystems. Search the internet for Steve Tyree's stuff. Here's a couple links to reseach if you're interested:

Element cycling on tropical coral reefs.
This is Jasper de Geoij's ground breaking research on reef sponges. (The introduction is in Dutch but the content is in English.)

https://www.rug.nl/research/portal/files/14555035/13completethesis.pdf

Sponge symbionts and the marine P cycle

Sponge symbionts and the marine P cycle

Marine sponges are ubiquitous colonizers of shallow, clear-water environments in the oceans (1, 2). Sponges have emerged as significant mediators of biogeochemical fluxes in coastal zones by virtue of respiring organic matter and facilitating both the consumption and release of nutrients (3, 4)...

www.pnas.org

Phosphorus sequestration in the form of polyphosphate by microbial symbionts in marine sponges
(Chris Kenndall had a problem with low PO4 and had problems raising it with Neophos. Samples sent off showed phosphorus crystals developing in some of the sponges in his system accounting for at least some of his systems consumption.)

Phosphorus sequestration in the form of polyphosphate by microbial symbionts in marine sponges

Coral reefs are highly productive ecosystems that raise a conundrum called “Darwin’s paradox”: How can high production flourish in low-nutrient conditions? We show here that in three abundant Caribbean sponges, the granules that have been commonly observed in sponge tissue for decades are...

www.pnas.org

Differential recycling of coral and algal dissolved organic matter via the sponge loop.
Sponges treat DOC from algae differently than DOC from corals

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besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com

Surviving in a Marine Desert The Sponge Loop Retains Resources Within Coral Reefs
Dissolved organic carbon and nitrogen are quickly processed by sponges and released back into the reef food web in hours as carbon and nitrogen rich detritus.

(PDF) 2013 deGoeij Science Sponge loop

PDF | On Jun 23, 2015, Jasper M de Goeij and others published 2013 deGoeij Science Sponge loop | Find, read and cite all the research you need on ResearchGate

www.researchgate.net