Silica for Sponges

[herring_fish]

Over the years I believe that I have read your article a few times Silica In Reef Aquariums January 2003
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2003/1/aafeature1

I am planning to start dosing silica once again in my updated tank. I want to concentrate on NPS corals in a very mixed reef environment. My primary reason for dosing is for growing sponges which I have been playing with since the 90’s. I plan to, once again, get divers to collect several sponges from the ocean and see what can survive. Since most people, including myself, don’t have much success, I don’t hold out much hope for anything more than a few types to do well in my particular setup. I plan to use a wide variety of foods, some of which will be from Marc Weiss’s test formulations.

• Your article noted ranges of silica for saltwater from 0 to 3.6 with an example target of 1ppm. Much time has passed since that article and now your suggestion might be quite a bit higher. What target silica level do you think that I might want to experiment with now?

• I am wondering if I should buy a Hanna checker so that I can maintain proper levels or should I simply add dosing until I start to see unpleasant side effects like diatoms or something else? If I were to buy a Hanna checker, I am lean toward a typical Colorimeter type. The high range checker has a range of 0.00 to 2.00 and a resolution to 0.01 ppm but if I want to go above 2ppm, that checker will not be able to measure it. On the other hand, the high range checker has a range of 0 to 200 but the resolution is a full integer of 1 ppm. That is kind of course.

• Are there ANY other additives that you could suggest that I might want to think about experimenting with?

Background Information:

My system has 180g in the display tank, 130g in a refugium, ATS (no skimming), CalRx with perhaps another 100g of other sump and plankton chambers, all in one big closed loop.

Reference Addresses for the checkers.

Silica Chemical Test Kit, Readings from 0 to 40 mg/L are determined to 1 mg/L resolution and 0 to 800 mg/L are determined to 40 mg/L resolution $109

https://hannainst.com/hi38067-silica-test-kit.html

Low Range Silica Colorimeter – Checker HC, Range 0.00 – 2.00 Resolution 0.01 ppm $49

https://hannainst.com/hi705-silica-lr.html

High Range Silica Colorimeter – Checker HC, Range 0-200ppm, Resolution 1 ppm $49

https://hannainst.com/hi770-silica-hr.html

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Cool idea. I agree most people fail with large sponges and I'm not sure why. Silica, foods, air getting in them, something else???

My primary success (aside from cryptic and encrusting sponges and was with a yellow "ball" sponge from Live Aquaria. It grew in a cave/tunnel under my live rock to nearly fill the opening, growing extended protrusions over the years.

Silica kits seem to work well for levels of a few ppm SiO2, which seems a reasonable target.

Note that only about 3/4 of sponge species use silicate, so don't e deterred from dosing by people saying they grow sponges well without silicate (unless they identify species and you know those use silicate).

IMO organic carbon dosing (I strongly prefer vinegar in this use) may also help both directly as sponges may use acetate (some studies show this), and they may consume bacteria that are driven to grow.

 

[herring_fish]

Thank you for responding. I also had a couple of nice yellow sponges grow but I decided not to clean off a yellowish slime on two rocks and they sprouted from that along with a couple of white ones as well. All four stand up to direct lighting.

Going back to High, Low or No range checker. Do you think that I will be playing under 2 ppm or should I go with the gross resolution 0-200 ppm checker ....or just learn to read feedback from my tank?