Yellow Ball Sponge & Blue Leg Hermit

[Subsea]

Crab cleans sponge. Otherwise, I would be janitor with a toothbrush

 

[Subsea]

I used to have lots of snails. Now, I have lots of empty snail shells and beaucoup tiny blue leg hermit crabs, so if I overfeed on top, the ‘little people” clean it on the bottom.
Not sure why, but the yellow ball sponge is the only variety out of five that shows algae.

 

[G Santana]

Two Qs for you
1 is that a red sea apple, I had one yrs ago and would love to try again

2 how long have you had the flame scallop? I love them but was never able to keep them more than a year

 

[Subsea]

Two Qs for you
1 is that a red sea apple, I had one yrs ago and would love to try again

2 how long have you had the flame scallop? I love them but was never able to keep them more than a year

I have had the sea apple for two years. I have had flame scallop for 10 days. Since having it, I have observed thin blue flashing line on edge of mantle lips. I have never seen this before. Two years is max that I have kept flame scallops alive.

 

[Paleozoic_reefer]

@Subsea beautiful tank!! I have some questions:

what PAR, flow, and feeding do you have for your gorgonians (I just received a purple ribbon this week but hasn't opened yet...?)

How do you keep your macro algae in the display without it getting mowed-down by herbivores (assuming you have some)?

Thanks!

 

[dennis romano]

I used to have lots of snails. Now, I have lots of empty snail shells and beaucoup tiny blue leg hermit crabs, so if I overfeed on top, the ‘little people” clean it on the bottom.
Not sure why, but the yellow ball sponge is the only variety out of five that shows algae.

I have mine under a ledge for the last 6 months...no light, no algae. It did grow roots to anchor it to the substrate

 

[Subsea]

@Subsea beautiful tank!! I have some questions:

what PAR, flow, and feeding do you have for your gorgonians (I just received a purple ribbon this week but hasn't opened yet...?)

How do you keep your macro algae in the display without it getting mowed-down by herbivores (assuming you have some)?

Thanks!

I don’t know the PAR value, I have 600W of LED over 120G tank.

I have two display tanks 75G & 120G. Each tank has algae filter/refugium that is heavily loaded with micro fauna & fana including copepods & larvae to recycle live food back to tank. I use chaeto for nutrient export and as a matrix for the pods brothers who recycle nutrients. I use grape Caulerpa both as nutrient export and nutrient recycling. Grapes are used to feed tangs to divert from grazing on desirables.

At present Hippo Tang is only tang in 75G tank and Yellow Tang is only tang in 120G tank. Each tank gets two fresh (sometimes frozen) live mussels each day. Every other day, I feed two frozen mysis cubes to each tank. I sporadically feed flake food. Every other day, I feed reef roils & coral sprint.

The 120 has been set up for 5 years, the 75G tank has been set up for 25 years.

 

[Subsea]

I have mine under a ledge for the last 6 months...no light, no algae. It did grow roots to anchor it to the substrate

Neat on the roots. I am considering gluing mine to small rock.

I am fortunate in that I have volunteer yellow ball sponges on live rock that I got from Gulf of Mexico.

 

[Subsea]

what PAR, flow, and feeding do you have for your gorgonians (I just received a purple ribbon this week but hasn't opened yet...?)

@Paleozoic_reefer

For me gorgonians have been hit & miss. With my high nutrient tank, they shed off mucus often and, IMO, require high flow rates. For certain, the sponges in the 120G require high flow rate velocities at > 50 tank volumes each hour.

 

[dennis romano]

what PAR, flow, and feeding do you have for your gorgonians (I just received a purple ribbon this week but hasn't opened yet...?)

@Paleozoic_reefer

For me gorgonians have been hit & miss. With my high nutrient tank, they shed off mucus often and, IMO, require high flow rates. For certain, the sponges in the 120G require high flow rate velocities at > 50 tank volumes each hour.

Love that yellow tree sponge. Where did you get it? I have three red trees.

 

[Subsea]

Love that yellow tree sponge. Where did you get it? I have three red trees.

I received orange tree sponges yesterday from reeftopia in Florida. I just did send owner a thank you for the stunning orange sponges and asked for diver collection information on light & current. Russ Kronwetter at GCE collects Red Tree Sponges in 50’ of water, so subdued lighting. Not sure about Orange Tree. It’s 18” tall.

 

[Subsea]

Love that yellow tree sponge. Where did you get it? I have three red trees.

@dennis romano

When I looked at the pictures that I posted, I agree that the yellow ball and the yellow tree look somewhat the same yellow. My bad camera skills. It’s definitely orange. Both sponges are under 10K color rendition.

I went back to reeftopio website and noted the store showed “sold out”. When weather conditions are favorable they dive 3-4 days a week. Not so much in winter.

First picture shows orange elephant ear sponge.

On the second picture, the live rock has an emerging volunteer yellow ball sponge encroaching on orange bryozoans. This orange bryozoans is the same orange as orange elephant. To compare, I would say orange elephant ear is a dull brick orange compared to a vibrant orange.

The volunteer yellow ball sponge is in much brighter light than the one in substrate. No algae on bright yellow sponge. Of course, it could be a different variety yellow sponge.

Where did you get your red tree sponge?

 

[Subsea]

@Paleozoic_reefer


(How do you keep your macro algae in the display without it getting mowed-down by herbivores (assuming you have some?)

With respect to Hippo tang in the 75G tank, he choose to graze onto two variety of feather Caulerpa first then Caulerpa Prolifera. For his constant grazing, I have Gracilaria Tikvahiae & Gracilaria Parvispora aka Red Ogo in the tank and bring in Grape Caulerpa on floating bioballs.

 

[dennis romano]

@dennis romano

When I looked at the pictures that I posted, I agree that the yellow ball and the yellow tree look somewhat the same yellow. My bad camera skills. It’s definitely orange. Both sponges are under 10K color rendition.

I went back to reeftopio website and noted the store showed “sold out”. When weather conditions are favorable they dive 3-4 days a week. Not so much in winter.

First picture shows orange elephant ear sponge.

On the second picture, the live rock has an emerging volunteer yellow ball sponge encroaching on orange bryozoans. This orange bryozoans is the same orange as orange elephant. To compare, I would say orange elephant ear is a dull brick orange compared to a vibrant orange.

The volunteer yellow ball sponge is in much brighter light than the one in substrate. No algae on bright yellow sponge. Of course, it could be a different variety yellow sponge.

Where did you get your red tree sponge?

I have six sponges. Some came from Gulf Coast Ecosystems, others from KP Aquatics. One yellow ball showed up in a cave about ten years ago. My elephant ear came from GCE a few months ago. Just this week, it developed about a half dozen vent tubes. There are also nine gonis in the tank. My purple ribbon is in its third tank with me. This morning it shed its entire skin. Got it a few years ago from Petco. My tank going on twenty years.

 

[Subsea]

I have six sponges. Some came from Gulf Coast Ecosystems, others from KP Aquatics. One yellow ball showed up in a cave about ten years ago. My elephant ear came from GCE a few months ago. Just this week, it developed about a half dozen vent tubes. There are also nine gonis in the tank. My purple ribbon is in its third tank with me. This morning it shed its entire skin. Got it a few years ago from Petco. My tank going on twenty years.

Your tank looks phenomenal. Yes, to “old school” Reefing.

I wasn’t sure what to call it, but one month in tank “elephant ear” sponge is growing numerous vent tubes.

Where does sponge suck in water to filter out food?

 

[vlangel]

Both of your tanks look great to me. You guys are inspiring me to add some gorgs, sponges and a scallop and sea apple to my tank.

 

[Subsea]

Both of your tanks look great to me. You guys are inspiring me to add some gorgs, sponges and a scallop and sea apple to my tank.

Dawn,
For me, the beauty of how each part of the Coral Holobiont interconnects and is interdependent of each other in its community is Zen. Kinda like “Avatar on Steroids”. Check out Zen Reefing

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/wip-zen-reefing-approach-finding-a-balance-storyguide.766122/
By @Fish_Sticks


I say:
Bacteria are the building block that make it work. One strain of nitrogen fixation bacteria in a jar comes no where near the biodiversity of bacteria in the Holobiont. Quorum Sensing bacteria that adjust dna response inside of coral and macroalgae. Sounds like science is catching on to Nature:

Microbiome shifts and the inhibition of quorum sensing by Black Band Disease cyanobacteria - The ISME Journal

Disruption of the microbiome often correlates with the appearance of disease symptoms in metaorganisms such as corals. In Black Band Disease (BBD), a polymicrobial disease consortium dominated by the filamentous cyanobacterium Roseofilum reptotaenium displaces members of the epibiotic...

www.nature.com

Black Band Disease in coral attributed to bad bacteria interfering with quorum sensing of good bacteria to regulate Cynobacteria.

https://sfamjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1462-2920.15009

[Opportunistic bacteria use quorum sensing to disturb coral symbiotic communities and mediate the occurrence of coral bleaching]

 

[dennis romano]

Your tank looks phenomenal. Yes, to “old school” Reefing.

I wasn’t sure what to call it, but one month in tank “elephant ear” sponge is growing numerous vent tubes.

Where does sponge suck in water to filter out food?

I can see in this picture that yours has the same vent holes as mine. Water and food pass through the skin. Food gets trapped in structures and water passes out through the vents. Gotta keep the exterior clean. Dirt blocks the pores. Too large food will not be able to enter. Every day, mine get fed phyto, oyster eggs and I stir up the crud in the gravel. The crud is filled with all of the micro food that they need. If any debris from the crud lands on them, I blow it off with a syringe. There are videos on You Tube that show the feeding process with dye.

 

[dennis romano]

Both of your tanks look great to me. You guys are inspiring me to add some gorgs, sponges and a scallop and sea apple to my tank.

Thanks. I find them to be a lot easier than acros. lol

 

[Subsea]

I can see in this picture that yours has the same vent holes as mine. Water and food pass through the skin. Food gets trapped in structures and water passes out through the vents. Gotta keep the exterior clean. Dirt blocks the pores. Too large food will not be able to enter. Every day, mine get fed phyto, oyster eggs and I stir up the crud in the gravel. The crud is filled with all of the micro food that they need. If any debris from the crud lands on them, I blow it off with a syringe. There are videos on You Tube that show the feeding process with dye.

Yes to stirring up detritus in gravel to feed these guys. It was especially obvious to Sea Apple’s feeding strategy with a single ring of tentacles collecting micro fauna & fans.

originally, I started this journey with a Jaubert Plenum with deep sand bed on top and mud/macro refugium on bottom. @PaulB influenced me into using reverse up flow through 2” sandbed. Aside from reverse flow, no changes in 25 years.

Without a doubt, a mature natural reef aquarium is easy to maintain and economical to set up. That’s why I am a
Laissez Faire Reefkeeper