Keeping a Sponge

[earwicker7]

I'm getting an orange sponge on Tuesday for my 12g nanocube. My LFS said that this species is fairly easy to keep; just wondered if anyone out there has had success with them and mostly am interested in how you go about feeding them. I've heard that they actually do better in tanks w/o protein skimming which is good because my cube is too small for one. I'm planning on feeding it frozen phytoplankton.

[offsprg01]

keep it submerged. if you lfs ius ordering it for you have them keep it in the bag for you. that way the only acclimation process is to you tank. not to their's then to yours.

 

keep it submerged. air kills sponges. period. and yes phyto is good for sponges.

[cadesun]

keep it out of direct light or algae will smother it. and yes, the sponges often do better in unskimmed tanks because there are more organisms living in the water column.

[boo_fanclub]

sponges do better without skimmers as nutrient levels are higher, tap water used for evaporation top up may benefit them too as they use silicates which are often in tap water. nitrate removal resins could be used to purify the water first to cut down on algae but silicates are important for effective growth

[earwicker7]

What should I do about top-off water if I used de-ionized water? My tap water is NASTY and should never go in my aquarium. Is there a silicate supplement available? If not, can they live without it? I'm not worried about growth since it's a small tank to begin with, I just want it to live.

 

Also, I know not to expose them to air, but what's a good acclimation process once it's at my work? Normally, people say to NEVER put the water that your livestock comes with in the tank.