nikki_kaiser
Aquarium Advice FINatic
What is the orange stuff on my live rock?
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Schism
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Kinda hard to tell but appears to be coralline algae.
200 gallon reef
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You dont have a pair of clowns do you?
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nikki_kaiser
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I did have a pair but the male died two months ago. Why?
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nikki_kaiser
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If its a sponge, is that a good thing or bad? I'm not sure I've ever had one that I knew of before.
CorallineAlgae
Aquarium Advice Addict
If it's cured live rock it's very good. If it's uncured live rock you'll need to keep an eye out in case it starts to turn black.
I grew tons of orange sponges on my live rock and even built a 400 gallon refugium with a large cryptic zone to promote their growth years ago (for a 600+ gallon tank I designed for a saltwater shop). New high quality live rock will often have these. They almost always die and turn black from exposure to air, which is usually fatal for them. If they do turn black you must remove the rock and scrub them off with a brush. Dying sponges can foul a tank and overwhelm the biological filter leading to an ammonia spike.
If they are healthy sponges, then keeping them healthy is simply a matter of turning them away from the light as any algae growth will suffocate them. They grow in unlit areas of reefs. They do actually contribute to a healthy tank by filter feeding on dissolved organics in the water column. I always run a powerhead behind my live rocks, in large part for their benefit.
I grew tons of orange sponges on my live rock and even built a 400 gallon refugium with a large cryptic zone to promote their growth years ago (for a 600+ gallon tank I designed for a saltwater shop). New high quality live rock will often have these. They almost always die and turn black from exposure to air, which is usually fatal for them. If they do turn black you must remove the rock and scrub them off with a brush. Dying sponges can foul a tank and overwhelm the biological filter leading to an ammonia spike.
If they are healthy sponges, then keeping them healthy is simply a matter of turning them away from the light as any algae growth will suffocate them. They grow in unlit areas of reefs. They do actually contribute to a healthy tank by filter feeding on dissolved organics in the water column. I always run a powerhead behind my live rocks, in large part for their benefit.
200 gallon reef
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nikki_kaiser
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NICE! It is cured live rock. So I need to turn it upside down away from the light then? I don't want it to die on me if it's good stuff! I was a little concerned because I had never seen an Orange one before. Thank you so much!!
200 gallon reef
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My orange color were eggs.
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nikki_kaiser
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What kind of eggs?
CorallineAlgae
Aquarium Advice Addict
nikki_kaiser said:
That's right, just turn the rock. They can live for as long as you have your tank. I had many orange sponges for over 10 years! It may seem crazy to love something that grows best where it's so hard to actually look at them but I just love having wild sponges growing in the tank. As they grow (reeeally slowly) you may see a couple of larger holes develop (about the size of bullet points on a computer screen). It's a good sign so don't worry if you see them.
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nikki_kaiser
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AWESOME!!!!!! So excited! I think they are cool!
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