Using sponges to remove DOM.

[HighlandReefer]

Instead of dosing carbon sources, perhaps the use of more sponges to reduce DOM in the reef aquarium, a twist. Where would one buy these type of sponges and how successful would they survive in a reef aquarium?



Tracing 13C-enriched dissolved and particulate organic carbon in the bacteriacontaining
coral reef sponge Halisarca caerulea: Evidence for DOM feeding (2008)
http://wap.aslo.org/lo/toc/vol_53/issue_4/1376.pdf

From this article:

"Sponges and carbon flow modulation on the reef—The
present study demonstrates that the common encrusting
coral cavity sponge H. caerulea consumes and incorporates
DOM as well as POM. The reported massive removal of
ambient DOC in the presence of sponges (Yahel et al. 2003;
De Goeij et al. 2008) can definitely be ascribed to
assimilation and respiration of DOM by the sponge–
microbe association. It is highly likely that more sponges
on coral reefs have the capacity to process DOM.
Exploitation of DOM by sponges may be a common and
profitable strategy on reefs, where the supply of utilizable
DOC by far exceeds the supply of particulate carbon to the
reef benthos (De Goeij and Van Duyl 2007; De Goeij et al.
2008). Moreover, sponges occupy a considerable surface on
coral reefs, particularly in the cryptic habitat, which is
equally extensive, and often even larger than the ‘‘open’’
reef surface. Therefore, we conclude that DOM assimilation
by sponges is an efficient strategy to retain locally
produced DOM in the reef system, otherwise lost in the
microbial loop or to the adjacent ocean. This eminent and
quite unique capacity of sponges combined with their high
cover may play a central role in modulating organic matter
fluxes in the coral reef ecosystem."

[HighlandReefer]

"Coral reefs support some of the most diverse ecosystems on the planet, yet they thrive in a marine desert. So how do reefs sustain their thriving populations?

Marine biologist Fleur Van Duyl from the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research is fascinated by the energy budgets that support coral reefs in this impoverished environment. According to van Duyl's former student, Jasper De Goeij, Halisarca caerulea sponges grow in the deep dark cavities beneath reefs, and 90% of their diet is composed of dissolved organic carbon, which is inedible for most other reef residents. But when De Goeij measured the amount of carbon that the brightly coloured sponges consumed he found that they consume half of their own weight each day, yet they never grew. What were the sponges doing with the carbon? Were the sponges really consuming that much carbon, or was there a problem with De Goeij's measurements? He had to find out where the carbon was going to back up his measurements and publishes his discovery that sponges have one of the fastest cell division rates ever measured, and instead of growing they discard the cells. Essentially, the sponges recycle carbon that would otherwise be lost to the reef. De Goeij publishes his discovery on November 13 2009 in The Journal of Experimental Biology at http://jeb.biologists.org."

[rishma]

very interesting stuff, related to the cryptic zone filtration discussions. Like many others, I have noticed increased sponge growth with carbon dosing.

[Boomer]

Cliff


Seek out the books;

The Porifera (Living Sponges): Their Biology, Physiology and Natural Filtration Integration (A Series Exploring the Captive Maintenance and Captive Research of Specific Ocean Organisms),(Volume 1) by Steve Tyree

The Ascidians (Sea Squirts) : Their Biology, Physiology and Natural Filtration Integration (A Series Exploring the Captive Maintenance and Captive Research of Specific Ocean Organisms), (Volume 2 ) by Steve Tyree

[coralmojo]

Cliff--Zeovit makes a product called "Sponge Power"...of course, no listing as to what ingredients are but most people, myself included, who are using it are seeing sponge growth explode and sponges that we never realized were latent or even present in our tanks develop. I have had to reduce my dosage as I don't want to promote a overrunning sponge tank, about 5 drops every other day on a 150 gallon total system...

DrMerle

[Yogre]

Originally Posted by coralmojo

Cliff--Zeovit makes a product called "Sponge Power"...of course, no listing as to what ingredients are but most people, myself included, who are using it are seeing sponge growth explode and sponges that we never realized were latent or even present in our tanks develop. I have had to reduce my dosage as I don't want to promote a overrunning sponge tank, about 5 drops every other day on a 150 gallon total system...

DrMerle

I may have to give this stuff a try. I've been trying to maintain sponges for the last year, without much luck. Not at all sure what I'm doing wrong, they just seem to shrink, fall apart and disappear. These are not easy animals to maintain, at least for me. I read Randy's article on silica dosing, and have been thinking of trying that as well.

I'd think carbon dosing would be much easier, although much less colorful in the tank.

[HighlandReefer]

Thanks for the input.

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Steve Tyree does (or used to) sell cryptic sponges.

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Here's a related thread:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh....php?t=1739353

[HighlandReefer]

Randy, thanks for the link to the thread.

It seems sponges are definitely worth adding to one's system. I have some growing in mine, but would like to see some of the ornamental types growing also.

If I purchased a small bottle of "Sponge Power" for around $40.00 and found out is was primarily silicon, this would be upsetting.

[Boomer]

Cliff

Those books are on the, morphology, function, feeding, filtration, selection, handling and health of sponges and ascidians in reef tanks. But all of them are out of stock for you Matter of fact, I do not even know if this site is still really active.

http://dynamicecomorphology.com/

[jlinzmaier]

I myself have been reading up about cryptic sponge filtration. I plan to incoorporate a 180 gallon cryptic refugium into the system for my 420 gallon DT. I have Steve's book " The Environmental Gradiant - cryptic sponge and sea squirt filtration models". It's a great read and probably one of the better choices for people interested in getting the basics in the use of cryptic sponges for filtration.

Good luck finding any of the books or videos though. I had bought mine from a fellow reefer. I tried every link and e-mail attached the Dynamic ecomorphology page looking for somewhere to buy the books and videos and found none of the contacts or e-mails were valid any longer.

I did get in contact with a supplier in the UK who still has some books on hand. I'm waiting to hear back about just which ones he has and which ones he doesn't have.

It's a very interesting concept and sounds like a great means of natural filtration of many DOC's and bacteria which other processes and equipment aren't as effective at removing.

Jeremy

[tmz]

Where would one buy these type of sponges and how successful would they survive in a reef aquarium

I use pieces of maricultured live rock from Florida from a local lfs. It is shipped pretty wet and full of encrusting sponges which do well in a cryptic bin which is integrated in the system.Not sure if these are the best types of sponges for DOM but they are easy to get and thrive in the dark.

[jlinzmaier]

Originally Posted by tmz

Where would one buy these type of sponges and how successful would they survive in a reef aquarium

Steve still sells them but I'm at work right now and don't know the website off hand. I'll post it tonight when I get home. Not sure how successful they would be in a reef aquarium. From what I've read so far in the EG book, there are many aspects about a reef tank which prevents these types of sponges from growing in a reef setting. They require a "cryptic" setting which gets less than 1% of lighting found in common reefs. This would also include diffuse incidental light from room lighting, fuge lighting, etc.... They essentially need to be in a separate tank that is entirely darkened, there needs to be very low flow, and no POM. DOM is what these sponges filter out, but POM will clog their pores preventing them from filtering and feeding on the DOM which ultimately kills them.

Many of us have tons of sponges growing in various locations in our reef tanks, but the indication is that if you want true "cryptic" sponges to proliferate and be as effective as possible at removing DOC's, then a cryptic setting is most appropriate (I'm unaware of the capabilities of various species of sponges capabilites of filtration - haven't gotten that far yet). Keep in mind this is in reference to the sponges used for filtering DOC's which are indiacted in Steve's literature. There are several sponges that will thrive in our tanks but that's not the same scenario as setting up an independant cryptic tank solely for filtration.

I use pieces of maricultured live rock from Florida from a local lfs. It is shipped pretty wet and full of encrusting sponges which do well in a cryptic bin which is integrated in the system.Not sure if these are the best types of sponges for DOM but they are easy to get and thrive in the dark.

Steves sponge book sounds like it would be great for ID and providing an indication of their usefulness in filtration. Haven't gotten my hands on that book yet.

Jeremy

[jlinzmaier]

It's also highly likely that these sponges and tunicates wouldn't need to be purchased to seed the cryptic set up. I would suspect that if a person uses some good quality LR then that would be sufficient to seed the set up and then the sponges and tunicates would grow in the environment they most prefer most, which would be the cryptic zone.

Jeremy

[jlinzmaier]

Here's the link for farmed cryptic sponges that Steve sells.

http://www.reeffarmers.com/

Click on the tab on the left labeled farmed sponges.

If anyone buys any of these please keep me posted. I plan to buy some in about 6 months and it would be interesting to see what you get for your money.

Jeremy

[3D-Reef]

Here is a good site for IDing sponges;http://www.mareco.org/KML/Projects/NEsponges.asp
The cryptic sponge I have come in varying colors,pink,yellow,orange,white,tan,black,and purple,but they grow sooo slooowly.But the one I like is photosynthetic,no worrying about HA.Needs med- high flow,med -high lighting.

[Boomer]

Here is one of my Sponge ID sites

http://www.horta.uac.pt/species/Porifera/indexEng.html