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I'm looking into getting a red finger sponge. I love the look of them, and I think it would be a nice filler in my mixed reef, however, I do have some concerns. I hear the RFS is a little heartier at growing in our home aquariums, but still some struggle to keep it alive. Is there anybody that has some experince with these a google search yeilds different opinions, and I'm wondering if there is a member who has had real time experience.

Is this the same as a red tree sponge?  I just put one in a few weeks ago and it looks good so far, but I would say it takes months to decide.  There's plenty in the water when I feed, and when I shake my zeo reactor, or dose zeo stuff, so I'm hoping it works out.  It's a stunning orange color.

I have one and it's doing pretty well. I was actually worried at first because some parts of it started to turn white when I first got it but it seems fine. I actually think some people might have pulled it out and pitched it at that point but it recovered nicely. It seems pretty hardy. I haven't had it for more than a few months though so time will tell. I had a ball sponge die pretty quickly.

Tampa Bay Saltwater sells a mixture of different orange, yellow, and red sponges in various forms. The only one that I got to live was the yellow ball sponge and I kept it in the sump. I've had it for a few years and then I passed it to Alan M.

The red sponges didn't last very long in the bright reef environment and slowly withered away to mush. If you must try to keep one, put in the sump near the exit of a biopellet reactor so it gets plenty of food.

Tampa Bay Saltwater sells a mixture of different orange, yellow, and red sponges in various forms. The only one that I got to live was the yellow ball sponge and I kept it in the sump. I've had it for a few years and then I passed it to Alan M.

The red sponges didn't last very long in the bright reef environment and slowly withered away to mush. If you must try to keep one, put in the sump near the exit of a biopellet reactor so it gets plenty of food.

+1 exactly and we have some in the store.

Tampa Bay Saltwater sells a mixture of different orange, yellow, and red sponges in various forms. The only one that I got to live was the yellow ball sponge and I kept it in the sump. I've had it for a few years and then I passed it to Alan M.

The red sponges didn't last very long in the bright reef environment and slowly withered away to mush. If you must try to keep one, put in the sump near the exit of a biopellet reactor so it gets plenty of food.

 

+1 Sponges love bacteria and small plankton.

That yellow ball sponge is doing great.  I have it beneath the output of the skimmer which it seems to like.  It ended up getting kind of spiky around the bottom like the water was flowing over it and causing it to grow tendrils.

... causing it to grow tendrils.

adding that one to the vocab - thank you

 

can you post a picture of yours alan that you got from rob?

Thanks for all the advice! I don't have bio pellets, and I'd rather not buy a sponge to put in the sump, seeing as I'm getting ready to cover up my sump. I think I'll probably just skip this idea and enjoy seeing them in other tanks.

adding that one to the vocab - thank you

 

can you post a picture of yours alan that you got from rob?

Here you go. Tendrils on left. They have faded back a bit recently since a rock covered it a bit. It was also adhered to the glass bottom and I had to turn it. I may put it in the first part of the sump under the bean animal primary to give it more access to flowing crud.

 

IMAG1218_zps7t7ld4rd.jpg

It really used to look like it had a skirt, but they didn't last, somehow.  Maybe it was in the early days of my biopellets.  /shrug

Thanks for all the advice! I don't have bio pellets, and I'd rather not buy a sponge to put in the sump, seeing as I'm getting ready to cover up my sump. I think I'll probably just skip this idea and enjoy seeing them in other tanks.

If you're going to cover your sump I think that's all the more reason to put sponges in it.  Often sponges get smothered by algae or cyano in high light environments, I'd think that a dark sump would be perfect for your sponge.  Hopefully you will get some natural sponge growth in your cryptic sump, let us know what happens.

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