ID Please

Pineapple sponges. Nice filter feeders. A sign of a good tank. don't worry if you start to get tons. they will balance out.
 
these are usually because of a high level of silica in your water they feed on the silicon from the tap water used. Maybe check your ro unit to make sure they are working right
 
rako1 said:
these are usually because of a high level of silica in your water they feed on the silicon from the tap water used. Maybe check your ro unit to make sure they are working right
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I had never hear that Mike. I always thought the sponges in class Calcarea (like these common pineapples) use calcium for sturcture while sponges from class Demospongia use silica. Most of what I read seems to show these guys taking off early in tanks that are being cycled for coral because the calc levels get really high when there aren't any corals in there during the cycle. Of course, telling the difference between a common pineapple and one of the Demospongia takes too many youtube telecourses for anyone to be absolutely certain (and a really powerful microscope). In any case, in a new tank I'd would think diatoms would be really prevalent in conjunction with an outbreak of silica consuming sponges. Interesting thought though.
 
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