[travisman1994]

Orange stuff on the back of my rock....Sponge I think.... also mangrove question...

I noticed today after bringing home some coral that there was orange stuff growing on my rock. I think it is a sponge. There isnt a lot of it but about a dime size area of it growing. What is the care for it? Also how long does it take to grow? I have mangroves and i keep their top out of the water..... Can I just keep them underwater because it would clear up so much room............

 

[Naiad]

Not sure on the sponge but mangroves need to have their tops out of water I believe. They can tolerate short term submerging, aka flooding in the wild, but after a while they will rot. Their roots are specialized for submersion and saltwater but the higher branches are not.

 

[mf2055]

yeah tops of the mangroves need to be out of water and the bottoms should be in a sand bed. Should have some light on them if you want them to do anything for filtration also.

For the sponge, there are a lot of sponge type creatures on liverock, if it is not moving it is likely harmless and will grow slowly into who knows what shape. If it grows too fast and you plan on having corals you might want to brush it off, some of them can plauge a coral tank and overgrow all the corals quickly.

 

[Tim!]

Mangroves are fine with roots in sand or just water (float them on styro, etc.).

Never submerge the entire plant - they will die, and keep the leaves free of salt & saltwater (need to rinse them occasionally).

No idea what's on your rock without a picture. Could be algae, sponge, coral, etc...

 

[amc78cj7]

Sponge is a multicellular porrous organism. In my experience even exposing sponge to air for a moment will flood the organism with air and cause instant death. In other words, if your live rock was out of the water there is a good chance that any sponge would not live long after.