Introduction, also is this sponge?

[BxstardXI]

Heyya, so im technically not new, ive been peeking on this website for years when i had questions but just now decided to join haha

Anyways, ive been into this hobby for 6 years, im 22 btw. My road was from 50l to 100l to 240l and now im at 450litre. It went incredibly well until i had to emergency visit my grandparents 2700km away for 2 weeks a few months ago.
A family member took care of my fish while i was gone but sadly one of my fish got the white dot parasite, femsal wasnt strong enough and now i only have 2 left and 3 hermits, 1 snail. (ill add an image of em, the big one likes to be pet. No joke) i dont wanna add more until the green algea problem is gone

I dont have alot of corals since they always seemed to die so i didnt have em for a couple of years until i thought i was experienced enough and got more knowledge. ive got a few for a year now now they are THRIVING(taking it slow though) one of the corals I thought had died 4 years ago is growing back to my suprise as i noticed while cleaning the tank (green zoanthus, image added in this threat, u can see em a bit blurry in the middle of the stone)

But on the other side is this yellow substance, is this sponge?? If so do i need to remove the piece of rock where the corals are growing so the sponge leaves it alone or can i leave it like this? Never had this situation before, the sponges in my older tank were pink-ish

So my questions in short : is the yellow part sponge? Is it harmfull to the growing coral?

And what do I do with the green algea? I didnt have any problem with it since 3 years until recently. Ive tried everything, from water changes often to all kinds of brands to help reduce it, i feed my two fish half a sheet of nori seaweed once every 2 days and a little bit of granules(not sure if thats the right word) in the day between.

So yeah any advice would be appreciated!

 

[revhtree]

Welcome to your new home for saltwater reef aquarium resources and fun! Welcome to the family!

 

[BxstardXI]

This is what my tank used to look like before the catastrophe, doesnt look like much but I was so proud of it. Even the ocelaris was laying eggs that hatched on first try. I may still have some images somewhere of them in the quarantine tank

 

[Nano_Man]

 

[Brisk]

Welcome!

 

[SPS2020]

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

 

[CO2TLEY]

 

[BxstardXI]

Is there a way to delete comments? I have autism and theres too much happening on my screen, the welcome comments are gonna overthrow the people awnsering my questions and my brain will blur it out

 

[vetteguy53081]

Heyya, so im technically not new, ive been peeking on this website for years when i had questions but just now decided to join haha

Anyways, ive been into this hobby for 6 years, im 22 btw. My road was from 50l to 100l to 240l and now im at 450litre. It went incredibly well until i had to emergency visit my grandparents 2700km away for 2 weeks a few months ago.
A family member took care of my fish while i was gone but sadly one of my fish got the white dot parasite, femsal wasnt strong enough and now i only have 2 left and 3 hermits, 1 snail. (ill add an image of em, the big one likes to be pet. No joke) i dont wanna add more until the green algea problem is gone

I dont have alot of corals since they always seemed to die so i didnt have em for a couple of years until i thought i was experienced enough and got more knowledge. ive got a few for a year now now they are THRIVING(taking it slow though) one of the corals I thought had died 4 years ago is growing back to my suprise as i noticed while cleaning the tank (green zoanthus, image added in this threat, u can see em a bit blurry in the middle of the stone)

But on the other side is this yellow substance, is this sponge?? If so do i need to remove the piece of rock where the corals are growing so the sponge leaves it alone or can i leave it like this? Never had this situation before, the sponges in my older tank were pink-ish

So my questions in short : is the yellow part sponge? Is it harmfull to the growing coral?

And what do I do with the green algea? I didnt have any problem with it since 3 years until recently. Ive tried everything, from water changes often to all kinds of brands to help reduce it, i feed my two fish half a sheet of nori seaweed once every 2 days and a little bit of granules(not sure if thats the right word) in the day between.

So yeah any advice would be appreciated!

Appears to be sponge and for algae, something that can be easily addressed with white intensity reduction and addition of snails such as astrea- cerith- margarita and strawberry conchs

 

[BxstardXI]

Appears to be sponge and for algae, something that can be easily addressed with white intensity reduction and addition of snails such as astrea- cerith- margarita and strawberry conchs

Thank you for your response!

Is the sponge harmfull to the coral? Or can I leave it like it is?

I'll immediately try to set the lights less white, thanks! Ive already got a couple of snails but few more can do^-^

 

[BxstardXI]

Appears to be sponge and for algae, something that can be easily addressed with white intensity reduction and addition of snails such as astrea- cerith- margarita and strawberry conchs

Turns out I cant decide how much white light I want to with these lamps, ive got the Luminus lights

The one in the back is only full blue and the one infront can only do full white with a bit of blue or full blue, this may sound stupid but isnt full blue bad for the fish?? Or do I only use those settings until the algea is gone?

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Welcome to Reef2Reef and sorry if this is a bit too overstimulating!

So my questions in short : is the yellow part sponge? Is it harmfull to the growing coral?

Yes, the yellow part is sponge, and it's most likely harmless, but to tell for sure, you can read through the quote below:

Yeah, that's definitely a sponge. Most sponges are completely harmless/beneficial, but some can be invasive and/or harmful to corals (thankfully, these are rare).

To tell if a sponge is chemically harmful: if a healthy, established coral starts closing up or looking to be in bad shape on the side closest to the sponge as the sponge grows closer to it, and nothing else has happened (lighting changes, parameter swings, pests, etc.) that could explain it, then the sponge is probably chemically harmful.

Chemically harmful sponges are very rare.

For invasive sponges: unless it shows signs of being chemically harmful or starts actively growing over and smothering a coral's flesh/polyps, it's harmless. These can grow over the skeletons of corals, around the base/stalks of corals, even up into the water column above corals (where they're over the coral but not growing on the flesh or polyps themselves), etc. without harming the coral at all - as long as the coral flesh and polyps can get food, light, and flow, the sponge is harmless.

Invasive sponges are moderately rare.

Invasive and chemically harmful sponges are incredibly rare.

To address this:

this may sound stupid but isnt full blue bad for the fish??

Full-blue light isn't bad for fish (though a handful of fish species need some other colors of light as well to properly develop reproductive organs or to develop as babies).

Full-blue lighting just typically doesn't show the fish's color as well as whiter light does (blue light does show coral colors really well though).

Or do I only use those settings until the algea is gone?

I personally wouldn't expect changing the light from white to blue to get rid of algae (I can go into the reasons why not if you want), so I wouldn't bother changing the lights if you're not comfortable doing so or don't like the look.

That said, adding some algae-eating snails could definitely help with algae growth.

 

[Ocean_Queenie]

Hello & Welcome!

 

[BxstardXI]

Welcome to Reef2Reef and sorry if this is a bit too overstimulating!



Yes, the yellow part is sponge, and it's most likely harmless, but to tell for sure, you can read through the quote below:



To address this:

Full-blue light isn't bad for fish (though a handful of fish species need some other colors of light as well to properly develop reproductive organs or to develop as babies).

Full-blue lighting just typically doesn't show the fish's color as well as whiter light does (blue light does show coral colors really well though).


I personally wouldn't expect changing the light from white to blue to get rid of algae (I can go into the reasons why not if you want), so I wouldn't bother changing the lights if you're not comfortable doing so or don't like the look.

That said, adding some algae-eating snails could definitely help with algae growth.

Ahh thank you! Im very glad to know the sponge isnt harmfull then! The fact the corals are quite literally coming back from the dead and is touching the sponge I can assume this is only perfect then

And I just figured out I could change the setting in an app, handy to save manuals haha. I adjusted the white light to 65% but I would love to have your advice on best light settings!
How much % blue and white is the best?? My current time clock is 7 hours, is that too much or not enough?? If i didnt had corals I would have had lights out for a few days but thats out of option

Thanks!^-^

 

[DDenny]

 

[vetteguy53081]

Turns out I cant decide how much white light I want to with these lamps, ive got the Luminus lights

The one in the back is only full blue and the one infront can only do full white with a bit of blue or full blue, this may sound stupid but isnt full blue bad for the fish?? Or do I only use those settings until the algea is gone?

Blend the white with blue

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

And I just figured out I could change the setting in an app, handy to save manuals haha. I adjusted the white light to 65% but I would love to have your advice on best light settings!
How much % blue and white is the best?? My current time clock is 7 hours, is that too much or not enough?? If i didnt had corals I would have had lights out for a few days but thats out of option

Haha, I'll leave specific light settings up to others to help with, but what's best is both highly subjective (up to individual tastes) and highly variable when objective (different corals prefer different lighting depending on a number of different factors - see the quote below).

A blue-white mix (which'll have more blue than other kinds of light) is my vague suggestion.

The amount of time is a surprisingly difficult question, as it may depend on the corals you're growing and the amount of PAR they're getting throughout the day. Most people tend to run their lights anywhere from ~10-14 hours a day from what I've seen, but if the PAR in your tank is on the higher end for the corals you're growing, that could potentially be too much over the course of the day (or it could lead to them growing faster and/or healthier).

Normally, I'd consider bumping it up from 7 hours to 10 or 12 (basically going up one hour every two to four weeks), but if you're seeing your corals growing and doing well, then I wouldn't change the lighting too much at the moment (especially not too fast). So, if you're adjusting your light spectrum right now, I'd give it a month to see how the corals are handling the change, then look at increasing the number of hours the lights are on for - that way they have time to adjust to the new lighting.

 

[zheka757]

Welcome to R2R!

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

see the quote below).

I forgot to put the quote *facepalm* - here it is:

The study below tested Acropora variabilis and Porites lutea harvested from 2-6 m deep at maintained 6 m deep; they compared dark (no light), full-spectrum (the control), and blue light settings at 200 μmol and 400 μmol (they tested full-spectrum at 800 μmol as well, but 400 μmol was the highest they could get the blue); they used a metal halide light with polycarbonate filters to control what spectrum the corals were being exposed to - the corals grew (calcified) fastest under the blue light, but there was more photosynthesis under the full-spectrum (white) light:

"The light to dark calcification ratios of A. variabilis under 400 μmol photons m−2 s−1 of control and blue light were 8.4 and 10.5, respectively; while lower ratios were observed in P. lutea (3.4 and 4.5). In both cases, calcification under blue light exceeds even these of the control"

Frontiers | Light Enhanced Calcification in Hermatypic Corals: New Insights from Light Spectral Responses

Light enhanced calcification (LEC) is a well-documented phenomenon in reef-building corals. The main mechanism proposed for LEC is that photosynthetic CO2 up...

www.frontiersin.org

So, under controlled PAR with metal halides, these shallow water corals grew faster under blue light than white, but but photosynthesis decreased drastically under blue light when compared to white.

To contrast with that, though, another study (using three different species of Acropora - A. tenuis, A. muricata, and A. intermedia at 100 μmol and 200 μmol [low numbers, I know] with LED's) compared different spectrums (the first link below) and found that the inclusion of some red light drastically increased the growth rate (the second link below; the green/yellow spectrum made a little bit of difference, but they didn't add much of it in with any of the three spectrums used; it may have made a bigger difference at higher intensities):

https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Light-spectra-composition-of-LEDs-used-in-the-current-study-A-PBR-400nm-purple-430nm_fig1_367478086

https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Specific-growth-rate-of-three-Acroporid-corals-under-different-light-spectra-Values-are_fig6_367478086

The actual study:

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/367478086_Effects_of_light_intensity_and_spectral_composition_on_the_growth_and_physiological_adaptation_of_Acroporid_corals

Another contrasting study - Stylophora pistillata from shallow (3 m) and deep (40 m) waters; the shallow specimens showed the highest photosynthesis rates under full-spectrum lighting, but the deepwater specimens showed the highest photosynthesis rates under blue lighting (sadly, they didn't measure growth rates, and the study only took place between March and April, so it was rather short, and results may have changed if the study had been longer).

The spectral quality of light is a key driver of photosynthesis and photoadaptation in Stylophora pistillata colonies from different depths in the Red Sea

SUMMARYDepth zonation on coral reefs is largely driven by the amount of downwelling, photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) that is absorbed by the symbiotic algae (zooxanthellae) of corals. The minimum light requirements of zooxanthellae are related to both the total intensity of downwelling...

journals.biologists.com

So, does blue light grow Acropora or other SPS faster than full-spectrum (white) light? It depends on the coral (both species and individual specimen), the location and depth/temperature the coral is from, what light the corals are photo-acclimated to (a shallow water coral growing under blue light in a hobbyist tank for 5 years is likely going to be acclimated to blue light despite its origins), year-round weather conditions (storms and such play a big role in determining what light is reaching the water), the clade of zooxanthellae they're using, etc.

Does the kind of light used (metal halide vs t5 vs LED, etc.) make a difference, or is it all in the spectrum, intensity, and photoperiod? I don't think we'll be able to answer this unless someone is able to make LED's with the exact same spectrum as those other types of lighting, but I'd guess any differences would be minimal.

So, lots of different things go into the growth, and again, fast growth doesn't necessarily equate to excellent health/coloration (it might, but it also might not). Does each coral species have it's own optimal spectrum for growth/health/color? Probably, but I doubt it would perfectly match a different species own optimal spectrum, so I don't know that it would much matter in our tanks - instead, we'd need to find the optimal spectrum for a broad range of corals, which may not be optimal for any particular coral we keep:

"Zooxanthellate corals display contrasting photoacclimation responses, coral cover, colony morphologies and genetic richness along depth gradients33,49,50,51,52,53,54, which collectively suggest that coral species occupy different light niches."

Photosynthetic usable energy explains vertical patterns of biodiversity in zooxanthellate corals - Scientific Reports

The biodiversity in coral reef ecosystems is distributed heterogeneously across spatial and temporal scales, being commonly influenced by biogeographic factors, habitat area and disturbance frequency. A potential association between gradients of usable energy and biodiversity patterns has...

www.nature.com

Personally, I'd expect to see similar (not the same, but similar) growth rates from a lot of corals under both blue and full-spectrum lights; some will likely do better under one than the other, but determining which is a lot of effort.

For that reason, like I've said before, at this point in time (barring a major, undeniable scientific breakthrough with our knowledge of corals and light), I would personally only suggest running the windex blue tanks if you really want to see the coral fluorescence pop (as mentioned by others, though, the colors may be best in the long run if you run different spectrums than just blue throughout the day). Like many others have mentioned in various forms by this point, I'd personally run a full-spectrum (white) light that leans somewhat more toward the blue side of things. Is that the "best" spectrum? Maybe, maybe not, but it seems like a good, safe place to start from.

 

[BxstardXI]

Haha, I'll leave specific light settings up to others to help with, but what's best is both highly subjective (up to individual tastes) and highly variable when objective (different corals prefer different lighting depending on a number of different factors - see the quote below).

A blue-white mix (which'll have more blue than other kinds of light) is my vague suggestion.

The amount of time is a surprisingly difficult question, as it may depend on the corals you're growing and the amount of PAR they're getting throughout the day. Most people tend to run their lights anywhere from ~10-14 hours a day from what I've seen, but if the PAR in your tank is on the higher end for the corals you're growing, that could potentially be too much over the course of the day (or it could lead to them growing faster and/or healthier).

Normally, I'd consider bumping it up from 7 hours to 10 or 12 (basically going up one hour every two to four weeks), but if you're seeing your corals growing and doing well, then I wouldn't change the lighting too much at the moment (especially not too fast). So, if you're adjusting your light spectrum right now, I'd give it a month to see how the corals are handling the change, then look at increasing the number of hours the lights are on for - that way they have time to adjust to the new lighting.

Thank you for your response

at the moment the corals seem to be THRIVING ive never seen them so open and healthy before, one even doubled its size. I dont know the names sadly but im opening a thread for that later to help identify them.

A coral is literally coming back from the dead rn, counted 13heads and they look beautifully green already so id say the light settings would be perfect for them rn but to the algea too it seems. I'll keep the light settings as it is rn and keep en eye on the corals too to see how its affecting them! Thank you

I hope you dont mind if i took a screenshot of what you said so its easier for me to find back

Thank you