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Unread 06/28/2001, 01:51 PM   #15
Brad Ward
10 & Over Club
 
Join Date: Apr 2000
Location: Grapevine, Texas
Posts: 545
garbled,

As you mentioned, sponges grow anywhere they can. Depending on what kind (photsynthetic or not), they will colonize appropriate places in our small systems w/o trying. All Steve is proposing is a refugium for low light low flow sponge colonies. What's the big deal? You can have a Xenia sp. filter or fill it with calerpa and magic mud if you want to. It doesn't matter as long as it limits nutrients. System size will always be a sticking point for most hobbyists. I prefer to use the space I have with something far more interesting than rocks with sponges. I have had rock in my sumps for years. Any body who has been keeping reefs for a few years needs somwhere to put those rocks that take up too much room from coral growth. Steve had a sump full of rock back when I visited his apt. in 95. I bet he got the idea when he had to move and break down the two tanks that were in the living room and discovered massive amounts of sponge.

I know everyone thinks running w/o a skimmer is a sign of superiority, but nothing can be further from the truth if you ask me. I like keeping large populations of fish and feed my tank a lot. I also run my tanks w/o chillers because of the cost. Temps are anywhere from 82-86 degrees in the Summer. Supersaturation of 02 is necessary. Having a skimmer on my tank is like a security blanket as far as spawning goes as well. I have had spawning clams totally fog the tank with eggs and sperm. I wouldn't want to think what would have happened in a skimmerless system. I ran skimmerless for two years on my soft coral system, and liked the results, but had some die off due to what I believe were built up chemical problems.

Bottomline is: There is more than one way to filter a reef tank. I don't have a problem with using most of them. Use whatever floats your boat and can address possible glitches in your system.

Brad


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