Cryptic Zones

[Alex]

Just curious if anyone has experimented with cryptic zones for filtration. I remember Tyree being a proponent of the but haven't heard much else.

 

[Jocko]

Oh yeah. Dong was very interested in that a while ago. I'd be interested to hear how that is going. I was planning on doing one in a 150 gallon sump in the basement for my new setup. I mean I wasn't going to go out of my way to stock with with sponges and sea squirts and stuff, but I was going to keep it dark 24/7 and probably seed it with some Tampa Bay Saltwater rock.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I have lots of such areas, including a dark sump half filled with live rock, but I have no idea if it does anything useful or not. It does have a number of sponges and such in it, but it can't be much of a nutrient sink since nothing ever "needs" harvesting (hence little new tissue is being built up out of tank nutrients)

 

[dz6t]

I don't think a dark sump is needed to grow sponge. I have plenty of sponge in low light areas. I believe the sponge may have some effect on the health of the tank or may be just an indicator that the tank is healthy.

 

[TomD]

Me too. I have a couple yellow sponges that are getting pretty big under the shaded area of my rock and some white ones alse.

 

[JCheung]

Ok of my understanding of what a cryptic zone is, i have a cryptic sump. It's fairly low flow and little to no light ever gets underneath my stand. It's full of live rock.

 

[pantinor]

I was reading about cryptic zone on an RC thread here:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=969713

They talked alot about the sponges etc. converting the nutrients rather than requiring harvesting, with a thin layer of macro over the top of it.

 

[dedfish]

I'm interested in obtaining sponges and other things to put into a cryptic zone. Any ideas on the best sources for these types of critters?

 

[pillowfish]

I know ScooterNH made his own cryptic zone...he may be able to give you some more information and see what he has noticed in his tank since putting the cryptic zone as part of his filtration. As for as obtaining..he may know other places as well...I only know because i let him come take a bunch of mine!(all non-photosynthetic..he seems very knowledgeable about the certian types of sponges as well that would work well for this.

HTH and good luck-would love to see some other peoples experiences and feelings towards this type of naturla filtration.


You m ay be also able to find him o rsome of his posting s here:

http://www.nereefgeeks.com/index.php?sid=b32e5f2cc770aae7125f99800cd0baa6

tabby

 

[Jocko]

Tampa Bay Saltwater rocks often have these kinds of things on them. Those rocks come from a fairly deep spot. When the times comes to setup up a cryptic zone in my stock tank sump, I was thinking of talking with Richard to see if he can pick out a few rocks that have more sponge/sea squirt coverage and using those to seed the sump.

But maybe other people have good sources too. I'm interested to find out.

 

[Bitingthesun]

I needed to raise my skimmer up a few inches, so I used a piece of tupperware, to keep it from floating away I drilled holes in it and filled it with LR rubble. I'm curious to see what's growing in there in a year or 2.

 

[dz6t]

Just want to share some recent observation:

I don't think a totally dark sump is needed. I have plenty of sponge growing everywhere that is shaded. I am not sure what it does to filtration but definitley produce tons of pods from those dark zones (they are low flow zones as well).