How sponges work

Every sponge in the mod works like the vanilla sponge. The only differences are what it soaks up and how far it reaches.

Soaking up

A sponge checks the area around it when you place it, and again whenever a block next to it changes. If it removes at least one block, it turns into its soaked form and plays the sponge sound.

The search spreads out one block at a time, like water flowing. Two numbers limit it:

• Reach: how many steps away from the sponge the search can go. Steps go up, down and sideways, never diagonally.
• Search limit: how many blocks the search can visit in total, counting the sponge itself. A sponge removes at most one block less than this.

Water, lava and snow sponges only spread through their own element. In a long, narrow channel they follow it all the way to their full reach. In a big open lake the search limit runs out first on the lower tiers.

Sponge	Removes	Also removes
Water	Water source and flowing blocks, and waterlogged blocks lose their water	Kelp and seagrass (dropped as items)
Lava	Lava source and flowing blocks
Snow	Snow layers, snow blocks and powder snow
Fire	Fire and soul fire

Range explorer

Pick an element and a tier. The diagram is a top-down slice through the sponge, one square per block.

Sponge

Reach

6 blocks (walking distance, no diagonals)

Removes at most

64 blocks

Clears open water to

3 blocks (limited by the block count)

The search only moves through water. In a narrow channel it follows the water further, up to the reach.

always cleared in open water only reached if the limit is not used up

Every tier

Water

Sponge	Reach	Search limit	Turns into
Sponge	6 blocks	65	Wet Sponge
Compressed Sponge 1x	10 blocks	512	Wet Compressed Sponge 1x
Compressed Sponge 2x	16 blocks	4,096	Wet Compressed Sponge 2x
Compressed Sponge 3x	22 blocks	32,768	Wet Compressed Sponge 3x
Compressed Sponge 4x	28 blocks	262,144	Wet Compressed Sponge 4x
Compressed Sponge 5x	34 blocks	2,097,152	Wet Compressed Sponge 5x

Lava

Sponge	Reach	Search limit	Turns into
Lava Sponge	6 blocks	65	Hot Lava Sponge
Compressed Lava Sponge 1x	10 blocks	512	Hot Compressed Lava Sponge 1x
Compressed Lava Sponge 2x	16 blocks	4,096	Hot Compressed Lava Sponge 2x
Compressed Lava Sponge 3x	22 blocks	32,768	Hot Compressed Lava Sponge 3x
Compressed Lava Sponge 4x	28 blocks	262,144	Hot Compressed Lava Sponge 4x
Compressed Lava Sponge 5x	34 blocks	2,097,152	Hot Compressed Lava Sponge 5x

Snow

Sponge	Reach	Search limit	Turns into
Snow Sponge	7 blocks	125	Frozen Snow Sponge
Compressed Snow Sponge 1x	10 blocks	512	Frozen Compressed Snow Sponge 1x
Compressed Snow Sponge 2x	16 blocks	4,096	Frozen Compressed Snow Sponge 2x
Compressed Snow Sponge 3x	22 blocks	32,768	Frozen Compressed Snow Sponge 3x
Compressed Snow Sponge 4x	28 blocks	262,144	Frozen Compressed Snow Sponge 4x
Compressed Snow Sponge 5x	34 blocks	2,097,152	Frozen Compressed Snow Sponge 5x

Fire

Sponge	Reach	Search limit	Turns into
Fire Sponge	6 blocks	65	Burnt Fire Sponge
Compressed Fire Sponge 1x	10 blocks	512	Burnt Compressed Fire Sponge 1x
Compressed Fire Sponge 2x	16 blocks	4,096	Burnt Compressed Fire Sponge 2x
Compressed Fire Sponge 3x	22 blocks	32,768	Burnt Compressed Fire Sponge 3x
Compressed Fire Sponge 4x	28 blocks	262,144	Burnt Compressed Fire Sponge 4x
Compressed Fire Sponge 5x	34 blocks	2,097,152	Burnt Compressed Fire Sponge 5x

Resetting

A soaked sponge does nothing until it is reset. Each element resets in the world when placed somewhere that undoes what it absorbed, and each can also be reset in a furnace or freezer. The element pages have the details:

• Water sponges: dry in the Nether, or in a furnace
• Lava sponges: cool in snowy biomes, or in a freezer
• Snow sponges: thaw in the Nether, or in a furnace
• Fire sponges: cool in snowy or ocean biomes, next to water, or in a freezer

Soaked sponges drop themselves when mined, so you can carry them to the right place. A hoe mines every sponge fastest.