Aiptasia

[waterwatereverywhere]

My reef books describe aiptasia as pests, and the LFS sells stuff to finish them off. But I've noticed around the forum that not everyone agrees that they're bad for your tank. Is there any consensus on this? Get rid or not?

 

[SkiFletch]

I hate them with the fire of a thousand suns...

 

[ox5477]

I would personally not like them in my tank as I have started collecting some nice corals... and the aipstasia will sting and kill corals....

But, for someone like andywg who keeps marine preds more than caring about corals, they can be a welcome addition to add some interest to his lr. so it really depends on what your stocking

Ox

 

[andywg]

My tanks are full of aiptasia and even when my large tank was a reef they weren't that badly behaved. I never noticed any stinging, though I did try and avoid letting ones live if they were too close to a coral.

After the tank nuked, some of them went lovely colours.

Now the tanks are all FOWLR I don't mind them being in there at all. I find they nicel compliment the Mojano anemones I have!

I do seem to recall someone advocating a filtration system that involved a section filled with aiptasia and very little light to filter nutrients out of the water. Must have been 18 or so months ago now though...

 

[SkiFletch]

Yeah, some guy on reefvideos.com uses them in a sump filter and then uses a rediculously powerful UV on his return pipe to make sure none survive the trip up to the display.

 

[ox5477]

What do you think about that sump the guy describes in the video ski?

I think its kinda cool have the different layers with special areas designed specifically for your turnicates/sponges, your macro and an area for the aipstasia to grow as well. I do agree that its dissappointing because of how its set-up and the use of the aipstasia that he need to use the return pump and the crazy UV... that would be quite the little food maker.

Ox