Aiptasia, thei use in the captive reef

[MoonSoft]

Aiptasia, are thought to be the bane of salt water and reef aquariums, they are responsible for pickong up anything they touch and trying to devour if not injure it. Most people agree they dont look that greay either.

Aiptasia actually tend to stay on the lower or close to undersides of the reef heads.. to capture debris, and also beleive it or not take advantage of enormous water flow where they DEVOUR ICK!!!!, and other water borne parasites.

These little creatures sit on my sump with some live rock rubble, and are responsible for removing these possible parasites from my tank. Now i have not really had a way to watch them perform this activity, but i have noticed a drop in ich in my system when i used them this way about a year ago.

I would like to know if anyone else has tried this method and what you think about it.

[gman0526]

It would be interesting to set up a Aiptasia Fuge since if you give it real thought it makes sense. Only concern would be the Aiptasia spreading to the main tank.

[icereefer]

I know of a few people that use Aiptasia sp in there sump as a parisites exporter and have for years. and have never had a problem controlling Aiptasia sp in the main tank.
Aiptasia sp is asexual they reproduce buy severing a small bit of tissue from there foot. like a mushroom. so normally you don't need to worry about piece of them getting sucked into the main tank.
the main thing is to keep them clear of your out-let pump and you can usually do that by using baffles

[MikeS]

Not sure if this is true, but I have heard that new aptasia can grow from just a few healthy cells....

A UV filter between the fuge and tank could help keep them where they belong...

Mike

[MoonSoft]

I have never seen any aptasia come from the sump into the display, and i doubt that i would be able to tell if they were, but i have never had the spread, so i can assume whatever larva or matter they use to breed is killed by the impeller of the return pump.