Aiptasia and the Large Reef Tank

[FishTri]

Background:
I spent a year practicing with a 55 gallon tank and 50-75lbs of LR. One aiptasia became 1000. Lesson learned...

That rock has now been cooked. *Literally* Couple of rocks in a pot and boiled for a couple of hours until if was all cooked. Really cooked. Then dried out for a week or two before going into...

The New Tank:
210 Gallon AGA. And I just bought 125 lbs of LR from a local reefer. The new rock is now in the old 55 which is set up for quarantine. Good life, lots of worms, stars, good color, plus aiptasia and majano...

Don't know if you're familiar with using 2N Sodium Hydroxide to wipe out the little buggers (found the method on another site), but that's my method of choice for now. Pickling lime paste was hit or miss. This stuff does a pretty good job of wiping them out. Especially the tiny ones that would be hard to get with joe's juice, etc. Now, here's the...

Question:
Is this a fool's errand? With all of the nooks and cranny's in this new rock, are there bound to be pests I don't wipe out? And six months from now after I've moved this rock from quarantine into the big system, will I be battling aiptasia?

Someone suggested that for a tank this size, I'd be better off drying out the new rock for a couple of days to kill the aiptasia. I hate to sacrifice the other hitchhikers, though.

So I'd like to hear from experienced Large Reef Tankers. Is there anyone out there with a large tank that has been aiptasia-free for a number of years? How did you do it?

Thanks one and all.

 

[Von_Rahvin]

why buy live rock and then boil it? seems fairly counter intuitive.

 

[FishTri]

I would agree. But if you've ever seen a serious aiptasia infestation (certainly hundreds if not thousands), you'd know where I was coming from. There was no hope for that rock, and I was happy to use it for base rock after it was cooked.

The recommendation came from a reefer who observed that in a smaller tank, removing rock to deal with aiptasia is manageable. But a large system is a different type of undertaking. Eliminating aiptasia could be a much bigger, if not impossible, problem in a large tank.

He was suggesting there was a trade-off between some of the beneficial life that comes on LR, and not having to deal with an infestation. In a large system, he reasoned, I might be better off taking the safe route and guaranteeing no aiptasia was introduced.

So what's "best practice"? Is there a school of Large Reef Tankers out there who play it safe and dry their rock before putting it in a large system?

 

[meschaefer]

I am dealing with the same questions, but my concern is hydroids. So following along.

 

[ricks]

The way I see it, if you cook your rock to kill aiptasia. You kill everything else.. Seems counter productive to me. Then you introduce the rock to your system clean. But how do you know while stocking the same system, You don't reintroduce aiptasia on a piece of coral or plug, small rock or snail??? As I have never found a sure fire way to eradicate them from your system...

 

[yaktop]

marcorocks.com.

I sold all my other rock not for pest but for yellow colonials and polyps. no chances thos round.

 

[Justjoe]

I'm not about to boil 40,000 pounds of rock...

I use Chaetodon ulitensis (double saddle) for manjano control, they do a great job as well as eating aiptasia. There are also two long nose butts, one copperband and one racoon, but if I had to choose just one I would go with the ulitensis. There are still some spots they can't reach, but as long as they can't spread that is all that matters. I think the double saddles would do just find in most home tanks as well.

East Side of tank:

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West Side of tank:

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[Mikigo]

Are you sure that's an aquarium? Look like Ocean shot. Wow

 

[yaktop]

wow is right. however I dont thing the man was talking 40,000 lbs

 

[Justjoe]

It is my reef tank at Atlantis Marine World Aquarium in Riverhead, NY. It is a public aquarium I cofounded which opened in 2000, and there is 30,000 pounds of quarried limestone for the base rock, and 10,000 pounds of live rock over that to make the original live rock skin. The tank is now 7 years old, and most if not all corals were frags or standard retail size pieces of coral.

 

[Rue]

I believed you!

VERY cool!

 

[240-Reefer]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10433637#post10433637 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Justjoe
It is my reef tank at Atlantis Marine World Aquarium in Riverhead, NY. It is a public aquarium I cofounded which opened in 2000, and there is 30,000 pounds of quarried limestone for the base rock, and 10,000 pounds of live rock over that to make the original live rock skin. The tank is now 7 years old, and most if not all corals were frags or standard retail size pieces of coral.

That is one Awesome place

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http://s164.photobucket.com/albums/u19/240-reefer/atlantis marine world/?start=all

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[kevinpo]

Hi Joe,
Nice shots,

In a large tank a dozen or so Peppermint shrimp (Lysmata wurdemanni) from the Caribbean work quite well. Copperband butterflies also work for aiptasia anemones but sometimes also bother Tridacna clams. Double Saddle, Raccoon, and Threadfin will eat Majano types but may be hit or miss with corals especially SPS. My home tank has been free of them for about 6 years after having a population of several thousand. I used a Copperband Butterfly for it but on my 450 I used the shrimp.

Regards,
Kevin

 

[Justjoe]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10437561#post10437561 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by 240-Reefer
That is one Awesome place

Thanks and nice pics.
Dealing with a big tank really forces your hand to deal with most things in a more practical or natural way. Plus its not like you can just break it down and start over, so it forces your hand to find a solution.
I have one tank attached to the main tank that was getting overwhelmed with manjanos and it would have required a complete breakdown to eliminate them, so instead in went a double saddle butt and within a few weeks all were eaten. Some will eventually resurface but at that stage its easy enough to deal with a few.

 

[FishTri]

Like I try to tell my kids, no matter how big you think you are, there's always someone a little bigger... 20,000 gallons is a lot of water!

Joe, thanks for sharing your approach. (We were planning a trip to Niagara Falls near the end of August. I might have to take the family on a little detour...) Anyway, Double Saddle is now on my stocking list.

Kevin, I just added a few Peppermint shrimp to my fuge. At lease one was carrying eggs, so I figured I'd get them acclimated in a comfortable environment (lots of chaeto for the fry to hide in) then move them to the 55 tank that has the quarantined LR.

As much as I appreciate (read: overwhelmed) hearing from Joe, I'm still looking to learn if its possible/practical to keep a 200-300 gallon system completely free of these pests. If there are people out there with pest-free systems, that's what I'll shoot for.

If its inevitable (even with rigorous quarantine) that there will be some outbreaks, then I'll just have to learn how to manage.

Is it worth my time to eradicate everything before I add the quarantined rock to my main system? And if it is worth the effort, how far do I go to make sure there's no aiptasia or majano?

 

[Justjoe]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10438386#post10438386 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by FishTri

Joe, thanks for sharing your approach. (We were planning a trip to Niagara Falls near the end of August. I might have to take the family on a little detour...) Anyway, Double Saddle is now on my stocking list.


If its inevitable (even with rigorous quarantine) that there will be some outbreaks, then I'll just have to learn how to manage.

Is it worth my time to eradicate everything before I add the quarantined rock to my main system? And if it is worth the effort, how far do I go to make sure there's no aiptasia or majano?

Tough to eliminate them all, especially inside some of the piping, etc as they'll feed in the pipes. The other thing is once the shrimp or fish eat the aiptasia, they can leave a small piece behind which will grow back into an adult. As long as you have some predators in there, with the shrimp being the easiest to keep you'll be fine. If you QT your rock, just keep an eye out for the major players like aiptasia and manjano. If you see them, they can be injected with vinegar or dilute muriatic acid, or buried with some epoxy, and just do the same in your tank if they show up. As long as you stay ahead of it and nuke'em when you see'em, you'll be fine. Its good to be concerned but don't over think it.
Also, if you find your way here to AMW, be sure to LMK and I'd be glad to show you around.