did you know?

I have been discussing a few things with one of my buddies thats a marine biologist, and the topic of Aiptasia came up and the benefits of them. Did you know that one of the main reasons Aiptasia can take over a tank is from high DOM? Aiptasia feed of DOM.

Theres a concept going around using Aiptasia either in your skimmer or your sump and using a high wattage UV sterilizer on your return line after the pump, before the water hits your tank to kill any aiptasia spores so they do not get in your main tank.

Just thought I'd share this info with you all...

 

I would think that most systems flow from the sump back to the tank would be to high for a UV sterilizer to be effective. I've never used one, but I do use the same basic system for air purification in my house, and I believe the air/water flow over the bulb needs to be a bit slow. No?

 

higher the wattage, the more flow it can handle

 

Yup, in fact I use them in my fuge.

http://www.3reef.com/forums/algae/yack-what-growing-cheato-38670.html

This is an application that has been around for about 20 years and it seems to work very well.

 

I know someone who has a fragging farm and runs a small store. He has tanks full of aiptasia, nothing else in them but aiptasia. I remember him mentioning something about putting them in a fuge. He also feeds them to a certain nudibranch that eats aiptasia. Do they help eliminate nitrates?

 

They eliminate DOM, so it gets it before it goes through the nitrogen cycle. There are a few things that eat them, like nudi's, peppermint shrimp, copper banded butterflys....