Couple of questions for reef tank

Best remedy for Aiptasia


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Justin McDevitt

New Member
Ok so I'm newish to reef tanks. I have a 57 gallon column tank. Recently changed to the Current USA loop system. I'm running dual led and 2 - 660 gph wave pumps. I also have a 3rd wave pump that is 450 gph. My filter is a Cascade 1000 doing 227 gph. Now for tank inhabitants.
I have 2 - rockfire anenomes, 1 bubble tip and a large carpet. I have 1 Clarki clowns, large wrasse, snowflake eel, moray eel and recently a file fish to try and get rid of Aiptasia (epic fail). Next Sally light foot crab, pom pom crab, cleaner shrimp, 3-sexy anemone shrimp and a sand sifting starfis . For corals I have xenia, a dunkin, a star polyp, small zoa colony, mushrooms , a green hammer and a frog spawn. Ok now the questions.
1. Would adding a second canister filter for strictly biological media be beneficial?
2. Do I have enough flow with about 1900 gph?
3. Best recommendation to get rid of aiptasia20191226_152233_resize_40.jpg
 

DaveK

Well-Known Member
To answer your questions.

Canister filters on reef systems normally don't contain any biological media at all. This is because the biological filtration is all done in the live rock you have in the system. Also, bio media in a canister filter usually becomes a dirt trap and then a "nitrate factory". So adding an additional canister filter for biological filtration is counter productive, and if you have bio media in an existing canister, slowly remove it over a period of time, provided you have enough live rock. The typical amount of live rock you want is about 1 to 2 lbs per gallon of water.

You have more than enough flow. However, since your asking the question, also check that your getting enough flow through the live rock. If you have a lot of densely packed rock you may have some dead spots inside the rock structure.

Getting rid of aiptasia is usually done best with one of the killing products you inject into them. I don't recommend adding a nudbranch since they often have very specific diets and you have a problem of what to do with them once they eat the aiptasia. You can also make yourself a aiptasia zapper out of a few basic electronic parts. They do sell such a product but they want about $130 and you can make one for far less.
 
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