New Reefer (very new), having pest issues

[Mac_Nano_Reef]

Hi everyone, let me give a little backhistory. I have recently converted my Freshwater tank to a Nano Reef. I have a 60 litre tank and a 20 litre Sump, of which the refugium is about 6 litres (so 10%) I have been taking it extremely slowly, the tank is only 1 month old now. I have a Red Sea LED 50 (50% Blues and 10% White, 12 Hrs 9am to 9pm, 1 Hr ramp up/down). I started with just sand (Samoa Sand (0.5mm - 1.2mm)) and some Wet Live Rock from my LFS, and bought salt water from the LFS (I believe it is Red Sea @ 1.025). I should have paid way more attention to beginner mistakes, I placed the sand in after a thorough rinse and then put the rock straight in. I left the tank for 2 weeks to cycle and checked parameters. Everything tested great (NO2 - 0, NO3 - 5PPM, NH3 + NH4 - 0). I then added a GSP and 2 Bumble bee snails. The GSP opened the very next day and the snails seem happy. I then got some Chaetomorpha (500ml) and some Copepods and Phytoplankton. Left this for another 2 weeks. Now we get to today, I am seeing so many tiny little critters (no clue what they are, they are about 4mm long at the moment and crawl pretty fast all over the rocks) about 10 to 20 so far. Also I have seen quite a few Bristle Worms, some about 2cm long, seen at least 3 of these. Also, the biggest worry so far is I have seen 2 Aiptasia, one was in the front and noticed him early enough to remove him from the rock, the second way bigger one was at the very back of the tank behind a rock. I know feel as though I am nowhere near ready for more corals or fish. Not sure what to do next, I certainly don't want a critter/Pest tank. Should I remove the snails and the GSP to a Quarantine tank and then Bleach/Cure the live rock and pretty much start all over? Should I leave them? I know that Pests are part of reefing, I just thought they would come later once the tank was established. I have added some photo's of my setup. I am sure I could have done things a bit better, but I am pretty happy with what I did.

On a side note, as part of this build I also built a little Tank Monitoring System from an ESP32 Module with a TDS sensor and Temp probe. Then integrated that into my Home Assistant, so I can graph my tank properties and setup alerts etc.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

I personally would not bleach and cure the live rock. You will run the risk of messing up the established micro biome in your tank, and would be adding dry rock to your tank at that rate. While you wouldn't have the pest associated with it, you would have algae issues instead.

For the bristle worms you can always try and make a trap for them (there's a couple of guides in here on how to make them). For the Aiptasia, I would just keep an eye out for any that you see and hit it with F-Aiptasia or Aiptasia-X if you can.

 

[VintageReefer]

Now we get to today, I am seeing so many tiny little critters (no clue what they are, they are about 4mm long at the moment and crawl pretty fast all over the rocks) about 10 to 20 so far

sounds like pods - beneficial

. Also I have seen quite a few Bristle Worms, some about 2cm long, seen at least 3 of these.

Also beneficial and harmless

Also, the biggest worry so far is I have seen 2 Aiptasia, one was in the front and noticed him early enough to remove him from the rock, the second way bigger one was at the very back of the tank behind a rock.

Treat as needed. Everybody gets them eventually. Aiptasia x is good

 

[PotatoPig]

The critters are likely some kind of copepod/amphipod/other crustacean. These are mostly good to have in the tank.

Bristleworms. Ugly and bad to touch, but neutral to beneficial to the actual operation of the tank. Population will normally regulate based on available food. Long term your chance of keeping these out of a tank is virtually zero.

I wouldn’t worry about either of these.