Seeding new tank with biomedia from established tank.

[Joshua Jordan]

I am setting up a new Innovative Marine 40g. I already have a 32g Biocube that has been going for almost 8 years. It is super stable and besides a few aiptasia and a a few vermitid snails, everything is great. My question is this: I have had the intention for over a year to build this new IM 40g tank so I put a bunch of MarinePure Bio Spheres in the REAR compartment of the 32g Biocube about a year ago with the intention of using the MarinePure spheres to help seed the new tank with beneficial bacteria. I put the MarinePure spheres in a media bag....the kind with the extremely tight weave...not the loose, net type media bag. I want to know if there is a high probability of contaminating my new tank with aiptasia or vermitid snails? The spheres are completely isolated from any aiptasia or vermitid snails as they've been in the media bag and in the rear chamber and away from any light.

Thanks for the help,
Josh

 

[Reef_at_Sea]

I am setting up a new Innovative Marine 40g. I already have a 32g Biocube that has been going for almost 8 years. It is super stable and besides a few aiptasia and a a few vermitid snails, everything is great. My question is this: I have had the intention for over a year to build this new IM 40g tank so I put a bunch of MarinePure Bio Spheres in the REAR compartment of the 32g Biocube about a year ago with the intention of using the MarinePure spheres to help seed the new tank with beneficial bacteria. I put the MarinePure spheres in a media bag....the kind with the extremely tight weave...not the loose, net type media bag. I want to know if there is a high probability of contaminating my new tank with aiptasia or vermitid snails? The spheres are completely isolated from any aiptasia or vermitid snails as they've been in the media bag and in the rear chamber and away from any light.

Thanks for the help,
Josh

Why not take the spheres out of the bag to check for any pests?
There will probably be vermitid snails on them (i had a pump in the back chamber of my tank for half a year & it was full of vermitid snails) but they will probably die in a new tank because of lack of food.
I don't think you should be worried about aiptasia but better to check.

 

[Joshua Jordan]

Why not take the spheres out of the bag to check for any pests?
There will probably be vermitid snails on them (i had a pump in the back chamber of my tank for half a year & it was full of vermitid snails) but they will probably die in a new tank because of lack of food.
I don't think you should be worried about aiptasia but better to check.

Thank you very much for your reply. I was primarily worried about what I can't see on the MarinePure spheres. I was concerned that vermitid snails or aiptasia could still be transferred to my new tank even though the spheres themselves look clean on the outside.

 

[Reef_at_Sea]

Thank you very much for your reply. I was primarily worried about what I can't see on the MarinePure spheres. I was concerned that vermitid snails or aiptasia could still be transferred to my new tank even though the spheres themselves look clean on the outside.

If you are really worried, get yourself a big tub & put the spheres in tank water in the tub.
Spread them out as much as you can & cast a light on them for couple of hours, aiptasia should reveal itself.