Impossible to avoid introduction of algae/pests into tank?

[RaymondL]

I'm super diligent when it comes to introducing frags into my tank - I examine under bright light, and brush and dip corals, rinse and dip and examine again. However, it appears that whatever I do, I manage to get some sort of unwanted 'entity' in the tank - whether it's bubble algae or something else - I assume that it's from the various frags that I acquire.

So question then becomes, is it really unavoidable to prevent any introduction of unwanted aspects into a tank?

Case example: latest frag I got had some very small amount of green string like algae, which I spent 15 minutes picking them out as best I can.

 

[Alexraptor]

Short answer: Yes, It is Impossible!

Long answer: It's complicated. It's very possible to keep out destructive organisms like AEFW's, nudibranchs and the like, by following proper quarantine and prevention strategies. But "nuisance" organisms that can grow out of control are impossible to keep out. You'd essentially be asking for a sterile environment.

The truth is we NEED many of these algaes, they provide competition and prevent more harmful organisms, such as dinoflagellates, from estblishing a foothold. But at the same time we want to keep them from growing out of control and being too visible, which is why we use a combination of grazers and nutrient management strategies to keep such growth in check.

And at the end of the day, a single drop of water can contain thousands of microorganisms and unicellular animals, any one of which could potentially be a pest, a spore, egg, or whatever. And you can't exactly dry out animals before adding them to the tank.

 

[KrisReef]

People who run clean rooms, operating theaters and plankton (and coral) growers have to wrestle with keeping their operations sterile.

It can be done but it is a challenge to maintain protocols that achieve the desired results. As the previous poster mentioned, 1 drop of water from the contaminated side could bring many kinds of ruin to the clean side.

I think it would be a challenge to keep it “clean” over time and would require a huge investment that most hobbyists are not willing to make, ime.

If you like the challenge of doing this then you should if you want to invest resources to achieve it. I don’t think I could do it myself but that’s just me.

 

[QuickrdenU]

It’s kind of like trying to avoid a virus. Impossible. Nor should you want to. Better IMO to keep on top of tank parameters and maintenance and focus on keeping fish that can eliminate any pests before you can even notice their existence. This trend to have a sterile tank/fish is just as absurd to me as trying to live a sterile life.

Remove obvious pests upon inspection but dang. Some people seem to go way overboard. Just my opinion. I wont freak out if I find a bubble or aptasia in my tank.

 

[jda]

Long term coral QT is your best bet... like 3-4 months in a coral QT tank which is pretty much another reef tank. I do this for coral pests and not so much algae or aiptasia since I have things that will eat those. Even then, there is no guarantee.

In the end, consumers are the answer to eat the algae, aiptasia, etc. You usually fall behind, have to catch up with a lot of cleaners which can suffer once they did their job. Then you fall behind again and the cycle continues. I rely on a few different kinds of snails, few different kinds of urchins, peppermint shrimp and emerald crabs from the Florida Keys (nowhere else). Some of my fish will much on some algae and do clean frag plugs if they find anything.

If you know where to get the right cleaners and always make sure that you have enough of them, then you can do pretty well.