SWC aiptasia zapper just arrived...

[asylumdown]

and I'm not sure if it works or not. In all the videos I've seen of these things online, the probe makes bubbles when it's on under water. I'm at work, so I tried putting the tip of the probe in a cup of tap water and nothing happened.

It also doesn't feel like there's any electricity moving through it when it's on (yes, I was that kid who couldn't resist putting their finger in the light-socket).

The packaging it came in was pretty trashed (I really hate UPS), and a small piece of plastic that was glued on to the body of the shaft that seems to have no practical purpose had broken off, but otherwise it's totally intact.

At the opposite end of the mettal zapping part, there's what looks to be a piece of graphite with wires coiled around it. Only the the very end of the graphite is exposed, so I'm not sure if that also needs to be submerged for it to work.

Do they only work when fully submerged in salt water? Or is mine busted?

[Borderjumper]

Ya the exposed piece of graphite has to be submerged for it to work.. That and the end I'll bubble when you press the button.. Happy zapping!

[ponokareefer]

Does anyone know of any sponsors that are carrying this product yet?

I bet they could even bring in one and rent it out for the day for a price.

[asylumdown]

I ordered mine directly from SWC. I swear I saw something on here yesterday from one of the sponsors that they have these in stock. I thought it was Oceanic, but I can't find it on their website so I might just be confused.

[Twinn]

Oceanic Corals has them. It may not be on the website but it is on Paul's blog. I went to the store to check them out and Paul let me try one. Works awesome and was actually really satisfying.

[reefermadness]

It wont make bubbles in fresh water......

[asylumdown]

It wont make bubbles in fresh water......

I figured it might not. Also, the little plastic piece that broke off makes sense now that I know the graphite is part of the set up. I think it was a guard that stops anything from touching it. I'll super glue it back on first.

Man on man I can't wait to go home and start cooking.

[The Grizz]

Does anyone know of any sponsors that are carrying this product yet?

I bet they could even bring in one and rent it out for the day for a price.

I will be getting one of these thing ASAP for sure. Rental option is a good idea maybe I will get 2 and rent one out. :biggrin:

[asylumdown]

Alright, turns out it did arrive busted, but after taking the power supply apart I discovered that some soldering in the pin connector had come undone. I re-soldered it and it fired right up.

After a couple of hours with it, I'm not impressed at all to be honest.

First, the cord between the power supply and the power button is really short, so you need a long, single outlet extension cord to be able to get the space you need, and the prongs on the power supply are so skinney they don't seat snugly in any of the power bars I have. since the power supply basically had to suspend the end of the extension cord, it kept falling out. It's not the end of the world, but it makes using it incredibly awkward.

Second, The rod is so long and inflexible that it's impossible to get at 2/3 of the aiptasia in my tank. Don't even think of trying to get at one under a rock, or behind something, or between something. You also need the steadiness of a brain surgeon because you have to hold the two foot rod with one hand and the power switch with the other. To even have a hope of killing an aiptasia that's securely footed in your rock, you need to get the metal probe practically inside the body of the beast before you turn it on, otherwise the aiptasia will disappear. That's next to impossible with the amount your hand will shake.

More importantly, the second you flip the switch and the juice starts flowing, the aiptasia retreats at lightning speed. Sure, you might singe off a couple of tentacles on the way, but it sure as hell isn't enough of a jolt to kill the thing in the first millisecond. Then they retreat so far in to the rock/crevice that the first issue I mentioned becomes an issue. The little buggers also seem to be able to sense the electricity, so if you start the power running and move the probe towards it, it will disappear before you even touch a tentacle.

This tool would be great for frying an aiptasia that was stupid enough to hang out in plain view on the side of the glass with nowhere to shrink back in to, but a simple scraper and suction cup works just as well for ones in that position. Since that accounts for maybe 0.1% of the aiptasia in people's tanks, I wouldn't bother. Even jamming the metal probe in to the hole the aiptasia inevitably retreats in to and rubbing it around doesn't help. A few hours later they're back out, none the worse for wear. This thing only kills the aiptasia if you can touch the entire body with the probe and make sure the whole thing is melted. Singing off a a few tentacles, or even seriously burning the body isn't enough to kill it.

I spent over two hours with this thing, and I can confidently say that I onlycompletely killed 4 aiptasia. The rest are back out, looking as evil and scheming as ever.

Moral of the story, I wouldn't spend 70 bucks on this thing again.

[asylumdown]

I should add - I had hoped this thing would be the magic bullet, but unless I'm missing some serious skills, the current design coupled with aiptasia behaviour make it one of those 'looks great on paper' ideas I think.

My live rock is still headed for a bucket o' bleach before my next tank is ready.

[Madreefer]

You must be doing something wrong or it is not functioning properly. I made one myself and it works great. How many mA is used for the power supply? I used a 500mA charger.

[asylumdown]

hmmm, not sure, I'll look when I get home. It bubbles like mad when it's running

It works great if you can actually touch the aiptasia with it, singes tentacles right off. But touching a tentacle isn't enough to kill it, and either my aiptasia are better at burying their feet deep within the rocks than most people's, or I'm not skilled enough to zap them before they retreat so deep in to the rock that the probe can't reach them.

I'm going to try modding it by removing most/all of the shaft this week at some point. If I can reduce it to just the electrical assembly it might be maneuverable enough to be more effective.

[Ya Dude]

If you can,take the rock out and boil the frickers right out of they're crevice with a miny-torch.

[asylumdown]

yah, I did that not too long ago. I did it to every single rock in my tank. I missed enough that I'm right back where I started.

I really think the only solution will be to sterilize everything. Not sure what that's going to mean for my LPS that have little baby aiptasia growing on their skeletons.

Good thing this was my 'learning' aquarium. Next time I get live rock I'm not going to look at the 'cool' little anemone's popping up on one rock and think I've hit the jackpot. This wouldn't have been a problem had I nipped it in the bud way back when.

an ounce of of prevention...

[christyf5]

I purchased one of these from Oceanic Corals. I found it worked great on majanos but the aiptasia were too quick and grew at awkward angles. I did manage to zap a couple of them but they came back all deformed and scraggly looking where they got zapped. It worked great on majanos, I think I got about a 50-60% success rate but I don't think I was zapping them long enough (not sure how long you are supposed to press the button, I only did about a second or so).

Eventually my matted filefish ate all the majanos, now I just have to clean out the aiptasia. There are 5 left I think.

[nlreefguy]

how about for killing overgrown paly's? Do you think it would work for that? They don't retreat and are in pretty obvious places. I couldn't get them all off by scraping the rock with a steel brush - do you think the zapper has what it takes?

[christyf5]

I zapped a few zoanthids and they died pretty good and didn't come back so maybe the palys would take a hike as well.

[asylumdown]

how about for killing overgrown paly's? Do you think it would work for that? They don't retreat and are in pretty obvious places. I couldn't get them all off by scraping the rock with a steel brush - do you think the zapper has what it takes?

Yah, I bet it would work no problem. If they're accessible, you can just roast them to your heart's content.

[nlreefguy]

Yah, I bet it would work no problem. If they're accessible, you can just roast them to your heart's content.

So if you ever want to sell yours, I'm interested! :lol: