Gabe,
I also have the itch, but haven't made the jump yet. I never had an aiptasia problem... actually only ever had 1 or 2 in the 4yrs that I was active.
#1 - QT tank. 5g with a cheap HOB filter. This is biological filtration only. Rinse gunk off the pad in salt water (from a water change) and stuff it back into the HOB filter.
#2 - I always bought dry rock. NEVER buy used rock from a fellow hobbyist UNLESS you plan to dry it out for a year, in the sunlight, and then scrub all the organics off and start fresh. Not worth it, so buy new dry rocks and be patient.
#3 - Dip!! I never got much of a thrill out of fish, so my main interest was corals. I had fish, but not many. Ant time I purchased frags from other poeple or pet stores, I always busted them off the rocks or frag plugs - throw that stuff away. Lugols dip the new frags immediately and drop into QT tank. Let them sit in there until they look healthy. Watch for hitchhikers.
#4 - Aiptasia sighting on rocks in your display tank? Remove rock/critter/shell from tank. Remove any corals and place them in QT tank for observation. If it's attached to a rock (shouldn't be if you followed steps 1-3 above) get a hammer, a few small masonry drill bits 1/8" - 1/4" - 3/8" and a small 1/4" wide chisel. Chisel the aiptasia off the rock at the foot. Take a big ole chunk outta the rock. Make sure you drill, chisel, hammer and gouge into that rock until you're absolutely sure the entire foot and "root" is gone.
Rinse in plenty of tap water or RO water during the process. Dry it off a bit.
Get some superglue and fill the hole you made in the rock. Might take a few layers. Put some in and let it dry for 5 minutes. Put some more in and let it dry. You can buy "accelerator" for this type of glue at Hobby Town. They call is CA (see-ayy) glue. You want CA Accelerator. It cures the glue pretty much instantly. Or.. give it 5 minutes and it'll cure on it's own. Fill the entire hole or divet with CA glue.
Toss it into a curing bucket for a couple months. Helps if you can cure it in a small rubber maid trashcan with a powerhead and a heater. Don't want to contaminate any other rocks you may be curing in a larger tote or container, so try to cure it alone if possible.
I know a bunch of people reading this are going to say I took extreme measures to get rid of a couple aiptasia. You could just toss it and buyy a new rock. That's super easy. My method WAS Extreme. It was labor intensive, and I was cussing and swearing the whole time. :twitch: But It worked and I can honestly say I never sold anybody a frag or coral with a parasite or nasty hitch hiker.