Ants are ok generally but they herd aphids and such for their honeydew. Bugs just happen, unavoidable at the best of situations, some you can live with some you cant, i see a lot of new growers misdiagnosing springtails which are very common and desirable in the soil by many gardeners. People think knats and start attacking the soil with chemicals. As always the first step to bugs is identification, dont do anything till you are 100percent sure you know what you got.
I give my bugs a lot of respect, good or bad, they earnt a place on my plants so i dont nesecarialy want to kill them more just move them on! Dont screw with mother nature, she made things this way for a reason. If i prevent bugs from infesting my plants in the first place it saves me having to take so many inoccent lives. Peace