My 215 running a Hiatt filtration system...

[Bill S]

OK, time for an update. As most of you know, I've been running a 215 on a Hiatt filtration system since new, back in March (about 8 months). I change about 28 gallons of water, most every week. This system ran well for about 5 months. However, I've had problems keeping LPS and SPS not only growing, but alive.

As well, about 3 months ago, my nitrates started to rise. Not a lot, but 15-20ppm. We felt that maybe it was a Phosphate starvation problem, as my PO4 was rock bottom zero. And no algae growth at all. I mean, this tanks looks kind of sterile. I started adding PO4, and it would spike to 2 - 3ppm, and then drop to zero within about 3 days. This went on for a while, but then the PO4 wouldn't drop either. Lots of discussions, etc., and "Snake" decided that there must be some other limiting factor. So, about 3 weeks ago, I decided put the 'fuge that Ace built for me, on line. I did this, while keeping 2 of the 3 torpedoes on line as well. I added a handful of chaeto/caelerpa and it is now, 3 weeks later, choking my 48x12x10 fuge! I mean it is FULL. And my nitrates are down to about 10. PO4 is still about 0.1ppm. The little LPS/SPS I have is still hanging on.

I'm thinking about disconnecting the other 2 torps to see what happens. Here's a photo of the tank...

[Richard]

I think you should disconnect the other two and monitor nitrates. I don't know what the missing thing is that stops the bacteria from working but it is something corals need to because they get unhappy or dead. You can always hook them back up if nitrates spike upwards and then wean your tank off of them if you have to. You probably should monitor ammonia also just in case.

Mark is still being a trooper (for now) and trying various Snake potions to try and figure out what missing thing is without doing massive water changes. It definitely isn't that the carbon is old since he replaced his with no effect.

[Ram_Puppy]

ok, well, my own personal theory - not about whats wrong with bstreep & marks chemistry, or should I say, what has yet to be figured out...

is that the HIATTS are gonig to excel in smaller systems like my cube where water changes keep these limiting nutrients in supply. that is my hope at least.

****

I will say this, when the coral are alive, I have a theory that the RIGHTNOW bacteria sloughs off the carbon as it replicates, and provides a great food source.

I am feeding my clowns the krill flake from cb pets twice a week (they love it more than anything else i feed, and they turn their nose up at mysis. go figure.)

Twice a week I feed the 'tank' reefchili (www.reefchili.com) which i mix cyclopzeeze into. thats it, and everything has great extension.

oh, no, thats not it... I douse the reefchili with some vitamins before re-hydrating, and i add some tahitian blend for my feather dusters as well.

[Bill S]

Here's the contrast. This tank and my 55 get fed the same diet, and have the same water changes, same salt, same supplements. Have have several pieces of SPS THRIVING and some LPS THRIVING - actually going nuts. The only real difference is the Hiatt and they are under T5s instead of MH. Yes, I DO believe there is something limiting the coral growth AND the bacterial growth. But, remember, my softies, zoas, anemonies, etc. are doing GREAT!

I think I'm going to do as Richard said, and disconnect the other 2 torpedoes and see what happens.

BTW, MY thoughts are that this will be a great solution for FO, for starting up systems & curing live rock, and MOST IMPORTANTLY, I think we can use these as emergency crash carts for crashing tanks. Next time someone has a tank crash, I'd like to try hooking one up and see what it does.

[Bill S]

Well, it's done. The torpedoes have been disconnected... I guess I'll have to cut back on the POUND of frozen food I've been feeding each week...

[Ram_Puppy]

I just wanted to follow up on this w/ my experience.

I had been having a hard time keeping my SPS going, and infact lost several very nice colonies. I reduced the amount of carbon in my HIATT by as much as 80% before giving up and disconnecting it.

I currently have 3 SPS that are WERE in various progressions of bleaching out and dieing. that all appears to have stopped now.

After removing the hiatt (2 weeks ago), while still looking horrible, the tissue that is left on these three colonies seems to be on the rebound, and polyps are starting to extend.

Now, to be fair, during the time I ran the HIATT my chiller broke down and I think I had a spike into the high 80s, i did however remove the chiller before i added the last SPS that were having problems.

my tank is disease and pest free (except for that frickin urchin which even though I hate him i can not bring myself to part w/ him).

Theory being - the HIATT is just simply too powerful and outcompetes the SPS for some essential element.

Every SPS i have had has had a bad reaction, though I can not gurantee it was the hiatt.

corals that were unaffected - Echinophylla, Most Palythoa (though Mohawk seems to have not liked it).

Feather dusters and coco worms loved the tank.

[Richard]

I think enough people have had the same experience that it is safe to say don't use a hiatt system on a tank with sps. What unknown thing that sps require but softies, clams & other inverts don't need????? I don't know & neither does Bill Hiatt...

[Ram_Puppy]

oh, and by no means am I condemning the HIATT, it is a frickin AWESOME filter system.

If i were doing a softie tank, or a fish only tank, I would load it up w/ torpedoes w/ not a second thought.

[Bill S]

I can say I'm not real happy about the bit of browning my SPS has shown this week from the 48 hour Hiatt trial a few days back...

[Ram_Puppy]

wow, 48 hours bill and it's showing effects? I would have though for certain that 48 hours would not have made much of a difference!