Oh No !...

[DaBird47]

Well, when I woke up this morning I saw that the tank was cloudy, oh no! I started checking things out and found out that my coralife PC 'fuge light had fallen into the 'fuge somehow last night, luckily it was not lighted, thank goodness...Well to make a long, sad story shorter, We, Rhonda, my son, and I, changed 40 gal. tap water (luckily very good water here) Dechloranated w/Prime...I had to go to the LFS for some new Carbon, added it to my Phos reactor, added TLC (live bacteria supposed to Digest excess organics) and will be doing another massave water change later, Anything that I have overlooked? Any help is apppreciated...Danny and Rhonda...

[erikharrison]

Oh man, did you check your levels? It didn't look like my tank did it?

[DaBird47]

yea, it was that bad. I think that most of my snails bit it, my Gold Max looks real bad gaping and receded. My SPS are none too happy ether...man, it's always something...

[Bill S]

If you want to try a Hiatt, I've got one sitting. Can lend the pump too - not sure I have tubing, it takes 1". Have a bottle of starter bacteria too. I think it will keep a tank from crashing. We'll be up until midnight. 210.663.8079. You'll just need to replace the bacteria when you are done.

[MattK]

Sorry to hear about your tank. It sounds like you're doing everything you can at the moment. I'm sure it will recover with time.

Bill,
You da man!

[DaBird47]

I'm off to Bills house...

[5.0Stang]

Bills always here to help GREAT DUDE!

[Bill S]

Danny & Rhonda left a few minutes ago. HOPEFULLY, this works for him. Sounds bad... He did manage to get some stuff into a quaranteen tank he has.

[5.0Stang]

Best wishes its always something with this hobby i swear once ya think ya got almost everything SOMETHING has to happen to where you need to upgrade or replace! GOOD LUCK

[murkywaters]

Biill it was very generous of you to loan us your hyat system. Thank you so very much.

[DaBird47]

Bill, thanks for everything (he even took the time to premake all the hoses and pipe !!). We got it all hooked up and it's filtering away...I guess we've done all we can...now we wait and see...

[dwdenny]

My aquapod did the same thing yesterday! I did a 30% water change and this morning it was pretty clear. All levels were fine except the pH had dropped from 8.2 to 7.9 over night. I think that when I topped off I added to much RO water to fast(felt like a dumba$$ for that one) Lucky me there is nothing in it right now. I cannot wait to setup the 45g in August when we move into our new house.

[Bill S]

Danny/Rhonda - any update?

[erikharrison]

I am curious to see how that torpedo works in this scenario. Bill had offered it to me, but by that time, the water was clearing. It sounds like the same issue!

[DaBird47]

The water is much clearer this afternoon...I going to get a few new test kits from Mark at CB...The Clam looks terrible in the QT tank...still has ahold of the rock he's on so I'm keeping my fingers crossed...The Selago, green and red Monti's, purple Milli, all look bleached but I can see SOME polyp extension ...leathers are still closed up...Zoos are fine!...Will keep ya'll info'ed...Danny

[txstateunivreefer]

what is a hiatt never seen/heard of that

[Bill S]

Danny, watch those leathers. They can quickly become toxic if they go downhill...

[DaBird47]

ok, will keep a close eye on 'em...Thanks again...A Hiatt is a biological filter system that incorporates a bacteria into a carbon torpedo filter, you hook up a pump to this filter after you charge it with the bacteria and ciuculate the tank water through it, seems to clean up the water Mui Pronto...

[erikharrison]

good deal. I am glad that its clearing up well!

[DaBird47]

The water is now VERY clear and it has hardly been 23hrs, the smell is hardly noticeable, I did loose the clam and some SPS but it could have been much worse...

[Bill S]

SWEET! Glad to hear things are looking up. Do you think the Hiatt helped? I forgot to mention that the return should be positioned to "splash" - high O2 in the water is very critical to it working.

TXSTATE: Try searching the site on "Hiatt". I ran them for about 9 months on my 215. It appears that they work too well for SPS & LPS. My tank was pretty much sterile - and my stony corals "failed to thrive". It can also lower pH, but if you pair it with pH rock the guy sells, it SHOULD work well. One torpedo on my 215 cured 200 lbs of live rock pretty much overnight. I went from a "swamp" 2 days after I put he rock in, to crystal clear and no smell in 24 hours! I'm hoping that, while the process doesn't appear to a long term solution for a reef tank, that we can use this process to help save crashing tanks.

[erikharrison]

Bill, you're really nice man. It's great to see people helping people, especially now days!

[Bill S]

Nah. Most folks think I'm a real... Better not say, this is a family site! At least one of our sponsors/LFS thinks so too - and I've never met him!

[murkywaters]

Bill , I am sure it's helping. It looks like our sarcos are trying to make a come back. They were blue yesterday and today they are returning to the pinkish tan tan color they were with feelers attempting to extend. Acros, Millies and Montes don't look well. Clam is certainly gone. The zoos though not all open seem uneffected. The branching hammer coral is gone I think. We lost one chromis and one fire shrimp. We've had it, the system, running since you lent it to us. How long would you reccomend running it. Thank You again. I am sure our losses would have been much greater without your quick assistance. BTW your name is nothing but great around this household. Rhonda

[Bill S]

If the clam is gone, get it out. They can make a BIG mess. Hammers, once they start, are hard to keep from taking all of the heads. The best way to stop this is to frag them out. Then, if they start to "jelly", pull them, shake them gently in a container of tank water, and return.

I'd run the system until everything quits dying, and tries to feed. You will want water parameters to be in line. Did you ever test the water for Cu? Because you don't know if anything toxic started this, I'd continue to do massive water changes. If you don't have RO/DI water, I have plenty you can have. I have 2 systems.

[murkywaters]

Would the clam still be hard attach if it were completely dead? We've tried to gently remove it but it is resistant. We did not test for copper. We tested for everything else and it came out well. Our RO/DI system is back up. Thanks for another generous offer though. I'll make sure Danny sees this post and let him frag the hammers

[Bill S]

No, it should let go. I'd REALLY suggest that you take a sample to CB and have them test for Copper. That being said, the massive amount of carbon you are using should have removed it.

[Ram_Puppy]

bill, I sure am glad you kept that torpedo.

I think MAAST needs to re-emburse you for it, at least partially, and maybe buy your next bacterial culture. that torp has saved i think more than a couple tanks now.

I have decided I am going to pull half the carbon out of my hiatt, put the remora back on the system, and replace the empty volume w/ ph rocks.

[Bill S]

It's not a big deal... That's why I kept it. I told Danny all it would cost is the replacement bacteria. It's less than $10.

[DaBird47]

...The water is crystal clear, all my tests are in the green zone now except Alk. : Nrttes=0, Amonia=0, ph at 8.2, phos= < 0.3, But, the alkalinity is WAY high...I don't understand how I missed something so basic (no pun intended) 5.6meg/ or 15.7 dkh....(man kicking himself...)

[DaBird47]

everything is slowly coming back around , and I'm sure a BIG part is due to Bill, that Hiatt is something special, I'm going to get with Richard or Mark and get me a system setup for emergencies, it'll be worth every penny, because, it's always something...I'll get with you to return it in a few days...thanks again Bill...

[Bill S]

Absolutely no hurry on it. The reason why I have it is for JUST these situations. It's always available to anyone. I just ask that folks replace the bacteria culture from CB, so I/we dont' have to scramble next time someone else wants it!

[murkywaters]

Thanks again, we bought the replace bacteria from CB the day after we got the system from you. So no problem there.

[DaBird47]

Mark checked the copper for me today and it was 0.02 with a +- of 0.05 so I think I'm good...all of the corals that made it through are slowly starting to polyp out and open up...

[DaBird47]

just an update- I've rechecked all water params and everything is on the money, alk. is still a little bit high but comming down with each RO/DI WC, I don't think my tank has EVER been this squared away...

[caferacermike]

Ok so I've been reading about this Hiatt for a few months. Basically a huge canister filter full of nothing but carbon, like 20 lbs, and some bacteria starter. What I'm asking is if it is full of carbon, doesn't the carbon quickly fill in like any other carbon method? Shouldn't the carbon be replaced after each use, or month? Just wondering. I to would possibly be interested in keeping one around for "emergencies" if it worked that well.

[DaBird47]

Good question Mike , I would think so...but for what it does carbon is fairly cheap....Bill, do you have a better answer?...Danny

[Bill S]

You have to look at the carbon COMPLETELY DIFFERENTLY. It's a bed for the bacterial culture NOT to adsorb tank contaminants. Look at the carbon strictly as a home for the bacteria. The nature of carbon is that it has a huge surface area, and that is why it is used. It does need to be backflushed every month, which can be a pain in the tail. An no, the tribase carbon is VERY expensive...

[Richard]

The carbon initially acts like any other carbon but you don't replace it. It's a permanent media for the bacteria to grow on (well almost permanent 3-5 years). Bill's is old enough that I doubt it is adsorbing much. Per lb it's not any more expensive than other carbons around the price of black diamond, cheaper than the premium carbons like esv etc. It's just you use alot initially.

Problem is the bacteria are hungry hungry hungry. In a full blown hiatt system, as Bill mentioned, the bacteria seem to outcompete stony corals for something (we never could figure out what). It works ridiculously well for "filthy" applications like curing liverock. Kinda makes sense because the system was developed for wastewater treatment not aquariums. Nitrates on my liverock tank run aroun 2-5 ppm and I can put 150lbs of uncured rock in s 75 gallon tank and never see an ammonia spike and the water doesn't even smell, that's without a skimmer. And I've done 1 (yeah 1) water change on my liverock tank in the past 7 months. Sure took the labor out of curing liverock for me. Storeowners should take note.

Hiatt now says you have to use only 1/4 the recommended amount of carbon & flow rate through the carbon on a reef tank with stony corals, but I haven't really pursued that.

The easiest small scale Hiatt setup is a Rena filstar xp3. You cut the bottoms out of 2 of the baskets and then use cable ties to basically make 1 big basket. That holds almost 4lbs of carbon and has the right flow rate thru the carbon.

[Richard]

Hey Bill, something interesting I spotted in Hiatts patent info. The "special" carbon he lists as a synthetic lignite. The only thing I could find on synthetic lignite was some special types of zeolite. Hmm, zeovit systems use a "special" type of zeolite right?

[DaBird47]

Update: I'm having a tremendous Diatom spike, is this to be expected ? I expected a bacteria bloom but with the Hyatt it never really happend, I'm sorta confused as to whats happening...I restarted the Hyatt and did another 10% WC, changed out the carbon in the reactor...anything to worry about, what am I missing ?...

[Bill S]

I've never had a problem with Diatoms - either with or without the Hiatt...

[DaBird47]

I feel like a newby here, the tank is doing something that I didn't expect...

[DaBird47]

Well the diatom bloom is much better this evening, just a dusting, I think things are looking up.....