i just don't understand how some people have such great success w/ it, and bstreep and I failed so hard.
I don't know of anyone who has had great success with hiatt and sps. Just Bill, Mark & then you who have tried it. On my wife's seahorse tank I am so happy I used a Hiatt setup. She doesn't have to know anything, just dump food in it. Everything is great and I only go do a water change rarely BUT no stonies in there. Just softies, gorgonians, feathersdusters, scallops etc.

It seems to me in theory at least that you could control the number of bacteria by reducing the amount carbon but that's just theory and I don't have any plans to test that. Although I think Bill's sps were doing ok when he only had one torpedo and his problems started when he went to the full amount of carbon. Is that right Bill?

I thought you said your tank was running at 85-86 degrees. That's a problem with or without Hiatt IMO.