Hiatt filtration system

[CoryDude]

Can you test PO4? I'd be really interested in seeing how this system affects PO4 as SPS are much more susceptible to high PO4.

Sorry for the late replies, it's been a crazy week.

olaggie01, I quit testing for phosphates months ago. Every time it would come up as undetectable. But, I don't have a nice Elos kit that can really measure lower levels. I'll test to see if there's been any increase since using this filter, but I doubt it, since these bacteria consume PO4 also.

Richard, I'd hoped you might chime in on this review. That 1:4 PO4/NO3 ratio is what Snake told me also. He really likes to pitch his products!!!

So far this filter hasn't left me with a sterile tank like Bill's. Maybe it has something to do with my reduced flow vs Bill's million gallon per hour pump. Hopefully I won't have to resort to dumping nutrients or phos into the tank, like he did.

As said earlier, my green and blue acros/stylos have brightened up. My wife was even asking earlier this week if I'd bought any new corals.

Growth has picked up as shown by the visable results as well as increased calcium uptake. I've had to adjust the effluent and co2 flow in my ca reactor a few times the past few weeks. Other than that, no problems so far.

[Bill S]

What I've noticed about mine is that even though I've removed the torpedo from the system, it's STILL sterile. I put some LPS into my 55 upstairs just a week ago, and they are doing VERY well all of a sudden!

[CoryDude]

Bill, did you lose all you 'pod populations and other rock dwellers? Do you think there was a break down in the food chain in your tank, starting at the microbial level?

[CoryDude]

Nothing new to report. Did test for PO4 w/no color indication, so I'm assuming it's at low levels. Still seeing new growth and branches on most acros. I'll be backflushing the carbon this weekend, since I'm coming up on 1 month of use.

NO3 10meq/L
PO4 undetectable
PH 8.2 (problem with Ca reactor caused this)
Alk 9dKH

[CoryDude]

Been reading a lot of the previous threads on this filter and stole one of Richard's ideas.

I've reworked the sump and took the Hiatt off the main return pump. It's now fed by a dedicated mag 12 that takes water from the one end of the sump and returns it back to the other end. From Richards posts, this is how the filter is used in commercial settings. I'm hoping this will keep the tank from getting too sterile. We'll see.

I measured the flow rate and it's almost 1000 gph. Snake advised that the 10X flow rate is important for obtaining the optimal DO content of 8+ mg/L. This level is the optimal range for his bacteria to consume waste at the fastest rate.

Why did I do all this? Well to be honest, I started seeing a little hair algae on the gravel and on a few rocks. NO3 was still fairly low, so I tested for PO4. Bam, saw some detectable phosphates. One of Richard's older posts said the carbon used in this system contains a higher phos level since it's not cleaned the same way as regular carbon.

So, I reinstalled my po4 reactor and made the above changes to the sump. I also turned the skimmer back on. Within a few days of all this, the algae started to thin out, and I only have a few receding spots here and there. PO4 levels have dropped back to undetectable and nitrates fell back to below 10mg/L.

The skimmer pulls very little skimmate since the RN! bacteria take care of most of the fish waste. All fish seem very healthy and I've seen my mystery wrasse develop some pretty colors on his dorsal and anal fins since adding this filter.

The sps still have great polyp extension and overall the tank looks pretty good.

[ErikH]

[CoryDude]

Eric, thanks for tagging along. I used to be in a band during highschool, and I was having flashbacks to a Tues night gig we had at the Backroom and only our girlfriends showed up. Nothing like playing to a nearly empty room.

Tank is still great. In fact my new problem is keeping up with Ca depletion due to increased growth rate. I can't seem to keep my levels above 400mg/L with my reactor. Guess I'll be dosing come kalkwaser soon.

Since I've started this test, I've gone from performing a 50% water change every other week, to 15% changes every 2 weeks. This has saved me a lot of $$$ on salt (sorry Gabe). The increased stability in the tank seems to benefit everything and could also be a secondary cause for the explosive growth rates I'm seeing.

Only maint. this filter needs is a monthly backflush for about 10 seconds to ensure optimal flow through the carbon media. I'm still very happy with these results. I'll can't vouche for the quality, but I'll try and take some top-down pics of the acros and my setup for my next posts.

[ErikH]

cool man, we are all anxious to see those pics! I wanted to do this awhile back with the filstar mod. Maybe I will do it on my big tank. You should come by sometime and bring some of your best frags for trade!

[CoryDude]

Eric, tell Gabe to hurry up and get those frag racks and I'll start fragging more.

Jack brought up an important point. Why did I have a nitrate problem in the first place? Well, it has four legs, a tail, it purrs, and is the demon spawn of satan. Yep, cats. Now how does a cat factor into a nitrate problem? A little background info first:

My tank is an in wall set up and my fishroom was a part of my garage that I enclosed. After my kid was born, we moved our 3 cats into the garage and installed a window unit to keep it cool during the summer. This happed in the summer of '07, and coincidently that's when I started having algae problems. My nitrates were above 120mg/L at the height of my problem.

I checked the usual culprits first. I bought a larger skimmer pump, increased overall circulation, replaced my ro/di unit, reduced feedings, and even tried a sulphur denitrator. The denitrator helped, but NO3 would creep past 20mg/L within a week if I didn't do a large water change. At first I starting thinking this was old tank syndrome.

But, then I noticed that the no3 levels would rally amp up during the summer when I kept the fishroom door open (which opens into the garage). Then it hit me....what about ammonia from the cats' litter boxes? What if it were to enter the tank via gas exchange at the surface and enter the nitrogen cycle. So a few months ago, I tried a little experiment.

I mixed up 10 gallons of salt water in a plastic tub using a powerhead to aerate the water. I did this in the garage and after only 2 days, my kit showed ammonia at 2 mg/L. Then I mixed up the same amount of salt h2o in my house away from the cat boxes. No detectable ammonia was present after 2 days.

I spoke to Snake a few weeks ago about this, and he confirmed my suspicion. His clients have him test for this since ammonia can be corrosive to equipment. His specific example involved a print shop and a bowl of water that was being constantly agitated. His ammonia sniffer showed 5ppm in the print shop's air, and his water bowl showed detectable ammonia after only 2 hours!!!

Bruce at Aquatek also believes my cats are the culprits. He had a maint. client that had a pet monkey in their house that liked to put brown floaties in the sump, and his client had the same problem as me. He advised that urea from pet waste is even more potent than ammonia

I've added some exhaust fans to pump air into the fishroom from an adjacent pantry in my kitchen. Also added some door gaskets to help keep the garage air from entering the firshroom. But, I didn't do this till a month ago, and the hiatt was able to keep levels stable in the tank.

So I think this is a testament to the strength of this system. It was able to handle 7 fish and 3 cats.

[CoryDude]

More like low-fi.

Don't have the greatest camera so I put together a little tank video this weekend. Turn up the volume and enjoy:

YouTube Video