bfessler
New Member
Hi Everyone,
I thought I would post a picture of my JBJ 28 Gallon CFL Reef Tank. The tank has been up and running since April 1 2009. This was an experiment using the Hiatt System. I wanted to find out if the claims of this system were accurate or not and couldn't find any objective information when trying to research the system
The Hiatt System claims that you can start up a reef tank in 1 day. That it will be sufficiently stable to add fish and coral from day one without the addition of live rock, sand or water. I was able to find many people who criticized the system but no one who had actually tried it.
I started with a stock JBJ 28 Gallon CFL Nano, Added 2.5" aragonite DSB, and Vida Rock ceramic reef rock none of which was live and all was dry.
Hiatt system products consist of Right Now Bacteria, PH Rock (I believe this is a crushed marble or calcite) and Tri Base Palletized Carbon. Hiatt recommends putting the carbon and rock in a canister filter but I chose to put the carbon in the overflow chamber and the PH rock under the sand bed. I then added the aragonite sand over the PH rock and arranged the Vida Rock and filled the tank with saltwater. Here is a pic of the newly set up tank.
After filling the tank I added the Right Now bacteria and headed to the LFS for some starter fish. I picked up 4 green cromis and after acclimating them added them to the tank. I monitored ammonia Nitrite and nitrate levels for a couple days and they stayed consistently near 0 so I purchased 2 clown fish and a Hammer Coral and added them on day 4.
I have continued to add fish and coral and am happy to report that the tank has been stable for 10 months now. Here are some current pictures.
As you can see the tank has matured nicely and is now a mixed reef supporting SPS, LPS, and soft corals. I have started 4 tanks to date using the system and highly recommend it as a quick and stable way to set up a reef tank.
Burt Fessler
I thought I would post a picture of my JBJ 28 Gallon CFL Reef Tank. The tank has been up and running since April 1 2009. This was an experiment using the Hiatt System. I wanted to find out if the claims of this system were accurate or not and couldn't find any objective information when trying to research the system
The Hiatt System claims that you can start up a reef tank in 1 day. That it will be sufficiently stable to add fish and coral from day one without the addition of live rock, sand or water. I was able to find many people who criticized the system but no one who had actually tried it.
I started with a stock JBJ 28 Gallon CFL Nano, Added 2.5" aragonite DSB, and Vida Rock ceramic reef rock none of which was live and all was dry.
Hiatt system products consist of Right Now Bacteria, PH Rock (I believe this is a crushed marble or calcite) and Tri Base Palletized Carbon. Hiatt recommends putting the carbon and rock in a canister filter but I chose to put the carbon in the overflow chamber and the PH rock under the sand bed. I then added the aragonite sand over the PH rock and arranged the Vida Rock and filled the tank with saltwater. Here is a pic of the newly set up tank.
After filling the tank I added the Right Now bacteria and headed to the LFS for some starter fish. I picked up 4 green cromis and after acclimating them added them to the tank. I monitored ammonia Nitrite and nitrate levels for a couple days and they stayed consistently near 0 so I purchased 2 clown fish and a Hammer Coral and added them on day 4.
I have continued to add fish and coral and am happy to report that the tank has been stable for 10 months now. Here are some current pictures.
As you can see the tank has matured nicely and is now a mixed reef supporting SPS, LPS, and soft corals. I have started 4 tanks to date using the system and highly recommend it as a quick and stable way to set up a reef tank.
Burt Fessler
