Hiatt System

Hiatt System - Aerobic Bacterial Nitrate/Phosphate Reduction

 

The Hiatt System gets a lot of flack from most reef-keeping experts, in part because exaggerated claims have been made by some of it's distributors and in part because it takes an approach to the Nitrogen Cycle that is different to the cycle we see in most aquariums. I stumbled across this system when helping my father set up his first reef tank. Here is a little background info on how I came to use the Hiatt System.

 

My father was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer about 18 months ago. He had to undergo a radical surgery as a result and he was not able to get out of the house for about 6 months after his surgery. Dad was looking for something to involve himself with and asked me to help him set up a Reef Aquarium. I have always been intrigued by these systems and was happy to help. Neither of us had any experience with putting a reef together so we went to the Aquarium and looked at the options they had available. Dad liked the Red Sea Max  for its all in one features so he purchased it and a book on reef-keeping and we were off. After reading up on what was required we set up the tank, purchased some live rock and waited for the cycle. Dad was still in a lot of pain from his recent surgery and his prognosis wasn't good. Looking at the tank with nothing but rock in it for days frustrated him and he told me that he would be dead before the tank had any fish in it. Seeing his frustration I started to look for a faster way to cycle a tank.

 

As I looked for an answer to his frustration I came across the Hiatt System. It sounded like exactly what we needed to get things moving along. I wanted to find someone who had used the system but could only find information from distributors praising the product or from forums full of experts trashing it. I did find what I considered a credible source in Stan and Debbie Hunter, Authors of the Salt Water Aquarium section of about.com. While they couldn't direct me to anyone in Salt Lake City or Los Angeles using the system they told me about their experiences using the system and so I decided to give it a try. By the time I finished my research, dad's tank was finally cycled and we added a few fish and a couple soft coral. After all the research and time setting up dad's aquarium I decided to set one up for myself. Interestingly we never used the Hiatt System in Dad's tank but I wanted to try it and see if it would actually work despite all the negative reaction to it I had run into on various forums. What really perked my interest was the fact that most if not everyone who slammed the system had no actual experience with it. So I decided to get some first hand experience.

 

I'm not going to go into all the science behind the system here but will give you reference to this at the end of this article. Rather I want to post my experience setting up the system and the results of 8 months using the system on 4 different tanks.

 

The thing that kept me from setting up a reef tank in the past was the amount of time and monitoring I thought would be necessary. I work out of state and spend from 4 to 10 day at a time away from home. My system needed to be automated to the point that it would be able to go this amount of time on its own so I thought an all in one tank like the Red Sea Max would be the way to go. At the time Marine Depot was running a special on a JBJ 28 Gallon Nano with everything I needed to get started for about half the cost of the Red Sea Max so I purchased this aquarium and started automating it for use while I was away. I needed an Auto Feeder, Timers for lighting, and an Auto Top Off system to keep the water level constant. I pieced this all together with parts from Home Depot and my LFS. Once I got it all together I filled the tank with fresh water and let it run while I left town on business for 5 days. While I was away I continued to research my system and came across Ceram Eco the makers of Vida Rock, a ceramic reef rock. Interestingly they were located in Salt Lake City so I called them and arranged to visit their facility. I met Mark Neff the owner of Ceram Eco and told him about my project. He showed me his product and allowed me to pick several pieces to use in my reef in exchange for pictures and information about how it matured in my tank. I went home with the pieces and decided to start up my system much differently than my dad's or a traditional setup.

 

I used Carib Sea Special Grade Aragonite sand, the Vida Rock Pieces Mark had given me, and the Hiatt System products, Tri-Base Palletized Carbon (TBPC), a rock called PH Rock by the Hiatt System (No idea what type of rock it actually is), the Right Now Bacteria, (a blend of 3 different aerobic bacteria) and reef Crystals Salt Mix. None of the products I used had any living matter in them except the Right Now Bacteria, so my setup was basically dead when I started it up.

 

The Hiatt System claims to complete the Nitrogen Cycle in 24 hours and that fish can be added immediately after setup so after mixing up the Salt Mix I added the PH Rock to the bottom of the tank and covered it with 3" of sand, then I added the Carbon to the filter section of the Nano and turned on the pumps and headed to the LFS to get some fish. I added 3 Green Cromis to the tank. I never saw an ammonia spike or had any trouble with nitrites or nitrates so a couple days later I added 2 clown fish and a Hammer Coral. Everything has gone relatively smoothly for the last 8 months. In that time I have started a 55 G Frag Tank, A 20 G QT, and a 10 G clown tank in addition to the Nano. I have had no issues with ammonia or nitrites and nitrates and phosphates have been undetectable or at trace levels. I am currently growing SPS, LPS and softies in my tanks and all are experiencing good growth. All this without a skimmer or sump, the only filtration is the Hiatt System.

 

While this system may not be for everyone it has certainly worked out well for me. It does hold up to its claim of completing the Nitrogen Cycle in 24 hours and has allowed me to add livestock immediately after setting up the system. While the Hiatt System claims that you can fully stock your tank with fish from day one I prefer to go slower and only add a couple fish per week and now wait until I see lots of pods on the glass before adding coral. Stocking in this manner my livestock does well and the tanks have been stable even though I travel weekly.

 

Here are some links to my build threads for the Nano, Clown and Frag Tanks. 

Frag Tank Build

10G Tank Build

 

Here is the link to the official site of the Hiatt System.

 

Please feel free to ask me any questions you may have about the Hiatt System.