bringing my 29g back to life

I had this tank up and running a few years ago, but I ended up taking it down for a while.  I don't have a lot of time, or money, so this is a very simple tank that I want to run with very low maintenance.

To accomplish this I don't have any live corals (sorry I guess this is not really a reef tank, but I might add some later).  I will be using the Hiatt system (since it worked well for me before).  I am not sure why there are very few people using this system, however last time running this system I did have a hard time keeping corals alive, and my angelfish suffered from HLLE.  I suspect the large amount of carbon could have been the cause of HLLE, and possibly my coral problems due to taking out too many trace elements (but I also had other issues). 


Tank:  29gal

Filtration:  5lbs tri-based activated carbon, with Hiatt right now bacteria.  I also use a canister type filter with filter floss before the carbon which I will change out when it looks like it is getting full, a second canister filter full of crushed coral to help maintain the ph, and a final micron filter to remove any carbon dust before returning it to the tank by way of a protien skimmer (Aquatop Xyclone PS370) used mostly for aeration.

Lighting:  2 HIPARGERO LED Aquarium Light

circulation: 2 Voyager Nano Stream Pump (530 GPH)

Fish: 
2- clown fish
2- Blue Sapphire Damselfish (I know these will probably be problems, but I love the color)
1- Royal Gramma
1- green spotted puffer (he might also be problems, but I really like this fish)

Thanks.  It is really good to have a tank up again,

How long did you cycle the tank?

Cool. Never heard of that system.

Sure, I will post more pictures.    Like I said in my first post, I have run this system before, and it does work great at keeping the nutrients down, and a clean tank.  My problems before what that my sps corals would not live long, and also my angel fish suffered from HLLE, which has been linked to the use of carbon, but not proven (as far as I know).  

Where did you find places to read about this system?  I tried to see if I could find more information before starting it again, and found very little.  There were a few reviews showing it working, but when they went to a larger system did not continue with it due to the large amount of carbon they would need.  I also saw a lot of people that did not like the system (even though they never used it) because they thought it would not work.  So if you have some good sources, then I would like to read up on it more.   I could not find any new articles, or of anyone still using the system, which is a concern to me.

I do know the bacteria works great at cycling a tank.  The first time I did it, I was very concerned about adding all my fish at one time with a new tank.  But it has worked every time.  This time I even tried it with an anemone (with is more sensitive) and it is doing fine.   I do think I may get the element blox though, or it may die from lack of trace elements (I suspect this is why my sps corals died, but I still don't know).

I know, I have been out of the loop for a while.  Hopefully I didn't miss some important reason why it is not used anymore (it never was really very popular, but I am not sure why).

I noticed some algae showing up on the glass, so I checked my phosphate and nitrate levels:

phosphate 0.37
Nitrate:  Just above zero, but very close to zero.

Now I am wondering why the phosphate level went up so high.

I will keep an eye on it and see if it goes up or down.

I also added a little more bacteria to see if that will help.  The skimmer almost mediately started producing foam (not a lot, but more than it was).

I found a bunch of rotting food in my filter.  Maybe I need to change it more often.

Wrogers wrote: Would love to see pics of this tank in a year. I have read a lot now on this system with mixed reviews. Love reading about things I have not seen or heard of