"Berlin" method natural filtration questionsSo I decided to give the natural filtrati

[manwe]

So I decided to give the natural filtration route a shot in my new 20g nano reef. Right now I've got a 4" sand bed and about 27 lbs of LR. I have two Maxi-Jet 600s doing the circulation, but no filter or skimmer at this point. Two questions immediately came to mind when I set things up last night:

 

1. I'm not used to such a thick sand bed, so I put my LR in first then the sand. The problem is that the thick sand bed has pretty much buried the LR. Only a few inches of the smaller rock pieces are even visible. From a natural filtration perspective, what's the best approach here? Pull the LR out and set it on top of the sand bed? Put some kind of base (PVC) underneath the rock to make it sit higher? Just add more LR on top of the existing LR? Leave it alone. Everything is just fine.

 

2. There is a ton of dust from the sand floating around in the tank even after it having the whole night to settle down. I rinsed it before I put it in, but maybe it wasn't rinsed enough. Since I have no skimmer or filter, I'm worried that this is going to cause a problem. Should I get a cheap skimmer to slap on just long enough to clear up the dust and junk while the tanks starts cycling, then pull it off? Should I just leave it alone and the natural filtration of the LR and sand bed will take care of it?

 

I'm really enjoying the idea of a nice simple tank with no skimmers or filters ( less stuff to block the view and make all kinds of racket ), but I realize that it's not easy. Any advice would be appreciated.

[Reefer_Buddha]

correct me if im wrong but the berlin method is based on lots of skimming and some water changes. On a 20g you can move into a high bioload situation and be in trouble with detritus and waste. I have a 20l with a small bioload and i still empty my skimmer cup twice a week. As far as the pvc under the sand youre basically emulating a Plenum. Jury is still out on plenums, some ppl use em some dont.

 

As far as the sand its gona be cloudy for a while since the sand is such a fine grain. Id leave all pumps off and maybe add a skimmer but its not gona do much. Just takes time for it to settle down. After that it wont disturb so easily and you can move things around.

[manwe]

Guy at the LFS said "oh yeah, the Berlin method" when I mentioned doing purely natural filtration so that's where I got that.

 

I plan on doing a really light bioload so I'm not too concerned about the waste. I'm also not opposed to adding a skimmer in the future if it seems necessary, but the goal is to keep it as simple as possible.

 

Pumps off seems kind of scary to me. I was under the impression that having strong circulation was a must while cycling a tank with only natural filtration, but admittedly I'm still very new to this.

[Reefer_Buddha]

no matter what method you choose its gona be natural filtration. The live rock and sand will absorb a lot of waste in the tank and naturally filter the water. You can choose other "filters" such as hob's or skimmers or natural filtration like refugiums.

[tinyreef]

the berlin method is basically LR, protein skimming, and dosing. sand was introduced/advocated later.

 

the lfs was probably thinking of eng's natural system. LR and wc's, altho eng had access to the ocean so he had an unfair advantage imho.

 

then's there's the jaubert/monaco method. there are variants to that which add plenums and dsb's and yada yada yada :snore:.

 

north american-style is basically a blend of the all of them imo. borrowing from each what is the most effective and easiest to use (americans, we're sooo lazy ).

 

then there's the northern-NJ shaolin-style. wasaaa! very radical, very lazy, very stupid. be the reef, see the reef, feel the reef...nananananana!

 

btw you're right. you should have good water movement, most reef biotopes require good flow as part of it's dynamics. and good intense lighting, for most systems.

[Aiptasia]

First, you shouldn't completely bury the LR unless you're using a lot of LR in the tank. 30 lbs. of LR isn't comparably that much, so I would go ahead and pull it up so that it sits flush on the surface of the substrate.

 

Yeah, the substrate looks awkward at first, but you'll get used to it. I use a plenum in my tanks although you don't have to. Your tank will still grow both aerobic and anaerobic bacteria and eventually balance itself out as it breaks in.

 

I would use a small hang on style skimmer if I were you and change water regularly. A good H.O. skimmer like a Red Sea H.O., Prizm deluxe or CPR bakpak II with bubble trap would be ideal. They'll skim off compounds before they have a chance to enter the nitrogen cycle. Skimmers will also remove iodine and some other trace elements, so you will need to change the water more often as well, about 10% per week once the tank is stable.

 

The dust is going to float around the tank, but it will eventually settle out. You can employ a hang on filter to help clear it up, but the skimmer largely isn't going to skim it out. It's just going to take time to settle back down.

 

Monitor your tank for the next few weeks. Keep it well lit and go ahead and add your scavenger/janitor animals now. Keep the pumps going and use a wavemaker if you can. As the rock cures and the bacterial colonies establish themselves, you'll see ammonia spike, then nitrite, then nitrate. Eventually, at about six weeks, you should see even nitrate start to subside to below 10 ppm.. Also, it's typical to see diatom blooms, green algae blooms and cyanobacterial blooms during this break in period. Diatoms look like a golden brown gunge covering everything, caynobacteria looks like a film of reddish brown slime. By having your janitors in place, they will keep any of those blooms in check for you. I like the packs from GARF the best (www.garf.org).

 

And don't forget suppliments. You'll need a two part calcium/alkalinity buffer (B-ionic, C-balance, seachem reef essentials), a vitamin/trace suppliment (B vites, C vites, iodide, etc.). Use them per instructions and your corraline algaes will really take off.

 

When the tank shows zeros (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate) you can think about introducing one or two corals at a time. Give the tanks 2-3 weeks to adjust before adding more inverts. Do not stretch the bio capacity of a tank that's breaking in by adding corals too soon, you'll severely stress the corals. The goal is to go slow and allow the bio mass to adjust to the waste product levels of the new inhabitants. It also helps keep your nutrient levels low.

 

You'll need to replace the substrate with fresh aragonite every once in a great while (yearly). Add more aragonite sand to the tank when it begins shallowing to 3".

[manwe]

I really appreciate all the help.

 

Aiptasia - I had read up on what happens when the tank cycles, so I am somewhat familiar with the process you described. My one concern was the sheer amount of "dust" after putting the sand in. It looks like it snowed in there. Most of the descriptions I read seemed to indicate that the tank should clear up with 8-10 hours. It's been easily 20 hours now and the tank still looks cloudy. I'm fine with waiting it out, but I was just wondering if it's possible that I have too much of that sediment floating around and if I need to take some corrective action.

 

Since I've only got about 27 lbs of LR in the tank at this point, I think I'm probably just going to go out this weekend when the LFS gets a new shipment in and grab some more to stack on top of what I have now. I like the idea of having plenty of live rock anyway, and that should be the best of both worlds by leaving the LR stable against the bottom of the tank and still having the look I want above the substrate. That's assuming there are no negatives to leaving LR half buried under the DSB?

 

I didn't mean to start a debate about methodology by mentioning the "Berlin" stuff, but that information was good to know too.

 

Finally, I'm hearing contradictory things about when to add snails and hermit crabs. Some people (including LFS) said to wait 6 weeks before adding anything at all, but I've also heard the opposite, that you should add them pretty much immediately to help deal with the algae blooms. Is this just opinion, or is there a concensus about which way to go?

[Aiptasia]

Well, you can use a micron filter pad in a hang-on filter, or a micron filter in something like a penguin HOT cannister filter, and that will polish the dust out of the water. Even a thick pad of filter floss will polish it out as it dirties up. Double check your water parameters and make sure the ammonia and nitrite are under control if you can't seem to polish the dust out. Often, they'll look cloudy if their levels are elevated.

 

No, there are several aquarists that let LR sit right on the bottom of the tank, beneath the substrate. There is going to be more die off of the phototropic organisms, but if you're adding more LR to the surface of your existing LR (with or without epoxy putty), you certainly may. There's never too much LR IMHO.

 

I would go ahead and add the janitor crew now. As the LR cures, it's going to spawn the usual diatom/green and cyanobacterial algae blooms. If you have 1 snail per gallon and one mexican red legged hermit crab per two gallons, they will keep those algae blooms in check. I like the GARF janitor pack as it contains four different species of snails and all longer lived than Astrea tectum or Turbo snails (www.garf.org).

 

A true berlin method wouldn't use a sand bed or a plenum layer, just a bare bottomed tank with LR. A "monaco" or Jaubert tank wouldn't use a skimmer, but would use a plenum and a deep sand bed. My own tanks are a combination of the two, and it seems to work well, but there's lots of ways to do it.