New marine set up

[reena]

Hi Guys,

I have just set up my aqua marine 900. I decided to go with the Berlin system so I do not have a filter. I have the aqua one protein skimmer with 20 kgs of Live rock in my tank at the moment. Could someone tell me if it is advisable to run a marine tank Berlin?

I have checked my Salinity, Temperature, ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate, PH, & Phosphate levels and they are all within the range they should be.

Regards,

R

xxx

 

[Krish]

Welcome to RF!! :welcome:

As for your setup, if I remember correctly, Berlin method is liverock and a skimmer in a sump right? If so, many people run their systems like that to an extent and some differ a bit. It's all about what you are after and what suits your taste. My personal opinion would be to run the skimmer in the sump, and leave all the liverock for the tank (ie none in the sump). The liverock itself will be your natural biological filter and quite honestly no need to have any rock in your sump as it can sometimes work against you. I'd research the method a bit more in detail and see what people are running these days. So many ways to do things and be successful so go with what works best for you. I never ran any "filters" as such, but rather only a skimmer, phosban reactor a bit of carbon and weekely water changes. I was able to keep a healthy aquarium this way as well so it's all about what you are after. I'm sure you'll find all the info you need here.

 

[mojoreef]

Hiya Reena good to see you got on and welcome to RF. I am not sure what a Berlin system is these days but it used to be a bare bottom tank with a good skimmer for filtration. YOu can run a tank bare bottom or not, each one comes wth both its pros and cons, my preference is a small layer of sand for looks only. What you are going to look for when you first start is to make sure the tank has good flow so that the detritus (fish poop and so on) get into the overlfow and then the skimmer. DO you have a hang on skimmer??

MOjo

 

[reena]

Hi krish,Thanks for the info. Yes Berlin system is one that contains just live rock and protein skimmer. My lfs advised me to start off this way. But it's so difficult to make a decision as soo much information is out there. I don't have a sump at the moment (I have a hang on aqua one skimmer). I'm hoping to get a sump once I get a little experience with marine fish keeping. Regards,Reena

 

[TJL]

Hey Reena, a BIG :welcome: to Reef Frontiers looking forward to your participation on the forums.

So, to be clear what is your definition of a 'Berlin System'? IMO most reeftanks now are ran on a modified Berlin Style, adding Protien Skimmers and vastly more flow plus the addition of a sump/fuge. The basic pricipals of utilyzing Live Rock with all its bacteria, macros, critters and such for your primary filtration is still pretty much the norm. My very first "true reeftank" was setup as a 'Berlin System back in '82 before I'd ever heard of skimmers and even wet/dry trickle filters were pretty crude.

Cheers, Todd

 

[Krish]

Hi krish,Thanks for the info. Yes Berlin system is one that contains just live rock and protein skimmer. My lfs advised me to start off this way. But it's so difficult to make a decision as soo much information is out there. I don't have a sump at the moment (I have a hang on aqua one skimmer). I'm hoping to get a sump once I get a little experience with marine fish keeping. Regards,Reena

No problem!

On the sump, an advantage of having one could simply be just for increased water volume. The more water your system has, the more stable it will be as things like temperature for example won't be as easily influenced. I remember back in the day a Berlin system had liverock and a skimmer in the sump. This was the major source of filtration. Even a sandbed was included. Over the years, things have changed up a bit and you will find less people putting liverock in their sump, but rather put all the rock they need in the tank. The liverock alone can provide you will all of the biological filtration your tank will need. Sand can aid in this as well, but not 100% necessary. I never run sandbeds because I don't like the fact of having waste trapped in it which will require me to vacuum it weekly and also, the kind of flow I like to run to keep waste suspended in the water colume to be "filtered out" by a skimmer or used up by the corals, would never stay put. As Mojo put it, there are pros and cons to every system. Me not running a sandbed means certain critters I couldn't keep which required sand, but that was something I was willing to accept. Then you have people who use filter socks to catch waste entering the sump whereas others don't like them. Both can have success which is why this hobby is so interesting. You can do something totally different from another person and still have success. You just have to understand the "why's" and "how's" of each method so you can choose your course accordingly. What may work for me may not work for you so best piece of advice would be to learn as much as you can about the different methods and choose the most appealing approach to you.

 

[reena]

Hi Todd,

Well being new to salt water reef system my definition of a Berlin system is a reef system that runs without an internal or external filter but has the protein skimmer to remove the dirt from the tank and Having a good amount of Live rock to keep the biological filteration going in the tank and also having a good flow, which aids the skimmer to remove the dirt from the tank. As I mentioned earlier I have an aquamarine 900, which is 176 liters. I have a hang on skimmer (Aqua one G216) and 2 Hydo Koralia 3 power heads.

I did initially have an external rena xp4 filter but I got rid of the media inside it and just put some live rock in it. The filter didn't really set will so I got rid of it and decided to go with the system above. Hope I have made sense

Reegards,

Reena

 

[reena]

Hi Krish,

I went with having a sand bed in my tank as I think it makes the tank look nicer. I've laid of a sump at the moment due to cost. I'm hoping to switch to a sump system in the next few months.

I'm going to buy my first firsh for my tank tomorrow. So fingers crossed it all goes well.

Regards,

Reena

 

[Krish]

Hi Krish,

I went with having a sand bed in my tank as I think it makes the tank look nicer. I've laid of a sump at the moment due to cost. I'm hoping to switch to a sump system in the next few months.

I'm going to buy my first firsh for my tank tomorrow. So fingers crossed it all goes well.

Regards,

Reena

Cool!! Good luck! Make sure and post some pictures!!

On the sand bed, I will agree with you as it looks more natural. For this reason I use white PVC board on the bottom of my tanks to give a sort of illusion of sand being there. When I get to a computer, I'll show you what I mean.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Krish]

Here's a link below to the stuff I use just to give you an idea. I've also used this stuff on my 38 gal cube that was my reef tank not pictured in the thread. Holds up well.


http://www.reeffrontiers.com/forums/f14/info-pvc-board-59909/

 

[akunochi]

hmm thanks for that link krish...that would look nice....

 

[reena]

That looks very neat and looks easy to maintain. Might consider that in future

 

[Krish]

No problem guys! Holds up really well, gives a nice illusion of sand and you don't have to worry about falling rocks hitting the glass on bare bottom tanks.

 

[PrimeKOS]

Hi Guys,

I have just set up my aqua marine 900. I decided to go with the Berlin system so I do not have a filter. I have the aqua one protein skimmer with 20 kgs of Live rock in my tank at the moment. Could someone tell me if it is advisable to run a marine tank Berlin?

I have checked my Salinity, Temperature, ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate, PH, & Phosphate levels and they are all within the range they should be.

Regards,

R

xxx

Hi Reena,

How you finding the Aqua one protein skimmer. I have recently procured the G216 version and my initial view isn't great.

Regards
PrimeKOS

 

[reena]

Hi PrimeKOS,

In all honesty I don't really know how mine is going at the moment as I don't have much in my tank. I've only just introduced 20kgs of Live rock and introduced some cleaner crew yesterday. I did initially think that it would skim something from the Live rock but my LFS told me it wouldn't as all the rock is cured. I will update you on what I think of it once I have introduced some fishes next week.

Regards,

Reena

 

[reena]

Hi Reena,

How you finding the Aqua one protein skimmer. I have recently procured the G216 version and my initial view isn't great.

Regards
PrimeKOS

Hi PrimeKOS,

I have to say I am very disappointed with my skimmer. I came home from weekend in london to find my Clown fish sucked in So now I have decided to replace it.

Regards,

Reena

 

[akunochi]

That's too bad. Don't let it get you down. I came home once to find a Picasso clown had jump into the overflow went down the plumbing and into my skimmer almost 4 feet away in the sump! Fish are weird...