Has the Berlin Method gone the way of the Dodo?

[Lebowski_]

When I first got into this hobby, my mentor taught me to follow 4 rules:

1. Do water changes religiously.
2. More rock = better. 1lb/gallon minimum.
3. Get the best skimmer you can afford.
4. Only dose what you can test for, the rest comes in foods and salt mixes.

He used to call this the Berlin Method, and I can see from searching online that he was mostly pretty close to the more common definitions I see.

However, a lot of new tanks I see use minimal rockwork, waterchanges seem to be far less in vogue (as are skimmers), and people seem to dose far more products than I can remember back in the day. The testing seems to be a heck of a lot better, though.

Are those old tenants retired, replaced by new methods backed by science? The biggest shock for me now is seeing so little LR in people's systems, but the systems look very healthy and vibrant.

 

[iamacat]

I was taught the same things when I started in 2010 and that was from a guy that had been involved since the 80s.

I think that method is the foolproof method of having stability with minimal husbandry outside of food and water. Reefing was a lot different back then too. Now I think the hobby has advanced far enough you can utilize different methods and have success, just have different care requirements. One thing for sure is most require staying in one lane and not tap dancing into other methods.

first couple systems were Berlin with a little lighter rock load and I didn’t start dosing anything untill this new system

 

[Lebowski_]

I was taught the same things when I started in 2010 and that was from a guy that had been involved since the 80s.

I think that method is the foolproof method of having stability with minimal husbandry outside of food and water. Reefing was a lot different back then too. Now I think the hobby has advanced far enough you can utilize different methods and have success, just have different care requirements. One thing for sure is most require staying in one lane and not tap dancing into other methods.

first couple systems were Berlin with a little lighter rock load and I didn’t start dosing anything untill this new system

It's funny how we both strayed from it on our new systems and now have nuisance outbreaks

 

[Sleeping Giant]

same here, I have been lacking on my water changes though and don't dose anything out of fear of causing a catastrophe

 

[Rmckoy]

I still reef in a similar except for the amount of rock .
I don’t have 1.5lbs of rock per gallon but I am close to 1lb/gal volume .
the main problem I noticed over the years was the more rocks takes away from open swimming space for larger fish .

still run the beast skimmer , dose what needs to be dosed
And I’m having trouble keeping nutrients so have relaxed on water changes and they have become less frequent

 

[jda]

Nobody can profit on that. Things have to be renamed so that they can be sold. Berlin was just allowing nature to make an ecosystem, leaving it alone (mostly) and having export match import. Most successful tanks do most of this today.

Even the super specialized systems like ZeoVit use berlin-style tanks as an underlayment and fine tune.

The largest change from Berlin is dry/dead rock. This sets a lot of people back, causes some to quit, increases fish disease and does not even cost less by the time that you fight back.

 

[jda]

Here is what is funny to me... somebody might say that Berlin is too old and dead. However, biology and chemistry have not changed in our lifetimes, so what worked then that does not work now?

I have long argued that the only real significant changes in the reefing hobby since Berlin was everywhere and the subject of chapters, if not whole books, was the introduction of Hannah Ultra Low Phosphorous Checker and Mysis Shrimp so that we could stop using Zoe and Selcon when feeding. Everything else is a different way to the same thing.

 

[EugeneVan]

I still do almost the same thing. It is the easiest way to have a successful reef tank
1. Do water changes religiously.
2. Get the best skimmer you can afford.
3. Only dose what you can test for in test kits and ICP, the rest comes in foods and salt mixes.
4. Get the max number of powerheads/wavemakers you can afford.

 

[paragrouper]

This describes how I set up my 6 month old tank.

no major disasters thus far and all my denizens are healthy and growing.

so…not dead yet.

 

[GARRIGA]

Was around to see undergravel turn into wet dry with DLS to then balls to then sump with skimmer and so called live rocks. The Berlin method. Today mostly see sumps and skimmers but better filtration media had replaced the balls and rocks and we got socks which then turned into floss filled cups and now the new rage “roller mats”.

Seems Berlin to me if there’s a sump with a skimmer which is what I consider the differentiating factor. Same with AIO. Key being that skimmer.

As for WC or not. ICP has provided insight into what’s possibly missing or in over abundance. Since everything is referenced back to NSW I’ve found no proof of what is actually considered required other than anecdotal assumptions. Thereby getting back to NSW seems logical enough.

Plus today’s base rock not porous as that we acquired from Tonga or Pukani and now I’m hearing even that had limited porosity as the biofilm aged internally which also makes claims of new ceramic or pumice media questionable as to its ability to add surface area.

Why I’m going old school and testing time proven undergravel technology by relying on small gravel where surface area exists between them. No WC. No skimmer. No sump other than AIO to hide equipment plus ICP will fill the void where food didn’t replenish. However, still using GAC and some ability to mechanically reduce that floating because I want it clear. Going back to simpler days with advanced knowledge. Was coined in the 60s (if memory serves me right) The Natural Method although ICP and dosing have advanced it. KISS. It’s a hobby. Not space exploration.

 

[Crustaceon]

Berlin works fine. It's from an era when reefers were less anal about things and the king was "just leave things alone" because back then, you probably would crash your tank because testing and general knowledge wasn't as good as it is now. If you're lazy, do Berlin. If you want to constantly fiddle, do something like Zeovit.

 

[Dan_P]

When I first got into this hobby, my mentor taught me to follow 4 rules:

1. Do water changes religiously.
2. More rock = better. 1lb/gallon minimum.
3. Get the best skimmer you can afford.
4. Only dose what you can test for, the rest comes in foods and salt mixes.

He used to call this the Berlin Method, and I can see from searching online that he was mostly pretty close to the more common definitions I see.

However, a lot of new tanks I see use minimal rockwork, waterchanges seem to be far less in vogue (as are skimmers), and people seem to dose far more products than I can remember back in the day. The testing seems to be a heck of a lot better, though.

Are those old tenants retired, replaced by new methods backed by science? The biggest shock for me now is seeing so little LR in people's systems, but the systems look very healthy and vibrant.

This is still sound advice.

The water change tenet is being challenged these days. I don’t recall seeing any good experiments demonstrating that water changes make a difference in the growth of coral. Ditto for skimmers though as a backup aerators you might still want one. The last tenet is sound but you can get into trouble when there is heavy macro algae growth In a system and you don’t dose trace elements.

 

[Lebowski_]

This is still sound advice.

The water change tenet is being challenged these days. I don’t recall seeing any good experiments demonstrating that water changes make a difference in the growth of coral. Ditto for skimmers though as a backup aerators you might still want one. The last tenet is sound but you can get into trouble when there is heavy macro algae growth In a system and you don’t dose trace elements.

One thing I've noticed is my pH is basically rock solid where I want it since I added my skimmer. I am wondering if that might just be the simple fact of Co2 being launched out of the water. Not seeing dips anymore.

 

[cwerner]

I'm not sure anyone would say any of the above items are bad ideas. Mechanical and biological filtration has gotten much MUCH better over the years. To the point where people running roller mats and skimmers frequently have to ADD nitrate and phosphate in order to maintain a healthy reef because our tools today are so good at stripping nutrients from the water. In Ye olden days rock probably played a much larger role in nutrient management. Also most now are running many blocks of the high surface area ceramic blocks that provide higher contact area for nitrifying bacteria, so not as much live rock is strictly needed.

 

[iamacat]

It's funny how we both strayed from it on our new systems and now have nuisance outbreaks

I am also trying to do a lot more with this system than my previous. Gotta figure out where the lines cross. Nuisances are only problematic if you don’t know where they are coming from and you let it get too far. I used to be a poor tester and was successful using the changes observed for what I needed to adjust. Berlin method was stability for the effort I was putting in.

 

[jda]

My tank is almost completely Berlin. I have a fuge where I grow tons of chaeto, which was not a core back in the day and people did not know what chaeto was. I mostly do this since I am lazy and cheap. It is just too easy to change some water and only test for alk (mostly), feed a ton and export a ton with multiple skimmers and real rock and sand to turn no3 into N gas. I do no know how I could get better results differently.

Simple. Effective. Cheap. Allows me to enjoy other things.

Don't assume that since people add in no3 and po4 that their filtration was too good. This is usually not the case, nor is it likely that the additions are doing what they think that they are. Also don't assume that filters are better today - if a filter can house/contain enough of the right types of bacteria to do their job, then nothing can be more efficient. Skimmers are not better today, either... just different with most preferring NW skimmers which are easy and don't use as much power but likely do not even come close to the DOC removal that beckett, downdraft or venturi did when Berlin was popular. If you want to look at all of the variables, none of the newer things are better, just different and in some cases demonstrably worse.

Biology has not changed in our lifetimes. Neither has chemistry. In the end, the tank will find an equilibrium if you do not interfere too much. Other than those that interfere a bunch, everything else likely has roots to Berlin, just with different names.

Perhaps the largest change is eduction, knowledge and experience. Seems like most people that have started since Nemo only know what they have been told about Berlin. They don't know that growing aerobic bacteria on a surface where much water passes by is Berlin, and not just bioballs. Most think of a skimmer as taking "food" out of their tanks and don't know the details of what is happening with that... but also the value of gas exchange and the immense value of exporting harsh metals attached to organics and how all of that works (GAC is not the same). Anybody who has not done so could learn a ton from a 30 year old book that focuses on Berlin method.

This has nothing to do with Berlin, but even the no-WC thing has been around for decades and is the same as it is today with ICP and the DSR folks did it better than anybody back then and still now. DSR is part Berlin, part not, but it accounts for much of the rest of the stuff that is out there.

 

[Nano_Man]

That’s a blast from the past Berlin method. When I was keeping reefs in the 90s this was all the new thing I’ve seen some really nice reefs and doing really good.. L rock and a skimmer

 

[zoomonster]

I've tried/used it all at one time or another including Jaubert with a plenum. Tank now is basically Berlin as are most long-term successful tanks. Lots of real live rock, sump with big skimmer (yes still use ozone), lots of macro algae in refugium section, medium sand bed, lots of CUC and CaRx. It's really become too much of a racket with all the dosers and all the overpriced consumables and I don't "dose" anything. Sure, I get it somewhat with smaller tanks with no space for things like CaRx. Maybe one day when there is a truly reliable automated tester, I'll consider dosing for better automation.

 

[WestMI-Reefer]

Never heard of the “Berlin method”

Accidentally followed the method.

 

[homer1475]

People are to afraid of "pests" to use live rock these days.

It's also much cheaper these days to use dry rock. I remember when I started out in the 80's, actual live rock was the same price as dry is these days.