Has the Berlin Method gone the way of the Dodo?

[Lebowski_]

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.

I used LifeRock because I didn't want to take from the wild, but I am learning that there are rock farms out there now without the environmental destruction.

Back in the day, I'd hear stories of guys going to a reef and Fiji and setting off explosives to get the rock to sell it.

 

[homer1475]

Back in the day, I'd hear stories of guys going to a reef and Fiji and setting off explosives to get the rock to sell it.

Yup thats exactly how they did it. I actually took a trip to a Fijian rock farm back in the day. Big ol hunk of C4 wedged into the reef. Pick up the pieces after it exploded.

Edit:
Keep in mind this was 40 years ago, and people weren't so environmentally friendly as they are these days.

 

[jda]

What killed live rock was crushing it up and using it for road base in a lot of the islands. The hobby did not have much to do with the cause and was collateral damage. Somebody was talking at a show, likely from Walt Smith, and said that they were using it for hundreds of miles of road in the Marshall Islands every year and they did not export enough to make 1/8 mile of road for the hobby. Still, it all got banned and probably a good thing overall if that is what it took.

Most of the places that they mined rock were not currently living reefs, but that does not make it better to just blow stuff up and make roads out of it. Fish, inverts and other things besides coral lived there.

You don't even need a lot of rock and you can still get stuff from Florida that does not impact the reefs. You can get similar stuff from the Pacific too. I never got any pests on real live rock and nothing like dinos or hair algae. Mantis are easy to catch or kill and probably everybody who has fought dinos for many months or a year would easily trade for a mantis.

The whole "live rock and pests" thing gets back to my point of education. If people read about a whole method, like they did, then they would know what many of them know now... that dead/dry rock is no bargain or does it harm reefs. If people understood the impact of diversity, not having sterile places for nuisance algae to take hold, having microfauna to eat fish diseases during their lifecycle, etc., then who would pay $300 for a pack of real live rock compared to the headache of dinos and hair algae, lost fish, chemicals to get po4 down with some rock, etc.

Not having diverse rock would be like trying garden without all of the enzymes, worms, organics, etc. because you are scared of a beetle getting in there. Just foolish, IMO. I guess that the people who sell dry rock are better salesman than others...

 

[Rusty_L_Shackleford]

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 have been in the hobby along time, and there are soooo many more tools available now. But I still run my tank on these principals. Minus the skimmer. I have a 34g and a 32 gallon so I just do water changes instead. I have an ro/di and buy salt by the bucket. Water changes are easy. Don't dose anything you can't test for is still good advice. Good food, good light, good water, success will follow.

 

[Fort Salty]

Would anyone care to give a book recommendation? This method seems about the way I have my aquarium set up. I started in the fall last year, and there is a lot of popular information to sort through to get to these basic ideas. I have heard of "Berlin, Zeovit, Triton," etc., but it seems harder to find real solid info on some of the older approaches.

Also, what practices of the "Berlin" method might have changed over the course of the years that might not be reflected in the older literature? Thank you kindly.

FS

 

[Reefer Matt]

We in the U.S. owe it all to Julian Sprung, who brought the Berlin method here.
The Reef Aquarium: A Comprehensive Guide to the Identification and Care of Tropical Marine Invertebrates (Volume 1) https://a.co/d/cBxyp5v

 

[jda]

Dang! My reefing books outperforming the Dow Jones.

 

[CoastalTownLayabout]

Should be recognised that one of the key components of the Berlin method was adding kalkwasser in top of water and manual dosing of strontium and iodine.

 

[zoomonster]

Should be recognised that one of the key components of the Berlin method was adding kalkwasser in top of water and manual dosing of strontium and iodine.

True but... a CaRx basically can now fill the role and provide calcium, alkalinity along with some strontium and magnesium if you add mag media. Thats one way the Berlin method has advanced with new tech. I said before I don't dose but I do manually add a few drops of Lugol's once a week and I occasionally add strontium and magnesium, if need be, from dry product.

 

[Lebowski_]

Should be recognised that one of the key components of the Berlin method was adding kalkwasser in top of water and manual dosing of strontium and iodine.

Is this why a lot of the old tanks had CO2 tanks? injection to break down the Kalk? I remember seeing CO2 tanks being used all of the time but never seen them in sump areas anymore.

 

[jda]

I do not remember the co2 tanks - they were abundant in freshwater planted tanks, but still are. Kalk and some water in a clear vessel and wait a day. Pour the crust off of the top, pour the clear liquid into the tank and throw the cloudy junk on the bottom away. I think that Pickling Lime was probably $2 for a 32 ouncer. Some of my friends used turbo calcium and baking soda, but the same thing... just mix in a bit of water and throw it in.

This is why I don't believe that alk swings alone are a huge issue... or pH. Seriously, nothing cared in these mature and diverse tanks.

 

[seamonster]

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.

When I first started, I was doing some tackled the Jaubert method. Similar to Berlin style but using an under gravel filter without the side tubes and no water flow to create a hypoxic area,sand free, then seperate live sand (top layer) from aragontite sand(bottom layer). But the limiting factor was a light fish load ad and it was hard to clean the sand without messing it up. I then switched to the Berlin method. The only difference now is that I now have a minimal rockwork, used dry rock and use ceramic bioballs that’s been seeded for 10 years and live rock in the sump. I vaccuum sand regularly, do water changes, run carbon and use an algae scrubber.

 

[CoastalTownLayabout]

Is this why a lot of the old tanks had CO2 tanks? injection to break down the Kalk? I remember seeing CO2 tanks being used all of the time but never seen them in sump areas anymore.

The CO2 tanks were and still are for calcium reactors. C02 is actually counter productive to kalkwasser addition.

I guess the point I was making about the Berlin system and addition of kalk, strontium and iodine was that at the time this was almost considered as some type of teutonic wizardry. They’re putting what in their tanks!!!??? Nth American hobbyists were still busy debating the surface area advantages of different bio media in wet / drys.

Anyway, it was a different time when advancements like this took months if not years to filter into the mainstream via magazines like FAMA etc.

 

[Lebowski_]

The CO2 tanks were and still are for calcium reactors. C02 is actually counter productive to kalkwasser addition.

I guess the point I was making about the Berlin system and addition of kalk, strontium and iodine was that at the time this was almost considered as some type of teutonic wizardry. They’re putting what in their tanks!!!??? Nth American hobbyists were still busy debating the surface area advantages of different bio media in wet / drys.

Anyway, it was a different time when advancements like this took months if not years to filter into the mainstream via magazines like FAMA etc.

Yes, I can picture the CA reactors now thinking back.

 

[jft]

Man I miss FAMA. It was a great mag. Been doing Berlin since the late 80 s works GREAT for me!

 

[CoastalTownLayabout]

Yes, I can picture the CA reactors now thinking back.

It’s also possible the CO2 was being used to suppress pH via a controller. I recall this being used to control the addition of supersaturated kalk. So your memory may be better than mine!

 

[timry2]

Haven’t strayed. 300 gallon tank with probably 450lbs of rock and an equal amount of sand for a deep sand bed. Large skimmer and a large cuc. Pretty much all natural

 

[Polyp Punk]

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.

I totally agree. A reef tank with started with dry rock should be a crime. It makes an absolute world of a difference using live rock it’s almost a must. Especially for new inexperienced reefers who are getting turned away from the hobby because of all the headaches it comes with.

 

[glennf]

Basicly nothing in here remind you of the berlin method.
- No live rock
- no sump
- no skimmer
- no waterchange since 2015
- no filtermedia
- no GAC
- no HOB folter
- no refugium
- no algae filter
- no sandbed nor DSB
The only mechanical export mechanism is a powerfilter, similar to those "old powerhead" used in freshwater tanks.
All waterparameter controlled biochimically with dosing. Easy and relaxing because all dosing can easily be automated....
Just a reminder that this tank is only 190 liters (50gallon)

 

[Alexraptor]

Don't think I run full-on Berlin system in any tank anymore.

My 15G does get weekly 30% water changes, but has no protein skimmer. My 25G reef has a protein skimmer, but does not receive weekly water changes. In fact the primary method of nutrient export/binding is through clove polyps, and I've never seen a more pristine and healthy reef! For both tanks I dose all-for-reef, to replenish minerals and trace elements.