10 Gallon Berlin

[Tripoli]

OK, I've had my little 10-gal micro reef up and running for about a year now. I've got about 2 inches of LS, and I'd guess maybe 30 pounds of LR. (see pic in my gallery) I've got a Penguin 125 with a biowheel running on it without a filter cartridge.

I've always liked the thought of setting up my tank for Berlin, but I don't quite know what all that would require.

What is the minimum sand depth I'd need and WHY?
Would it be better if I added even more LR?
Do I need marco algae of some kind in the tank? If so, what kind(s)? How much?

I've got a few astrea snails and blue-leg hermits, along with an urchin. Would they pose a problem for keeping the macro algae in the tank?

Could I use the Penguin 125 to hold the macro algae + some LS? If I did that, how could I light the algae? Would a few super-bright LEDs do the trick?

And lastly...what would be a good way to make the transition?


So many questions....this ought to keep y'all busy for a while.

[WarOrks15]

well a berlin tank is just a tank that really dose not have any other filter then live rock and live sand. most will have a skimmer just because they are nice to have on all tanks. from what i have read they have about 2 lbs of live rock per gal and a DSB. the dsb is just used to help with the filtration. i might be all wrong but this is just from what i have been told from some of the books i have.

[Tripoli]

Can anyone give me any more specifics?

A Berlin System relies primarily on LR and a skimmer for it's filtration. The sand is actually an afterthought and true "berlin system" employs a bare bottom tank. The 2" of sand you have now is plenty and I would not add more. If you have to much sand, it will not be a true berlin set up. The concept is to allow the LR to do all the filtration with the skimmer pulling out as much organics as possible. Having no sand reduces/elimintaes sedimentation (sludge) from wastes that would have acculmulated in the sandbed over time. The use of sand by some was for eye appeal moreso than anything else.

30 lbs of LR in a 10 gal tank is actually pretty good, you should not need more. As with any system, the efficiencey of the filtration is directly related to the waste producing bioload. With what you have indicated thus far, you should have no issues.

A penguin will not be very efficient by way of growing macros, too small. If you employ a good skimmer , you will not need the macro's anyway.

Cheers
Steve

[Tripoli]

So, would it be a good idea to get some kind of sand sifters for my tank to help keep the sand clean? Or should I just let the sand sit and vaccuum it on occasion?

I have never been a fan of vacuuming substrates of anykind. If you keep the 2" sand depth, I would get a 2-3 of each nassarius and cerith snails. They will keep the sandbed healthy enough.

Cheers
Steve