buyitjody
Member
Ok, thought I would start a nice debate. 
Honestly, I do want to know people's thoughts and opinions and what has and/or has not worked for them.
Basically, I am new to the hobby and am doing what I have been told is called the Berlin method. I have a 55 gallon with 70lbs of live rock and 3-4inches of aragonite substrate. I have a pretty good LFS that seems to be pretty honest with me. They have told me to not buy certain fish even though they could have made a cool $80 - $100 off of my naivity. They set me up with this Berlin Method and explained how it worked and it sounded good to me. (I've had freshwater for a long time (18yrs), so I do know about benificial bacteria, etc. But I am not naive enough to think what goes for freshwater necessarily goes for saltwater.)
Anyway, I was recently told by someone that sooner or later I will have hydrogen sulfide poisoning and that as soon as I smell a rotten egg smell from the substrate, I am to take it out immediately. The thing is, I have heard many who have the same set-up say they are having great success with it.
Please let me know what you think, and if I do have to remove the substrate sooner or later, what would be the best thing to replace it with?
Tank:
48" retrofit custom sealife 4x65 watt power compact lighting
Prizm protein skimmer for up to 100 gallons
2 maxi-jet 900 pumps for circulation
may be adding a sump doubling as a refugium in a month or so
9 fish
several corals
cleaning crew
Thanks for any and all input....Let's try to keep this civilized by letting people state their experiences without anyone slamming anyone else. Oh, also let me know if you do anything to your substrate, like 'vacuum' it and how often.
Much appreciation!
Jody
Honestly, I do want to know people's thoughts and opinions and what has and/or has not worked for them.Basically, I am new to the hobby and am doing what I have been told is called the Berlin method. I have a 55 gallon with 70lbs of live rock and 3-4inches of aragonite substrate. I have a pretty good LFS that seems to be pretty honest with me. They have told me to not buy certain fish even though they could have made a cool $80 - $100 off of my naivity. They set me up with this Berlin Method and explained how it worked and it sounded good to me. (I've had freshwater for a long time (18yrs), so I do know about benificial bacteria, etc. But I am not naive enough to think what goes for freshwater necessarily goes for saltwater.)
Anyway, I was recently told by someone that sooner or later I will have hydrogen sulfide poisoning and that as soon as I smell a rotten egg smell from the substrate, I am to take it out immediately. The thing is, I have heard many who have the same set-up say they are having great success with it.
Please let me know what you think, and if I do have to remove the substrate sooner or later, what would be the best thing to replace it with?
Tank:
48" retrofit custom sealife 4x65 watt power compact lighting
Prizm protein skimmer for up to 100 gallons
2 maxi-jet 900 pumps for circulation
may be adding a sump doubling as a refugium in a month or so
9 fish
several corals
cleaning crew
Thanks for any and all input....Let's try to keep this civilized by letting people state their experiences without anyone slamming anyone else. Oh, also let me know if you do anything to your substrate, like 'vacuum' it and how often.
Much appreciation!
Jody
