By now you should have a pretty good amount of notes from research and what we have studied so far. Hopefully, you even have a basic diagram of what your system will look like. If not, after this section you should. There are many methods utilized today ranging from nothing more than an air-stone and natural lighting to the high-tech reef aquarium that can literally cost several thousands of dollars. While a single air-stone and natural sunlight does work, it is an extremely limiting system and one that most home aquarists I'm sure, are not interested in keeping.

On the other end we have the high-tech reef aquarium.  Pretty much every aspect of reef keeping can be automated by some advanced equipment but this is hardly necessary.  By using common sense, good planning and doing research before you take action, you can maintain a stunningly beautiful reef aquarium thriving with live that can equal or even rival any high-tech system.

Let's look at a few basic methods. Keep in mind that many reef aquarists use different aspects from two or more of these methods successfully, as do I. 

Berlin Method

• Intense Lighting

   

• Live Rock (commonly a deep sand bed (DSB)

   

• Live Sand substrate

   

• Heavy Skimming

   

Mechanical filtration is commonly not utilized in this method other than the use of a skimmer.  Instead, all filtration is dependent on good water circulation and the natural processes (denitrification) performed by the live rock and sand.  This method is probably the most common method utilized by serious hobbyists today and has had much success, though livestock levels are usually limited.

Jaubert Method/NNR

This method is actually a modified version of the Berlin Method and was conceived by Jean Jaubert in the late 1980s though some limited study began even before then.  Much research and application has been conducted on this method by Sam Gamble and Bob Goemans (the later of the two who coined the phrase "Natural Nitrate Reduction" (NNR).

Basically, this method utilizes a plenum in which an open space of water is located under a deep layer of sand at the bottom of the tank.  This open space remains primarily anoxic which allows high levels of bacteria that are hypoxic (lives in a low oxygen environment) to thrive.

This low oxygen area conflicts with the high oxygen area of the main water column above the sand bed which results in an extremely slow movement of water through the sand bed itself.  This slow water movement keeps the lower areas of the sand bed anoxic and nutrients cycling instead of accumulating at the tank bottom (nutrient sink), therefore the beneficial hypoxic bacteria thrive.

Studies have shown that a depth of 4 inches to be ideal when utilizing a plenum.  A shallower sand bed would be far less efficient.  Any depth exceeding 4 inches would impact the system negatively, changing the sand beds redox which would result in nitrogen storage (not good). So, the bottom line is: when going with a plenum, ensure that you have a 4-inch sand bed depth.

High-tech Method

Losing popularity though still utilized in many reef systems is the high-tech method.  This method basically relies on mechanical filtration and sophisticated equipment to perform most, if not all filtration and other functions related to maintenance and general system upkeep. The problem with this method is that it generally works too well, converting ammonia faster than its bi-products can be removed through out-gassing and water changes. This method is still widely used in fish only systems with success and has had some limited success in reef systems though mostly with hardier species only and even then, the organisms could probably do much better in a natural system. More information on advanced equipment is discussed later in this document (i.e. ultraviolet sterilizers, CO2 Injectors, etc) though generally, this equipment is not needed.

There are several aspects however, that can provide natural systems a boost though are not required to maintain a beautiful reef system. Some of these items are:

• Chillers

   

• Wave-makers

   

• Advanced Skimmers

   

• Automatic Dosers

   

• Calcium Reactors

   

• Automatic Timers

   

• Refugiums