yes another dsb question

[jrockwater]

I am a fan of the berlin method however i do like the idea of having a shallow sand bed purely for the aesthetics. I'm in the planning stages of a 50 gallon shallow reef build. I plan to run a remote dsb with no light hoping to make up for the excess nitrates a shallow sand bed could produce. I do plan to run a skimmer , refugium with chaeto etc. as well. I'd like to get a sense of any thoughts opinions on this system and things I should consider.

 

[bertoni]

I don't know how much the remote DSB will do. I'd probably just skip it and perhaps put more live rock in that area. A refugium with Chaetomorpha can do a lot, but the lighting can be expensive. There are a lot of approaches to nutrient reduction. I might plan an area for extra live rock or a refugium, and add one or the other when the need arises. You could switch between the two if the setup is ready for that.