How much Live rock do I need??

[gwalkerss]

Its Geoff again, thanks for all the advise on lighting. I ended up going with a t5 setup. It looks great!! Now I have a question about how much live rock i need. I do have a 55 gallon tank and want it to be more of a reef tank than a fish tank. I have appx 58lbs now, but it does not look like much, my tank looks kindof empty. There is not much room on the rocks that I do have to attach all the things that I want. I currently have some Leather coral, a brain coral, some Frogspawn corals. I attached a pic so you can see what I mean! Whats your advise???

Thanks

Geoff

[180Brandy]

Left side looks a little bare. I would say 20-30 lbs to start. Medium size pieces. Looks great so far!

[nu2reef-n]

A good rule of thumb is one lb. of live rock for every gallon of water. Aquascaping is one of the hardest parts of setting up a reef tank. IMO

[Barleychown]

I like lots of live rock so there is ample room for good stuff like pods, sponges, and stuff.

 

Getting it placed so you are happy with the overall look is a real pain...I'm still not happy with ours.

[reefgeek84]

A good rule of thumb is one lb. of live rock for every gallon of water. Aquascaping is one of the hardest parts of setting up a reef tank. IMO

 

I second this....

[dippin61]

Its Geoff again, thanks for all the advise on lighting. I ended up going with a t5 setup. It looks great!! Now I have a question about how much live rock i need. I do have a 55 gallon tank and want it to be more of a reef tank than a fish tank. I have appx 58lbs now, but it does not look like much, my tank looks kindof empty. There is not much room on the rocks that I do have to attach all the things that I want. I currently have some Leather coral, a brain coral, some Frogspawn corals. I attached a pic so you can see what I mean! Whats your advise???

Thanks

Geoff

 

i also say about a lb per gallon

[CCR]

There are a couple of conciderations. The type of rock, and density of same. I like the more porus rock, I feel it is as better biological filter as it has more surface area, I like branch. I also would concider how you stack it, for flow around it. Your also at an early enough stage to do a raised rock bed. Are you buying it local or ordering it? I think you could do another 50 to 70 lbs easily.

[Michael7979]

...... I have appx 58lbs now........

Thanks

Geoff

 

If you are going to use the same type of rock as you have now then I say you can use another 50'ish pounds of rock.

 

I'm with Blaine try and use a very porus rock to help out with the filtration.

[pledosophy]

I go with at least 2 lbs per gallon. Often more. I like lots of rock. Especially for a reef so the corals have many places to go. The more LR the more bilogical filtration, the better things will be. Just remeber you need flow through the rock to prevent deadspots and detritus buildup.

 

If that's 58 lbs, I'd double it and see how it looks, then maybe add more. JMO. I've never run a tank with less then 3 lbs of LR per gallon. Just the way I like things to look.

[oldbrownies]

I agree... I run tanks with about 2 pounds per gallon, and if its too much rock, just throw some in the sump

[oldbrownies]

you can also make some cement rocks, or just feet to lift the rock you already have out of the sand, it makes it look like you have more.

[fly guy]

you cant fit 2 lbs per gallon in a tank unless its dense or stacked so tight you cant possibly get flow through it

 

 

the whole lbs per gallon thing is kind of silly to some extent. If its quality light porous rock with some open shapes and stacked with space for flow through it...thats whats important

 

 

If you can achieve great everywhere flow in a tank, and have nice light porous rock.....you can do a better job of biological filtration with a half pound per gallon than you would with 2 lbs per gallon of dense rock and inadequate flow through it

[mister crabs]

which rock is the most porous? I was going to get about 25-30 lbs of LR and then make some ofthe really porous cement rock with the 4:1 rocksalt to cement ratio i saw on RC. But is there a certain kind of rock that is very porous?

[Nyles]

Pick up a piece where you shoping, base rock is HEAVY, I used about 100 pounds on the base of my tank, one large rock in my tank weighs over 50 pounds, then there is mixed types of regular rock, about 150 pounds in a 155 gallon bow. Its not hard to go way overkill. I had 1 pound per gallon and it simply wasn't enough with the heavy base rock and the look I wanted. as my corals get larger I will remove the top layer of rock but till then I have rock up to about 10" to the top.

 

Don't be afraid to go pick up some pieces and inspect, lighter rock usually has better denitrification properties and usually runs a little more since it weighs less. Don't forget to get a few branching pieces to add the versatility of your design.

[reefboy]

well im completely oppisite lol alot depends on sand bed if you go with a deep sand bed you wont need alot of rock 1/2 pound mininium so you can desighn your aquascaping to your tastes with a deeper sand bed, now if going with less sand go with more rock id say a pound a gallon going two pounds seems extreme becuase alot of your corals come on rock youll be pulling rock unless you buy all frags to grow out, but a pound a gallon with a shallow sandbed is good.

[Nyles]

I see these two descriptions have both valid points. I will point out they are both going in two diferent directions.

 

A solid reef tank thats focus is not fish but corals will have more live rock. Especialy whaen your corals are smaller.

 

If your goal is to have larger fish and lots of swimming room them small amounts of liverock would suffice (or a lvery large display can offset smaller quantities of LR). But to me thats not a true reef tank.

 

No offense to anyone, but when I look at Barelychowns tank I see what I define as a reef tank. Lots of rock and corals and limited fish. If you want the best of both worlds then go with a big tank and you can do limited rock but its just not possible on a smaller tank (under 200 gallon) unless you just want rock on the sandbed. And to me that looks terrible. IMO. I like to see LR up to at least 3/4 way up and cover with corals. Now if I had a "Jody" tank LOL.. My def of a large tank I would do limited rock (a few hundred pounds) and open it up for my really big fish.

 

So I guess you should figure out if you like liverock up high or just down low or up high but only in some areas. Some people pile it in some areas and not others, I tend to make a large mound like I see when I dive with caves and such.

 

Also it greatly depends on the weight of rock. Most rock I see 50 pounds fills about a 20 gallon tubberware bin or less.

[oldbrownies]

which rock is the most porous? I was going to get about 25-30 lbs of LR and then make some ofthe really porous cement rock with the 4:1 rocksalt to cement ratio i saw on RC. But is there a certain kind of rock that is very porous?

 

 

thats nice stuff, but i found its stronger if you add some cheap "coral sand" or fine CC, about 1 part... it adds some good stability to the inside of the rock... and my 30 pounds of this rock fills as much space as 50 pounds of fiji rock

[reefboy]

i like that a jody tank lol will call it the "the jody method" lol but in all seriousness just saying the look of the tank is up to you but there is some guidlines as far as bio of your tanks concerned so ethier go with more rock or more sand depending on buget or the way you want it to look.

[cyenna]

when i first started my tank i went with the 1lb per gallon but now I would say: go with the amount that "looks right" while keeping in mind the kind of fish and corals you want; and definitely hand pick your rock.

[H20cooled]

I don't think there is any magical amount of rock that you need in your tank, I base everything on how it looks. Get some nice large rocks and do some awesome aquascaping and your be happy, skip the ugly rock wall.

[nu2reef-n]

That's the nice thing about this hobby, there's no cut and dried rules. Whatever works or looks good in your tank. After all it's in your livingroom.

[mister crabs]

or spare bedroom /office lol....wife wont let me have tank in LR....