How Much and What Kind for 65 Gal

[Tobman]

I am setting up a 65 gallon with sump/refugium reef tank.

How much rock should I get and what kind of the ones PA sells is the best?

Also, I live in a remote town, so the airport isn't very convenient and next day UPS is pretty expensive. Would shipping cured rock 2 day UPS be ok? Would there be significantly more die-off with 2-day vs 1-day?

 

[eclecticvibe]

I'd reccomend between 1 and 1.5 lbs per gallon of rock. The Marshall is our Premium Rock, but the Fiji has been excellent this year as well. We reccomend a 2 day transit for rock. With the milder temps this time of year, you should experience very little die off.

 

[Tobman]

What are the chances that your Marshall Island cured rock will contain unwanted hitchhikers, like Gorilla Crabs and Mantis Shrimp?

 

[eclecticvibe]

There are chances that they're there. I've had a mantis once in some rock for a seahorse tank. Gorllia crabs too. There's really no way to guarantee to get all the bad folks out, while keeping the good stuff on. I poured soda water over all of the uncured Marhsall I used when starting my 180. I still had a procelain crab that hitchhiked in, though he's a welcome guest. I also used soda to drive the mantis out of the rock when I caught him killing the ponies. The soda water did seem to cause more die off of coraline algae. We keep our rock in the water, so lot s of life survives. I've seen boxes of rock that sit for days outside of water, and there's usually tons of worms and crabs that crawl out looking for water as the rock dries out.

 

[sjm817]

I just got 180# of LR from PA. I got 40# of Fiji and 120# of MI. The Fiji is really nice, right up there with the MI.