How much live rock for my 180?

[MichaelBrock]

I am in the process of setting up my first reef aquarium, a 180 gallon. I'm sold on the live rock from TBS but I'm still uncertain on how much rock to get. I'm not much of a fan of the "wall of rock" look and I'm thinking that the 360lbs of rock in "the package" for size tank is too much. For example, this guy apparently has "about 200 lbs. of various Pacific rock" in his tank:

http://www.aquarium-design.com/tank/images/b1.jpg

how much TBS rock would it take to achieve that look? How about this one:

http://www.gpodio.com/img/180g_tank2.jpg

Or this:

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e228/joerechcygl/hood060.jpg

Sorry for asking the same questions for three different "looks" but I'm still a bit up in the air as to the landscaping I'm going to aim for.

Thanks!

 

[lionbacker54]

how about ordering a 100g "package" first, and seeing how it looks? richard will send half the rock for part I of the package. you can then get an idea of what it would look like after part II by just doubling it in your mind. richard is very flexible. if, for example, you were to say "you know what? i need the full 180g package", i bet he could just add more to part II of the package.

 

[Madratter]

I agree with Lionbacker54 that the thing to do is probably just order a smaller package to start. Your going to be way over the minimum shipping limits for the air cargo anyway, so the downside is more trips to the airport if you decide you want more. Even with my 24g package, actual shipped weight was something like 110 pounds for the part I and 80 pounds for part II.

Of course another downside is that if you have too little rock and sand, then you can get into a situation where it is not doing enough to keep your nitrates down and you could end up fighting water quality issues.

A final downside, is the size of the CUC that you get will be below what Richard suggests.

 

[sedor]

I think 200 lbs would be sufficient, I always aim a little over the total gallons.

 

[MichaelBrock]

I think I will go with 200lbs. I compared the difference between the packages and the best "deal" appears to be getting the 100g package and adding 80lbs of sand and the difference in the cleaners.

Upside for me is that I live in Gainesville, FL and it's only a few hours down to Tampa. I guess I'll have to make two trips down there but still probably cheaper than air freight.