How much live rock?

[pbradley0]

I know there are some classic recommendation of so many lbs. per gallon but from what I've been reading there's been a trend toward using less LR. Has anyone gotten away with a reef tank and little live rock? How much is appropriate?

 

[kenbow19]

IMO, The pounds per gallon rule is about as useful as the watts per gallon in lighting, you can get away with less weight as long as there is equal or more surface area, that is the key, not buying heavy dense rock to equal some pounds per gallon rule.

 

[rogergolf66]

agreeed but the rule of thumb you are right 1-1.5lbs per gallon

 

[pbradley0]

That raises another question. How do you tell when you have enough rock? Based purely on tank water parameters? Are some of you constantly adding more and more LR as you stock your tank to maintain your water parameters?

 

[indydog1]

nope. can cause undesireable readings. ie cycling. once your tank has cycled. the key is adding livestock slowly to allow the bacteria to be able to keep up with the new demand.

 

[killa268]

I use 45 lb for my 45 gallon tank

 

[killa268]

I also think you should put enough live rock to make your tank look "good and full".

 

[Kellie in CA]

Like someone said before, it depends on the density of the rock. I have 30 pounds of rock, the total volume of my tank is 25 gallons, but it is only about 20 gallons in the "show" part of the tank. I don't think it looks too full, there are only 3 pieces but the rock is very heavy. I just got lucky and cherry-picked some interesting shapes.

 

[Nanook]

Each tank is different. On my 1000g setup I had 660lbs of rock and the tanks needed more rock, mainly for a better aquascaping and for room to mount corals. In my cube tank I am closer to 1lb per gallon now and it looks much better.

 

[caorca]

The less rock you have the bigger the skimmer you should use. The live rock is part of your filtration, so when you reduce the amount of rock, you should make it up by beefing up your filtration elsewhere.

 

[Lawnmower Blenn]

you realy need a bigger skimmer if you take out live rock or use less?

 

[Raibaru]

I just aim for 1lb per gallon, and then I make it look nice and if I lose some while making it look nice no biggie.

If you have a sump you could always make up for it there.

 

[nikon187]

+1 for sumping rock. you can get away with alot less in the display if you have half in the sump. Yes if you have less live rock you should have a much better skimmer. Personally i like more than a pound per gallon when using the sump as well. I have 112lbs in my 80 between the display and sump.

 

[Lawnmower Blenn]

i dont just want to jump in on this thread but if you have like 100 pounds of live rock in a tank then why have 80 more in the sump?
what does it do i dont run any in a sump or cheto should i get some?

 

[nikon187]

it increases your natural biological filtration by providing more surface area for denitrtrifying bacteria to grow.. i don't have 180lbs, i have 112 split between the sump and display.

 

[pbradley0]

It just seems odd to base the amount of LR needed on the volume water. If you need more for larger bioloads then shouldn't it be based on the density of the stocking of your tank and not on the volume?

 

[Raibaru]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13284872#post13284872 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by pbradley0
It just seems odd to base the amount of LR needed on the volume water. If you need more for larger bioloads then shouldn't it be based on the density of the stocking of your tank and not on the volume?

It is based on this. This is why frag/invert tanks don't typically have much in the way of live rock. A 1lb per gallon is just an easy way to estimate how much you'd need to buy. People usually just know they have an X size tank so need X amount of rock. Then they worry about making their rock work look good and throw the rest of their rock either in the sump or in a bucket to bleach in the sun and sell off to someone else as base rock