Is there a such thing as too much live rock?

[LeJeune981]

I've got a 150 tall tank that will be back up and running soon.. I have an estimate of 230 to 250 lbs of rock.. All living in my spare 75 gallon tall tank..
My 150 is not drilled so I don't think I can run a sump to hold some rock.. And I plan on buying a few more prices of live rock in hopes to get some serpant star fish hitchhikers..

Besides the headache of aquascaping all that rock... Am I looking for trouble?

 

[Tcox]

Well I suppose it depends on your goals for this tank... if you're going for a reef and fish setup, you'll want room for coral and fish to grow/swim. I've seen a FOWLR setup overloaded with rock. It was a convict goby tank. It was pretty cool to see the eel-like creatures move through the rock.

Personally, I say pick your favorite rocks and DO take the time to aquascape. It will be so much nicer to have a tasteful set of structures that you could see the different types of creatures live in. Aquascaping is a pain in the rear but it is absolutely worth the time investment. You'll only need to do it once.

 

[JZinCO]

Holy crud. That is not how I run my tanks. I lean closer to 0.5 lbs per gallon. Even then I still like to move a rock here and there. I think aquascaping those many rocks would drive me insane because I like to compare combinations of each rocks position. Anyway I am talking slot about myself and that's key.
If you want the wall of rocks, or box of rocks, look, I'm sure you can get away with this. Like the prior poster said, if you want to focus on species that love rock piles, you may actually end up with a really cool niche tank. So, you do you. But if I had reservations at this stage, that tells me I will have my hands wet in no time fixing my prior mistake.

I think you may get a couple concerns so I'll be the first.
1) crud buildup in the pile. Nitrate buildup could occur but with a scavenger heavy crews along with fish that like to disappear in the rocks could help. On the other hand you might build up a really cool cryptic sponge farm in the back/bottom.
2) flow. You're limited in powerhead placement.
3) what happens long term? Will you pull rocks as corals grow out (to make room) or is this more fish only than not?

I think if you talk about your plans for filtration or stocking, it will help us give recommendations
I would also love to see if anyone else has set up a similar tank and build out a community of cryptic, Rocky loving invert/fish.

 

[ca1ore]

The old rules of thumb aren't terribly useful beyond just broad guidelines. I've always been on the low end for rock. I like an open aquascape with lots of swimming room. Plus, if you're successful with corals they'll 'consume' much of the open space. Started my current 265 with about 100 lbs of rock and never had any bio filter issues.

 

[Sk8r]

There's such a thing as no swimming room for the fish, but it depends on species; my 105 gallon bow is very packed with rock structured in caves and layers and spires, and the damsels are very happy to have holes they 'own.' Other more free-swimming species, not so much.

 

[LeJeune981]

The tank pictured is my spare 75 gallon tank.. And she is deff overloaded.. To the point I have 3 snails lost somewhere In there... My 150 display will be fixed this week so at some point next week it will have water in it again and i can transfer and aquascape...ugh that will be a chore...

My 150 is a tall tank as well.. I had around 200 lbs of rock in it... A central rock pile type scape.. Flow through the rock was pretty good..

I have 2 1800 GPH wave makers and a 500 GPh canister filter.. I do plan to get 2 more of the 1800 wave makers..

Plans for the tank are a mainly fowler tank... With a few soft corals/anemones... And I have a lil hitchhiker colony of hidden cup corals that I will place in a nice viewing spot.

I am gonna post a picture of my 150 before she blew a seal

 

[LeJeune981]

My 150 before she blew
I wish I knew how to post big pictures like others do.. Instead of thumb nails

 

[LeJeune981]

Another one

 

[LeJeune981]

I like the idea of a cryptic tank...
What species would I be looking at?

 

[Sk8r]

Anything that lives in the nooks and crevices of a reef. But I'd leave out flat crabs. The tunnels afford ample room to grab a bit of fish.

 

[LeJeune981]

I am considering making a sump for some of the rock... But without my tank being drilled... I need to devise a way to have a sealed off container.. Preferably see through.. So I can put a pump inside to pump water out... And in turn that will create a bit of a vacuum to bring water in... About like a canister filter.. But bigger and see through so I can put a light on it and have a bit of life in there.. Or make it a fuge/sump/filter...
Any ideas or thoughts?

 

[Sk8r]

I have a rubble pile in my sump, which is extra rock and dead coral branches, and I set it so the flow goes through that before it reaches the skimmer. It's inhabited by worms, limpets, asterinas, and just very occasionally an aiptasia---I never stress over the latter. They come and they go. It's lit by a 6500 k CFL floodlight in a shop-light body.

 

[LeJeune981]

I have a couple cool looking Aptaisia as well... I wish my tank was drilled so setting up a sumo would be alot easier

 

[bobt2]

the place I get my rock from[direct from the ocean in water] says 2lbs per gallon. always seamed to work

 

[pfan151]

the place I get my rock from[direct from the ocean in water] says 2lbs per gallon. always seamed to work

Of course a company selling rock is going to say 2 lb per gallon. More rock obviously is not a bad thing but 2lb a gallon is way more than is necessary.

 

[maddmaxx]

i kinda feel like this is a trool post..any one that knows anything about saltwater aquariums can visually see thats just a tank holding live rock. NO WAY that can be a display. theres no room for even fish.

theres so much rock that swallowed up space. you have prolly 25% water volume of that actual tank. so you could only put in 2 may 3 fish in. yes, a ton of rock but would take for ever to colonize that small amount of water with a bunch of fish...

im stunned to be honest....

 

[LeJeune981]

i kinda feel like this is a trool post..any one that knows anything about saltwater aquariums can visually see thats just a tank holding live rock. NO WAY that can be a display. theres no room for even fish.

theres so much rock that swallowed up space. you have prolly 25% water volume of that actual tank. so you could only put in 2 may 3 fish in. yes, a ton of rock but would take for ever to colonize that small amount of water with a bunch of fish...

im stunned to be honest....

You may want to read the entire post.... First picture is my temporary 75 gallon tall tank... With all my rock in it to keep it alive untill my 150 gallon tank is repaired

 

[bcb577]

I could be wrong but at a certain point I may be worried about total volume of water for my inhabitants.just a thought

 

[Sk8r]

That's where open structure of the rock (arches and caves) and a big sump are a help.

 

[LeJeune981]

Did some research last night.. I am gonna build an overflow unit.. And run a 30 or 40 gallon sump off of my big 150 once she is up and ready.. If I had room.. I would convert the 75 Gallon everything is currently in into a sump.. Tho I may just do that and have the 75 rest on the floor next to the tank as a display sump.. It will then give me roughly 200 Gallons of water.. Even tho the 75 is hard to work with as it is a tall tank... And measures 48x30x12 and the reason it looks so insanely over loaded with rock