Minimum amount of rock on 180?

[rwsoos]

Just purchased a 180g aga reef ready tank after having a 75g for a few years. I really like the look of an "open" landscape setup. What is the minimum amount of rock (I guess in pounds)that I would need? Thanks.

 

[jefathome]

IMO, you could get by with NO rock if you wanted, as long as you have a deep sand bed either in the main tank or a Remote one.

If you want more variety of critters, toss some rocks in the sump... maybe 30 lbs worth.

 

[mod0522]

+1 to jefathome... check out this thread for some minimalist aquascaping examples http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1658490&highlight=minimalist

 

[oscar.millan]

Doing the same thing on my 180 gallon I bought myself for Xmas. I'm going to keep it minimal to allow for open swimming places. I might decide to add more rock later, but I'm thinking of 30 to 50 lbs of live rock for now just to give you an idea.

I'm also going to be more selective than I usually would be in order to aquascape accordingly.

Good luck.

 

[rwsoos]

Thanks for the responses. I'm primarily concerned with the role that the amount of rock plays in the filtration process. Is 40-50 pounds really enough if I don't have a rsb or a deep sand bed in the tank? I was thinking of having appoximately 3 inches of sand in the tank.

 

[Sardaukar]

Ya, having a small amount of rock will limit you in terms of the bioload your tank can handle. There are ways to squeeze more rock in, suck as putting some rubble in a chamber in your sump. Keep flow high to keep particles suspended, skim very heavily, feed smartly so that as little food is not eaten as possible, etc. I think you are probably underestimating the amount of rock you will want. A 180 is a big tank with nice 24" depth and height. You could probably easily put double that rock in and still have a very, very open and clean aquascape. You could probably do 3x 30-40# pillar/islands and have a ton of swimming room.

You might go around and look at other peoples 6' tanks and see how much rock they are using to give you an idea.

 

[rwsoos]

That's exactly what I was hoping to do - 3 pillars/islands of 40 pounds each. I hope that is sufficient.

 

[Sardaukar]

That's exactly what I was hoping to do - 3 pillars/islands of 40 pounds each. I hope that is sufficient.

That + a beefy skimmer + good water flow + sand bed + smart feeding should be fine. Just make sure you give the tank plenty of time to adjust between adding new fish.

What kind of stock list were you thinking?

 

[rwsoos]

I'm actually going to take my time as far as stocking goes. I want to do it right and not buy fish on impulse only. Basically looking for reef safe colorful fish.

 

[SkyPapa]

Here is my new 180 with about 100 lbs. of rock.

 

[brookers]

hi, heres my 180 with about 120lbs of lr

 

[rwsoos]

Beautiful. That's what I hope to accomplish.

 

[Leonardo_]

That + a beefy skimmer + good water flow + sand bed + smart feeding should be fine. Just make sure you give the tank plenty of time to adjust between adding new fish.

What kind of stock list were you thinking?

I agree. And when you have some LR in the sump you will be even safer. Both of my tanks had very little liverock in the display but I always had a fair amount of good LR in the sump.

Leonardo

 

[tm613]

about 100 lbs in my 180