Too much live rock

[stupac21]

I have way too much live rock in my tank. My 20G looks even smaller because of it.

I added it a little at a time a while back, then neglected my tank for a while and had a bunch of coral die off.

Before buying corals I think I had too much live rock to begin with.

I'm not sure how much there lb wise.

Would it cause a problem with filtration to remove some up it?

even if I did remove it. I don't know what I'de do with it

 

[St.james of reefdom]

you can give it to me....hehe

 

[zanclus]

I'll take any you don't want!!!!

 

[crp]

Basic rule of thumb would be 1 to 1.5 lbs per gallons so with a 20 gallon, you should have between 20 and 30 lbs.

How much do you think you have?

 

[stupac21]

I'm not sure you guys would want it! its not that great, i'm gonna try and find my camera adapter so i can post a picture of my tank, and you guys can tell me if it looks like I have too much rock.

 

[stupac21]

What I would like to do, is take out some rock and add some corals, but ionly have is a 10k daylight bulb which isn't gonna help with a lot of corals.... i'm still tryin to win the lotto though!!

 

[stupac21]

Here's a few pics of my tank - it doesn't look like it did before after neglecting it for a while

I finally got my levels under controll again, except for alk which is high for some reason and Ca which is on the low side of acceptable.

sorry for the poor quality, i'm using a video camera because I can't find my usb cable for my camera


Too much rock for a small tank??

not enough corals i think!

 

[stupac21]

If i did get rid of live rock, would it cause problems?

 

[PCIALF]

I think it looks fine leave it. Add a few coral and enjoy

 

[jamesonkh]

that does not look like too much rock to me - my tanks are often fuller than that....

 

[stupac21]

I only have 10k daylight flourecent bulb

what corals would you recommend I keep?

anyone have any frags?

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

I'd keep the rock. Get levels in balance. You should see coralline growing on stuff.

 

[straight_path]

The rock looks fine. I'd look at increased lighting options berfore considering anything more than zoos and shrooms.

 

[exotic3412]

get a cheap pc, but the rocks look like nice pieces, all they need is growth and time. and a little b- ionic.

 

[magdelan]

stupac- I've seen you ask the same question a couple times so i will try to answer it the best I can. First, I don't think that you have too much rock. Second, as Gary said, try to get your alk/ca in check before altering anything in the tank. http://web.archive.org/web/20021127040526/http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/nov2002/chem.htm It will be easier to adjust your levels accordingly if you have stable params to begin with. Third, if you do decide to remove some of the rock, you should only do 1-2 pounds every few days until you get out what you want. By doing it slowly, you give the rock left in your tank a chance to produce more beneficial bacteria to filter your bio load. If you remove a large amount of rock all at once, you will end up with nitrites and amonia that no one wants to have. HTH

 

[stupac21]

Thanks magdelan,

I'm still trying to understand the relationship between Ca and Alk, even after reading that article a few times.

I tested yesterday, and I'll post all my perameters when I get home - I'm reefcentraling on the job

my Ca was up to about 440
but my Alk is still high at 15dkh
I also had a amonia and nitrate spike which i think is because of a cucumber that i haven't not seen in a long time.

amonia- about .2
nitrate - 80

I'm gonna do a water change tonight, but i was hessitant at first because about a month ago i did so many that i think I got rid of too much benificial bacteria after neglecting the tank for months.

exotic3412:
Do I need a new fixture for Power Compacts?
How much $ ya think?

 

[stupac21]

Fromt the Chemistry and the aquarium article posted above:



Also, these ranges are somewhat arbitrary, especially at the high end. In fact, the primary reason for having a high end at all is that it is often difficult to keep one of these parameters above the minimum end of the range if the other is over the top end. So if one of these parameters is slightly above the high end, and the other is OK, that is not a problem worth worrying about.



Does this mean I should not worry about alk at 15dkh? when CA is 440?