Is there a rule on how much live rock you have to use in order to properly seed base rock? I have a 55g that I have running for about 3 years now and there is not much growth on my rock. I used probably 70 lbs of dry rock and then threw in two 2lb pieces of live rock. I used to have a 20g with probably 20 lbs of live rock and there were feather dusters and sponges everywhere. My 55 now is very low on dissolved nutrients as compared to the 20g in which I used to feed phyto religiously and never change the water. Now in my 55 I have some sponges here and there but no feather dusters to be seen. So did I use way to little live rock to seed it or is it just because the nutrients are so low?
Why is my live rock crap?
- Thread starter Roblox84
- Start date
notpennysboat
New member
sounds like you might just need to add more live rock. I started w/ base rock myself and found the same problem in my 35g. Once is started adding more "live" rock then i had in there it "blew up". Plus thats alot of live rock for a 20g. (not that its a bad thing) either way it can help.
are you runnging a fuge of some type? b/c if you add live rock to that, it can help too.
are you runnging a fuge of some type? b/c if you add live rock to that, it can help too.
saltwater4life1
Member
I assume by adding so much base rock and so little live rock you just didn't get as much hitchhikers. I too have a 55gal about 3years old in feb, I have like 60lbs of lr and maybe 10lbs of base rock and only noticed a few feather dusters but I also don't pay as much attention to the little things in a bigger tank as I do in smaller tanks.
I used to have a fuge but took it down a while back. My LFS has huge tubs that they keep live rock on and I tried to pick out the ones with the most growth but it just seems like most of the stuff on it just didn't spread once put into my fish tank.
Bloodritual
New member
My best guess would be that the live rock you got to seed your tank never had them, if it isn't there it won't populate your tank.
