How much live rock is to much?

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sonoma2nv

Aquarium Advice Activist
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I have 120lbs of lr and it takes up much of the tank.Theres not much sand showing.Will this be a problem?I have plenty of caves for the fish lol.And i am starting to get this grass look alage on the glass.But thats prob from the tap water.I have a 6stage ro/di unit coming in the mail it has 2di filters.And i have a mh retro coming with 2 175w mh and 2 110w vho antics.The tanks is a 55gal with a 33 gal sump.I have 3 mj 1200 in display for plenty of flow.Just felt a need to ramble off.lol Just would like some opinions.Thanks Derrick.

Ps
my tanks is still cycling i started on the 8th of this month.When i get the ro.di should i do a water change?Or just let it finish and just do top offs with the ro/di.
 
In terms of biological filtration there is no such thing as too much LR. 120lbs in a 55 is great. I have a 72gal with about 160lbs in it.
 
lando is right, there is never too much. I have 90 pds in my 75 gallon with 12 pds of rubble in the canister, 5 pds in the 'fuge, and a few more pds of rubble in the sump.
 
I have 100 lbs in my 55. If it’s new it will take time for you to see how the rock will fit together. You’ll realize oh I can pt this over here and move this over there. When I got my lr I freaked out too. You’ll get use to not having that much sand. And you won’t get that ugly brown algae all over the sand :).
 
I have 200+ in my 125 gallon. It's been a long haul, but I got a nice tank now. I have (2) XP3 filters running alternately every day, plus I use the sump.
 
i would say just do the top-offs to let it fully cycle. thats what i did when i was curing rock to add to mt.
 
It depends on the density of the lr also. IMO a tank packed with LR with not much room for fish that need swimming room looks like crap. Again IMO...
Is it good for filtration, yes.. But I want a fish tank not a rock tank so I have between 1 and 1.5 lbs in both of my tank and I think it has worked out very well. I have lots of free space for the tang to swim and also enough hiding places for all the fish. Personal choice has alot to do with this.
So set it up the way you think it looks good and don't worry so much about getting that 2 lbs per gallon in the tank. If you have a sump or fuge these are good places to hide extra rock for filtration.
 
i have 80 lbs in a 55g i originally had 90 lbs but i took out a few lbs, looked overcrowded to me
 
I would say anything over something like 2.5lbs per gal would be to much. Unless you goal is to have a tank with no fish. Since we need to provide room for fish to swim you should find a healthy balance of rock to swimming room at or near the 1.5 to 2 lbs per gal mark.
 
fishrfreinds said:
If it’s new it will take time for you to see how the rock will fit together. You’ll realize oh I can pt this over here and move this over there.
so true, i'm a beginner & just got started about 2 weeks ago ... have a 29 gallon tank and have about 50lbs of live rock. at first i thought it looked crowded, & it did, but i looked at it for a while, re-arranged some rock & now it looks fabulous.
 
Ok,

So is there too little too?

I have a 44 corner hex with maybe 30 - 40 pounds in it. I also have about 10 pounds of base rock, that is holding up the works.
 
Ferretttt

Your base rock will become LR in time. Unless the base rock is completly under your substrate.
That would take u up to 40 or 50 pounds total in time and being that u have a 44gal you would be alright but most suggest going a lil more than just 1lb per gallon.

HTH
 
You will be fine. In a corner hex you are kind of limited for space, it sounds good to me.
If you have the tank set up the way you want and you like the way it looks then don't add any more. Adding more won't hurt, just take up more room.
 
Sounds good to me. I bought a couple of lbs of small rock that I can move around and alter the look of the tank without disturbing the big stuff. It comes in handy as you add new fish etc and start to notice how they interact...good for making hidey places and so on.
 
When I see a tank with 1.5-2.0 pounds of rock per gallon water it seems like a rock tank instead of a fish tank to me. (I'm a FW BTW) What is so magical about the 1.5-2 pounds number? Can it be done well with less? TIA.
:pepsi: :popcorn:
 
I'm with the coolchinchilla on that. I've about 1.0 lb per gallon. Mostly due to budget, but I kinda like being able to see each and every critter, fish and space.

IF you have a SUMP or FUGE then I'd say pack that baby to the top and call it good.

NOW a questions about LBS. I've seen some LR that is just small as crap and weighs a ton. Yet I usually go with a very light / well opened rock that has holes, etc but MORE coraline growth. Which is better? More surface space I would think on a rock is better overall.
 
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