What does LR need to thrive?

[spinman]

All,

After I add my 125#s of base rock and 300#s of sand, I'm thinking of getting about 40#s of LR. So it looks like I'll be setting up a FOWLR tank.

Couple questions:

1) Lighting - I have (2) seperate 4 foot 32W fluor. full spectrum tubes. I take it I need more wattage for the LR? Can I add on to the (2) tubes or should they be scrapped.

2) Water movement - Does my Iwaki MD20RXT not create enough movement?

Thx,

Mike

 

[lando]

There are actually two types of life on LR, the stuff you can see and the stuff you can not see. What makes LR truly a benefit to the tank is all of the beneficial bacteria that grows all over it's surface. What makes LR nice to look at is all of the visible life you can see...sponges, corals, algaes, clams...
The beneficial really needs nothing, just a stable environment to grow in. The visible life will need good water parameters, the proper CA/ALK is important as well. Lighting will also make a difference. Adding 40-60lbs of good looking LR to your base rock will be plenty to seed it. Over time, your BR will all become live.
Movement is very important to the health of a tank. You want to turn-over your tank's volume 15-20 times/hr.