How much rock?

[h8z2luze]

Well I have a 58G as most of you know. Im just trying to figure out how much LR im going to need to make a nice reef. I would like to get it all at once and cycle the tank with it rather than cure some and add then cure more and add. tank measurements are.. 36" long 20" Tall and 18" deep Thanks for bareing with me guys.

 

[Zer0]

ok well your going to need about 85lbs. Figure about 1.5-2lbs/gallon. That would be more than enough for a nice reef setup. And trust me, 50lbs in a 55g filled my tank up pretty darn quickly.

 

[h8z2luze]

cool so I wont spend as much as I thought then. I hear drs fosters & smith has great rock and also Marco Rocks True? What kind should I get?


if I buy 2 boxes of this... http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=393+2392&pcatid=2392 That should be good right?

Put what I dont use in my sump....

 

[InfernoST]

I bought 100lbs of dry rock from Marco rocks and 50lbs LR to seed the dry rock, I'm very happy with the Marco Rocks key largo that i bought and so are the fish, not to mention they are a pleasure to deal with and package the rock very well. From what I understand they are moving to a new facility and are going to be offering Live rock as well. I haven't dealt with Liveaquaria but probably will one of these days because they are owned and operated by Drs. Foster & Smith and am very happy with their service, support and prices. I do believe Zer0 will be able to give you a little more insight about the LR from LA.

 

[Zer0]

Yeah, i didn't have a good experience with the Drs. on the live rock part, but i could just have gotten a bad batch, because i am aware of other people on this forum that have ordered from them and got good live rock. Also, my suggestion is, go with base rock. Its clean, its cheap, and afterwards if you get only like a lb of live rock, the base rock will start to become live, and in a year or so, it will be fully live. It just makes sense to do. I didn't do it because i didn't do my research and i was stubborn. But if i had to do it again, i would go with base rock first, then a few pounds of live rock to seed the base rock.

Also, if you do get live rock, my suggestion is to really clean it off. Don't like scrub the heck out of it, because you want some decaying matter on the rocks if you are going to use the live rock to cycle your tank. But i didnt even wash it at all, and i just threw it in my tank, and it made my tank disgustingly dirty. Not to mention that i was busy cleaning out my tank AND sandbed for days after. Just my suggestion though. HTH.

 

[reef maniac]

1lb per gallon should be a good rule of thumb. And remember, the more rock you have, the less water...

 

[Zer0]

True, but my 55G tank has 75lbs of rock in it, and i only lost about 3 gallons worth. It's really not a significant amount of water loss from the amount of rock you put in there. Now, adding up the amount of sand AND the amount of rock you put in there, and the numbers change. I have 50lbs of sand and 75lbs of rock. I lost bout 5 gallons worth. Which still.. isn't all that significant. Also, the 1lb per gallon thing is good.. if you're on a budget. But properly it should be 1.5-2lbs per gallon. This way your biological filtration by the rocks, will be sufficient to keep your tank filtered. To little rock and you will need separate filtration.

 

[thincat]

+1 ZerO is giving great advice.

 

[h8z2luze]

So if I got with like 50 lbs of dry from marco rocks and 45 of live from LA it should be good? How do you clean it? Just rinse it off?

 

[thincat]

In a five gallon bucket of saltwater. All you want to do is knock off the dead growth. Stick the rock in the bucket and swish it around to dislogde anything that might be dead or dying. This step will help greatly as having to much decay will slow down your ammonia cycle.

 

[h8z2luze]

Oh ok thanks.

 

[Zer0]

Yeap, thincat is right on the money. You don't want a case like what happened to me. My cycle could have been done 3 days quicker approximately if i had at least rinsed some things off. My ammonia was off the charts when i tested a week later. At 10ppm, and at 8ppm, beneficial bacteria begins to die off, which is what will slow down your cycle. And we don't want that

 

[h8z2luze]

Nope not at all!