Lighting or Live Rock

[elinder]

Yes, someone could please help me out. I have a 100 gal. tank with a Power Pro 150 w/built in skimmer. I just added 12 pounds of live rock. My question is, I'm kinda tight on money after spending 1300.00 for the set up and I was wondering what should I do first, buy the live rock or the lighting?

 

[CBRGuy]

You need much more LR at least another 100#. liverocks.com sell lr cheap 2.99# plus shiping. I am waiting on another 60# that I have ordered for my 55 gal. which will give me a total of 100# You can always use NO lighting if it is just FOWLR! The LR will be much more beneficial for filtaration and it will get you cycle giong faster. Later down the line you can upgrade your lights if you want to start hosting corals. Plus the lights that you will need for corals will be pretty expensive. upwards up $600-$700. I am still a newb though soe I would wait for other advice


Steve..

 

[Anemoneman]

Depends on what you want to do with your tank. Corals need light but on the other hand corals need LR to sit on. If you can be satisified with a FOWLR for a while till your light budget improves, fill it with rock. I would use a good amount of base rock to build the main structure (caves, arches, ledges, etc.) and a few choice pieces of high quality, well encrusted LR to seed the rest. Intense lights will help this endeavor but you can only do what you can afford. A few months of this setup will help you get over the new tank syndrome of diatoms, algae blooms and cyano. Shrimp and fish will give you something to look at While your LR spreads to the others.
Good luck and have fun!

 

[elinder]

Thanks for the replies