picture of my first rookie 55gal tank

[jarrette]

you guys think this is enough rock to filter this tank(55gal)? Any suggestions for me? I plan on getting my first bubble coral in two weeks from today and then adding my first fish in another couple weeks. Just want to make sure I have enough rock, but that stuff is so damn expensive! I have 30 or so lbs. of rock now.

 

[reefrunner69]

you guys think this is enough rock to filter this tank(55gal)?

I have 30 or so lbs. of rock now.

No, for filtration purposes...a minimum of 1 lb per gallon is required, unless you only plan on adding one or two very small fish. However...you appear to have a DSB, which may make up for it

 

[jarrette]

ouch, so another 100 bucks on live rock?

 

[riptide]

In my 55 I run 120lbs rock... Helps tremendously with stability..

 

[colorblindpicas]

I’m starting to sound like a Shill for Garf (they don’t pay me... I swear!=) )... but if you want to add filtration without adding rock try Garf Grunge at http://www.garf.org/. It won’t make up for adding more rock, but it will certainly help with bio filtration, and reduce the amount of LR you’ll have to buy. But as reefrunner said, I’d still try to hit at least 1/gal, if not more.

 

[daveNandi]

We've noticed as we've begun to buy corals at our LFS that they come on a piece of LR (sometimes of reasonable size), and we didn't allow for that. If you are going to stock up slowly and not buy all your corals last, that may help.

Also, I noticed that you did what all the books say and left plenty of room on all sides, between the rock and the glass. We did the same thing. Now we've noticed that all the display tanks at our LFS have rock all the way against the glass in the back, resulting in more room for the fish and coral in front. I wish we'd done it that way.

May I also suggest applying a dark backing (black or navy) against the back of your tank.

Finally, I'd replace the glass heater with a titanium one and if you're going to have a sump, which I assume you will with a 55 GAL, move it there.

 

[reefobsessed]

Dont fret about it just yet. I set up my tank one rock at a time and Id buy corals on rocks and then pick up a hunk of LR and a coral. My friend thought I was insane getting excited over a rock with a hitchhiker. I now have 70 lbs of rock and more coral then I can fit. I did it slow and that way it wont make any of your levels crasy, just slightly higher. Plus its fun to a least see a start in the progress of competion, If there is such a thing with this hobby ...

 

[jarrette]

do i have to get a sump? What's the drawback in not having one?

doing it slow is a great idea, that is cool to know that I can do that.

I will move my LR to the back of the tank now, thanks.