live rock and base rock

[swiftwing7]

i plan on getting about 150 pounds of lr for my 125 gallon tank. it is pretty expensive so i was wondering out of the lr how much of it could bebase rock and how much would be live. If i can save some money by getting base rock i will be able to get more live. thanks

 

[fishfreek]

You could go with 100-120lbs of base rock and top it with 30-50lbs of live rock.

 

[evenings]

I agree with fishfreek's figures, I've read somewhere about scraping off some corraline algae from the live rocks and planting them on base/dead rock. Then again, I'm sure that in time, the creatures and whatever living things growing on the live rock will find their way to the dead rocks. Takes time though and the proper amount of calcium and trace elements to help the good algae flourish. HTH

 

[MadManMac]

I would never presume to contradict Fishfreek, but I think you could really start with almost any combination of live and base rock. The only difference will be the capacity to filter the water and the length of time it takes to seed the base rock. If you add livestock slowly and are very patient you could probably handle starting with less live rock. The addition of Live sand or a starter sand kit will also help a lot.

 

[swiftwing7]

thanks alot. i plan on geting some live sand from the ocean or ordering it also. i may get a little more live than that but thanks for teh help fishfreak!
thanks

 

[kenor33]

not trying to change the subject but is it safe to use some sand from a beach somewhere versus buying it? just curious

 

[darb2]

sand collected for tanks is from far out, where there are less pollutants.

 

[kenor33]

ok thanks.