New lights, or new live rock?

[RocketSeason]

Hey Gang,

What should I spend My hard earned money on?

24" Coralife Lunarlights? ( I currently have a standard hood.)
or 20 lbs of Keys rock from Liverocks.com? (I currently have 40 lbs of keys rock.)

I am slowly working my way toward a nice little reef tank.

thanks!
-Matt

 

[quarryshark]

Option C, but we should all start doing that.
I would go with the rock, would set you up about perfect. I am considering some more myself.

 

[BDAWG]

Lunar lights would be nice, but I've gotta agree with quarryshark. Keys rock is the way to go.

 

[quarryshark]

Oh wait.....aren't you getting married pretty soon?
Get both, get them now and whatever else you need/want.
Trust me on this one.
JK of course.

 

[zuzecawi]

Rock is always a winner

 

[klam]

I say get upgraded lighting. Most of the time when you purchase corals they are attached to live rock already. I see that a lot of people have too much rock in their tanks because they don't take in account that a lot of corals come with rocks.

 

[RocketSeason]

what is the extra rock going to do as far as filtration? will it make a big impact?

 

[klam]

IMO, I'm sure the rock will help but you got to also remember that when you are adding rock you are also taking away valuable real estate from corals and fish especially in smaller tanks like ours . And more rock you have the less water volume you will also have.

 

[electrikat]

You need the rock for filtration. You don't need the extra lighting now since you have only fish so far. Don't worry about the lighting until you are ready to start adding the corals and/or anemones.

 

[JPloman]

I say rock. Then again I am still always buying rock. I think I spend about $50 a month on rock. That way I dont spend all my hard earned money on rock.

However, I bought my lighting system first. I think it is all about preferance and what is more important to you. If you want to start with the lighting, you will get more coraline algae growth as you slowly add the rock. But if you go the other way you could have a healthy tank first, then start growing algae.

If I had to do it again, I would get the rock first!

 

[klam]

IMO, he already got 40# of live rock plus a skimmer and Canister Filter. how much more filtration does he need? In order for him to start a reef he is going to need decent lighting and that's the only thing he is missing now.

How about this. Buy some base rock(dead rock) because it's cheaper than live rock. The live rock will seed the base rock turning it into live rock. get the lights with the money left over.

 

[JPloman]

Where would you buy base rock? Maybe that is the way I should go.

 

[klam]

Ask your LFS, usually they have some to sell.

 

[RocketSeason]

I took the carbon out of the canister so its really just a big powerhead now that adds an additional gallon and a half or so of water to my system.

I am thinking I might just go with more LR. My coraline growth is good, and I want my aquascaping pretty much taken care of before i go adding more fish or corals...

more suggestions are very welcome!