How much liverock is too much?

[Massimo]

Alright so I'm starting my tank very soon. I have a chance to get 80 pounds of liverock at $2 per pound. It's Marco reef rock that's been in this guys tank for over 2 years. My tank is 45 gallons. 36x24x12 Would 80 pounds of it be too much?

 

[AquaRick]

I think that's a decent deal. Although it is a decent amount of rock, you can always add the extra to your sump. Plus you can just save it incase you ever decide to upgrade your tank.

Personally I like a minimalist aquascape in the DT and a bunch of rock in the sump for filtration purposes etc.

 

[Massimo]

Thing is I don't have a sump (my mom is nervous about it because she doesn't want it to overflow onto our hardwood floors) so I don't have a sump lol

 

[Massimo]

Also, since I'll be having a bare bottom tank, I can increase the amount of flow through the rocks so no dead spots are created

 

[Zactheninja]

Do it, if it becomes to much stick it in the bottom of the tank away from the pieces you want, then sell the rest.

 

[Massimo]

I think I will. But first I gotta see if all that rock will even fit in my tank, since it's only a foot tall some pieces might not even fit and stick out of the water

 

[aquandrew]

if its a fowlr i would probably sell half of it, if its going to be a reef you will probably want at least 60 lbs in there. you can get some decent cash for live rock

 

[Massimo]

Hopefully it can all fit in my tank. I think what I'll do is buy It all and what I don't want I'll resell for the same price or more

 

[Massimo]

Yes it will be a reef

 

[carey]

if some pieces are too big dont be afraid to smash the rock into smaller ones. It wont hurt the bacteria or anything and you can mix and match the different pieces so you have places to put your corals.

I always have too much live rock usually, I had over 350lbs in my 125g at one point. lol Then i started a new tank and stole all the extra rock. Who knows, maybe you will want to do a small nano tank too some day soon. Best to get it all and go from there