how much live rock is enough?

[Jeff]

i have heard people say that there is never too much live rock for a tank, but i have seen that it is not true. yes it takes up aerobic and anaerobic bacteria for nitrate reduction but the amount of food and fish poop deposited daily are more than the rock can handle. too much rock can trap food and debris inside and cause your nitrates to go up.. i know ,i know, add more flow right? you have just added an extra expense that you really didn't need. i had 300# of lr, 1 tunze, 1 seio, 2 high powered power heads, and a six way manifold from a sequence dart, flow was not a problem but the nitrates were high. i removed a houndred# of live rock and the nitrates went down.

i am posting this because i see newbies asking how much live rock must you have and what about this piece of equipment or that, andd the answeres are the more lr the better and you need a deltec skimmer along with 4 tunzee's and the top of the line of everything. just remember that a few fish, enough lr to make an appealing aquascape for you, small feedings and water change can make this a more affordable hobby that won't scare people away because of how much it is supposed to cost.

[captexas]

No one ever said live rock is the only filtration system you need on a tank. It helps, but it shouldn't be depended upon to do everything. There are many aspects and solutions to filtration including equipment (skimmer, reactors, sumps, refugiums, filter media, etc.), livestock (amount of fish, type of fish, use of snails/hermits, etc.), and your personal maintenance habits (feeding, water changes, quality of water used, testing, etc.). Live rock is great, but again, I don't think anyone ever said it was all you need to have a successful tank. No two tanks are exactly alike so it is a balancing act you must figure out. What works for one person, may not work for another, and vice versa.

[erikharrison]

I agree with both of you. I think that live rock and having alot of it is great, buttttttttttttttt if you have food that is not being suspended long enough to be picked up by janitors or by filtration, then you have a seperate issue. I think you have to make sure your aquascaping is shaped in a way that less excess can get caught up. I also take my seio off the glass and "shower" my tank with flow to suspend the areas that contain decaying fish matter to help with the filtration of it. I have my wet/dry which has an HOB overflow. The overflow doesn't filter NEAR as much as decaying matter as my filstar, which reaches about 20 inches down into my tank. Maybe some supplemental filtration is in order?

[Thunderkat]

You don't really NEED any live rock in your tank, just have a deep sand bed.

[captexas]

LOL, again, what works for one, doesn't always work for others and vice versa. Some people say you need a lot of live rock, some say you need a deep sand bed, some say you should go with no sandbed at all, some say you need the best skimmer you can afford, and yet some say you don't need skimmer at all!

Recommendations are just that, not golden rules that guarantee success. All a matter of personal preference and what works best for you and your tank.

[Jeff]

it was never said that it was the only filtration, i just think that there is too much emphasis on having tons of lr, and the most expensive pieces of equipment, when all you need is the basics. i love having a deep sandbed so the amount of flow is restricted. i usually feed pretty heavy because i have a large bio load. i was running a dual beckett skimmer before i down graded to a smaller tank to get back to the basics.

[Jeff]

i guess i think this way because for the first six months that i had a s/w aquarium i didn't know anything except for the book (saltwater for dummies), and garf, i had never even heard of maast or reefcentral because alamo aquatics and texas tropical never mentioned it to me. i was at another chain store looking for something they didnt have so he called fin-addict, gave me directions and that where i first heard about maast.