geting salty again

[irish reef]

setting up a saltwater tank (again) after leaving saltwater behind in 1996 (no power for 13 days..got back and surged blowing everything) been keeping Discus in a 90 gal show and now they are in a 55 gal and the 90 is at the shop getting drilled and the 30 gal refug is being built.
The light i bought is the Current 4 bulb T5 2 blue 2 10k daylight i now this will limit me on corals and clams have a skimmer and uv sterilizer and two 300 watt heaters and the return pump will cycle the tank 5 times an hour.I plan on using the Caribsea arag-alive reef sand in the tank and the fuge.
Now the questions will start and any help will be a time saver on my part.
1 ruffly how much base rock should i use
2 safe stocking level of fish(is it still 5 gals per fish?)
3anyone know of an easy bank to rob cause i am already 1100 dollars in the hole and havent bought rock,fish,or corals yet.

 

[tank a holic]

i'm sure people will argue but here's my opinion
(assuming you're doing a reef)
you'll probably end up with approximately 180 lbs of rock so I'd start with at least 90 lbs of base rock then add about 10 lbs of LR at a time till you get the desired look.
just remember base rock is like $2-3 a pound
LR is like $7 a pound soooo...... the more base the better
and the LR will seed the base rock so eventually it will all be live

 

[anonome]

Agree with the above poster, but really start looking into the craigslist near you. I have bought unbelievable beautiful live rock for like 2-3 dollars a pound.
Welcome to the "where did all my money go?", and "you paid how much money for that rock" hobby. The start up is expensive, but after that it is just priceless on sitting down in front of it admiring the beauty.
I would never regret on a single penny spent, just spend the penny wisely.

Research, and then ask many questions before spending.

 

[irish reef]

thanks been watching craigslist been a couple of adds for 100 lbs LR for 200 bucks just no where to put it at the moment wont get the tank back till friday.
Will probally be reef with a slight fish population not sure on the T5 lights just dont want MH again just way too much money for lights bulb then bulb replacement and the energy used to run them.
so i wasnt far off on 100 lbs of base and 20 lbs LR.
thanks for the advice/opinions.