how much live rock

[gen]

How much live rock would I need for an 85 gallon tank. I need to know in case I have to move the tank to the first floor in my house, it is now on the second floor.I wondering about the weight!!!

 

[nm reef]

Most info I've seen ranges from 1-2 lbs per gal.......in my 55 reef I have approximately 100 lbs along with a dsb of 5-6 inches.......

 

[predator]

A good guidline to go by is 1 to 2 pounds per gallon.The tank and water alone is enough to make me think it should go downstairs.Salt water is about 8 pounds per gallon.Then you start talking about a 100 pounds of rock and even more sand(if U got a dsb).Thats alot of wieght to be supported.

 

[adrian]

If you use a DSB the amount of rock you use is up to you, a DSB will have enough surface area to harbor all the bacteria needed to accomplish denitrification, and the rock will be more for placing corals and looks. I agree the tanks going to be pretty heavy before you add rock, so if there's a risk of it coming through the floor I would set it up downstairs. HTH

 

[dad]

sorry, you have lost me!
What weighs more? a tanks full of water or a tank with 1/2 rocks and 1/2 water?
I forget on how much water weighs per gallon but there cannot be alot of difference between them?
When you add a 100lbs of rock surely it takes the placement of 100lbs of water?
Am I wrong? or missing something?

 

[fshhub]

gen, i like to have about 1.5 lbs per gallon + a little, now that is only my preference,a good rule is roughly 1/3 of the space of your tank, and some rocks are more dense than others, so you may only need 1 lb or a little less to achieve this target
sw weighs almost 8.25 lbs per gallon and fw @8.1
HTH

 

[dad]

ok thanks .
So my very rough gestimate is: that for every 10 lbs of rock, you displace about 5 lbs of water. depending upon the rock etc.
So with this you would actually add about 1/2 the weight of the rock to the tanks weight?
Just an idea??????