How Much Sand/Rock??

[reef dude]

Ok i've got a 90 gal. ready for sand. I have heard things that you should only put the same number of lbs. of sand/rock, as the number of gallons your tank is. Ex. 90 gal tank can have only up to 90 lbs of rock/sand. Is that true? if you have too much rock and sand, could it crash through the bottom????

 

[krusk]

Dave
The information you have is incorrect.
Ideally as speak
Sand 4-5 inches depth (including livesand and playsand)
Live rock 1-2 lbl / Gallon
We are using playsand + live sand for the cut in cost. If your bugget are allow to have all live sand go for it.
The suggestions may vary depending on your setup.

 

[adrian]

I wont say your info is incorrect, most, if not all info in this hobby is based on opinions and little on fact. I like to use roughly 4" of sand in my tanks, give or take 1/2"-1". As far as live rock goes I dont put much faith in it for filtration, the majority of the biological filtration that live rock provides is comparable to what a bio wheel or bio balls can accomplish, in short live rock can turn ammonia into nitrites and nitrites into nitrates, but cannot turn nitrates into free nitrogen which would complete the nitrogen cycle, true if the rocks are large there may be some anaerobic areas deep within the rocks that can harbor the bacteria needed to complete denitrification, but in most cases a deep sand bed can support an average reef system and the live rock is more for asthetics and to provide places for coral placement and fish retreats. HTH