Is 45lbs of live rock enough for a 65 gallon tank?

[makofury]

Hey everyone, I've been looking at some member webpages and I'm seeing that maybe 45 lbs of live rock will look VERY sparse in my tank. I have no intention of going reef, just fish only. Will 45lbs be good enough or will I need more? Also, when I get my live rock should I leave the lights on regularly or keep them off to prevent a bad algae bloom? Thanks.
MakoFury

 

[almarktool]

mako,
45 should be ok for fish only 60 would be better for filteration stack it up and see what it looks like you can always get 1 or 2 more pieces from a LFS if you want more lights well i have mine set 6 hours for whites and 8 hours for blues seems to work well for me especially in the summer in the winter i was doing 10 whites 12 blues since i did not have to worry about heat build up as much

 

[heavenly damsel]

Your tank would stay healthier if you could stock 1.5 lbs of rock per gallon, provides biological filtration. Your tank would also be a little more forgiving if you overstocked a little, which we all tend to do. 1" of adult fish per 5 gallons is not much fish to look at, so it is human nature to stretch that limit a little. The added filtration might allow you a little wiggle room on your stocking limit. HTH

 

[aileena]

I think that you should have enough lr if its a fish only, but I don't think that you can ever have too much lr! I have a 29g with 20pds of LR with 3 chromis and a lot of inverts!

 

[clarkiiboi]

45 lbs in a 65 gall. seems ok to me. Believe me you will always eye up the LR at the LFS and one day you'll bring home a piece you couldnt resist---dont worry about it for now. Lights question--I have always left my lights on b/c of rearranging to make the new one fit and never had a diatom bloom from new CURED rock, and I only leave my lights on 8-9 hours a day. HTH

 

[klearstar]

Mako,
If you want a fuller look to your tank get some cheaper base rock. I used about 20 lbs of porous lace rock (2.50 a lb) and then stacked my live rock (about 40 lbs) on top. It filled up my 55 pretty well. I used Fiji live rock which is fairly light but I understand that more expensive rock like Marshall Island is lighter so you can get more surface area for your buck. Good luck!