Live Rock

hutchinson

hutchinson

Member
How many pounds of live rocks is ideal for a 55 gallon tank
Abd with coral is all u need proper lighting if so tell me what bulbs to buy
thanks
 
cofishguy

cofishguy

Member
Hi,
Rule of thumb is that idealy you want 1-2 pounds of live rock for every gallon of water...so in your case, 55 - 110 lbs of rock,
Hope that helps.
 
R

rubix973

Guest
I too would like to hear some info on this.
Pre-WARNING! possible thread hi-jacking...

I just recently (a week ago actually) picked up a 75 gallon tank and have begun the supply gathering process, i.e. correct filters, cleaning, salt, etc. Since I'm interested in doing live rock with my setup my local fish store suggested I get 200lbs of it! First of all thats a ton of money, especially at the 8.00$ a pound "price break" he was offering me. But do I really NEED this much rock? I've heard of a pound of rock per gallon, but this store's quote seems very skeptical and expensive!
Sorry for me jumping into your thread like this. I figured we're both looking for the same info anyway. Thanks guys and a big HELLO from a brandy new enthusiastic member!
 
teresaq

teresaq

Active Member
most will tell you 1 to 1 1/5 lbs per gallon. but you dont want it sooo packed with rock that you can get any fish in there. I would suggest 1 lb per gall to start. stack it up, move it around if you feel you need more then add. you can also do most of your rock as base rock, then add live rock to seed it. so for a 55 gal do say 30 to 40lbs base rock and then 25 to 30 lbs live rock to make 55 to 60 lbs. it will save you a lot of money
Rubix 200 lbs for a 75 gal is a lot of rock. 100 lbs would be a good start. do 60 lbs base rock and 40 lbs live. then you can always add more if you think you need it.
both of you e-mail me m0m24 at earthlink dot net.
Hutch-it would all depend on what kind of corals you want. for softies, like mushrooms, zos, leathers. a fixture with 265 watts would be good. thats what i have.
check the sell forum for a used one. I think there was one forsale. satelite makes a good one.
 
rusting

rusting

Member
You don't need to put it all in at one time. You can do it as money becomes available. I did mine over a 1 year time frame, 10 to 20 lbs. at a time
 
dmitry

dmitry

Member
Base rock is all dead rock and is usually sold very cheap. You can stack it on the bottom and put live rock on the top. The live rock will seed the base, which in time will become live also. $8 a lb is not really a price break. That's pretty much what I've paid for LR in NYC. It might be cheaper if you order, say, 30lbs from an on-line vendor. And then get base locally. Look into that...
 
dmitry

dmitry

Member
Another thing: as far as how much you need - in a way it's up to you. For a 55g tank 75lbs is pretty good. For a 75g tank 100lbs would be fine. As someone pointed out above, you don't want to put too much rock - your fish need room to swim! I actualy made that mistake when I set-up my 72g and eventually moved a bunch of rock into my sump. If you do have a sump you can always put rocks in there to have more, but don't over-crowd your tank with rocks!
 
R

rubix973

Guest
Originally Posted by Dmitry
Another thing: as far as how much you need - in a way it's up to you. For a 55g tank 75lbs is pretty good. For a 75g tank 100lbs would be fine. As someone pointed out above, you don't want to put too much rock - your fish need room to swim! I actualy made that mistake when I set-up my 72g and eventually moved a bunch of rock into my sump. If you do have a sump you can always put rocks in there to have more, but don't over-crowd your tank with rocks!

I figured that 200lbs would be overkill in a 75 gal. When this guy was telling me this it just felt like he was trying to "sell" me on the idea that I should HAVE this much rock in my tank. I mean I dont blame him for trying to make me pay 1600$ for rock but now hes lost a future customer.
Anywho, I'm gonna pick up a refractometer and a little bit of live rock and maybe some live sand tomorrow get the water/salt in the tank and start cycling.
Thanks for your guys' help thus far. Expect lotsa questions from me.
 
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