Live Rock Question

[adampw]

I have read that a lot of people use Base rock with some Live rock to seed the base rock. Here is my question: I have found 30lbs of Live figi rock. It would be cheaper for me to buy 30lbs if a live rock, versus 25lbs of base rock and another 5 pounds of live rock to seed the base rock. Do you HAVE to use base rock or can you go with all live rock? I am just starting a 30g sw tank. Thank you

[bobby]

No you dont need base rock at all. All live rock is better than base and live. If you can it cheaper that way, then that is really good. The only reason people add base is to cut down on the cost. I have never seen live go cheaper than base, so go for it.

[Bifferwine]

If you can have all live instead of base, go for it. I bought 100 lbs of live rock for my tank and didn't use any base rock, it just speeds things up if you use all live from the start, but it can be expensive.

[jhnrb]

Another reason for a shallow layer of base is that if you put live in the tank and some of it is below the sand, you will have die off due to lack of circulation and could create some difficulties in the short term. just something to think about.

[adampw]

What do you all think of these ideas then:

A: 12.5lbs of Marco Rock Rubble with 20-30lbs of Figi Premium Live rock

or

B: 30lbs of the figi rock
Note: I have a 30g tank. The Marco Rock rubble would act as that shallow lair jhrnb was talking about.

[JellyMan]

your gonna want more life rock the more the better when it comes to live rock it creates a natural biological filter and will really save you some hardships later just my oppion hope it helps.

[jermpool]

[quote=JellyMan]your gonna want more life rock the more the better when it comes to live rock it creates a natural biological filter and will really save you some hardships later just my oppion hope it helps.[/QUOTE

There is such a thing as to much rock. Around 40 or50 pounds would probably be good.

The rubble you are talking about is just smaller pieces of live rock. Try to find some base rock, some places call it lace rock. It's usually around $2 a pound in our area.

[JellyMan]

[quote=jermpool]

Originally Posted by JellyMan

your gonna want more life rock the more the better when it comes to live rock it creates a natural biological filter and will really save you some hardships later just my oppion hope it helps.[/QUOTE

There is such a thing as to much rock. Around 40 or50 pounds would probably be good.

The rubble you are talking about is just smaller pieces of live rock. Try to find some base rock, some places call it lace rock. It's usually around $2 a pound in our area.

actually I would go with 60-75 lbs thats 2-2.5 lbs per gallon which is common in an aquarium for biological filtration. You do recall how much is in my tank would you like to guess the weight??