live rock question?

[mcazurin]

how much live rock do i need for a 120 gallon tank.....i was reading this article it said i should have atleast 2LBs per gallon..... and it says buy it all once..not buying 60LBs today and 60Lbs next week....wat u guys think? wat should i do?

 

[reeffreak]

1-2 lbs. is good.It would cycle faster if you add all the rocks at one time but its not necessary.60lbs now and 60lbs next week is good.

 

[mcazurin]

so its alright if i buy in sets? cuz man....live rock is so expensive man...im thinking about doing maybe 60lbs later....should i get uncurred rock if i want to cycle my tank?

 

[reeffreak]

Yeah man I know how that is.I did it the same way,50lbs one week,30lbs the next and 30 more a few days later.Uncured is better to cycle a tank but cured rock is cool too.If cured liverock doesn't have enough die-off to start a cycle,you can add a raw shrimp or ghost feed the tank a couple of times a week.

 

[yote]

Just remember that if the first batch of rock is uncured,to cycle with,then you'll want either want to get the rest of rock cured from a local source,or cure it in a seperate tub.

 

[bobby]

The advise you got is good. If your wanting to save money on the rock you can add alot of base rock on the bottom and put the live rock on top, and over time the base rock will become live.

 

[mcazurin]

is base rock different from normal ocean rock?

 

[bobby]

No its basicly dead rock that was live at one time. My LFS sells it for 1.50 a pound alot cheaper than 5.99 a pound

 

[jhnrb]

Different types of rock weigh different so where you might need 2 lbs of rock per gal for one type, one lb per gal of a different type may be just fine. There is no magic to it. just put the rock in that you want that builds your reef and what ever that is will be the amount you use. all dead rock can become live again if seeded with some live rock, so, you can do the cheaper dead rock and seed it with a couple or few pieces of live rock. hope this helps.

 

[Doc]

Just make sure that once you have cycled your tank, don't add uncured rock into a system that has livestock - great way to kill everything. A good rule of thumb is a minimum of 1lb per gallon. That is what I started with and it took me a year to add another 40 lbs - all cured. Now I add frags of cured to grow my prize green and red striped mushrooms to sell. Best of luck.

-Dr Marco :sfish: