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Cougra · 06-21-2007, 08:16 AM

I've been personally questioning the amount of rock that seems to be recommended for a while now. It seems these figures seem to be climbing higher and higher with the "more is better" mentality but with seemingly little thought as to what this means for the tank in general. The more rock you place in the tank the less water you have in there. At some point there is a trade-off between the benefits of the extra rock and the amount of water displaced and even the overall visual effect of the tank. I find that we are becoming limited in how we can aquascape the tank due to the vast amount of rock everyone tells us we need. Sure we can move some of it to a sump or refugium but those of us with very limited space can't always have multiple tanks just to house the rock so they go in the display tank.

As to the recommended weights, when I started my reef we basically only had Fiji Live rock available and the recommendations at the time was between 1-1.5lb/gal (US). I have had my tank running for over 7 years with around that amount of rock and have never had a problem with high ammonia, nitrites, or nitrates and I have had the tank fairly heavily stocked on occasion. Personally I can't see how having a lot more rock can give any additional benefit if the lesser amount already does the job.

Wouldn't adding too much live rock result in not enough food for the beneficial organisms to live on and thus reducing the overall efficiency of the rock itself?

06-21-2007, 08:16 AM	#11 (permalink)
Cougra Dragon Moderator Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Toronto, ON Posts: 2,216 View Gallery Karma Komment	Re: Liverock Stocking levels I've been personally questioning the amount of rock that seems to be recommended for a while now. It seems these figures seem to be climbing higher and higher with the "more is better" mentality but with seemingly little thought as to what this means for the tank in general. The more rock you place in the tank the less water you have in there. At some point there is a trade-off between the benefits of the extra rock and the amount of water displaced and even the overall visual effect of the tank. I find that we are becoming limited in how we can aquascape the tank due to the vast amount of rock everyone tells us we need. Sure we can move some of it to a sump or refugium but those of us with very limited space can't always have multiple tanks just to house the rock so they go in the display tank. As to the recommended weights, when I started my reef we basically only had Fiji Live rock available and the recommendations at the time was between 1-1.5lb/gal (US). I have had my tank running for over 7 years with around that amount of rock and have never had a problem with high ammonia, nitrites, or nitrates and I have had the tank fairly heavily stocked on occasion. Personally I can't see how having a lot more rock can give any additional benefit if the lesser amount already does the job. Wouldn't adding too much live rock result in not enough food for the beneficial organisms to live on and thus reducing the overall efficiency of the rock itself? __________________ Michelle Just because something CAN be done, it doesn't mean that it SHOULD be done!