How much Live Rock do you have? (PPG)?

[Im Lon 2]

I wanted to know how much live rock (Pounds Per Gallon) other reefers have in there tank(s)?

I was looking at Tampbay Saltwater (the Package) and they say 2lbs per gallon. I don't know if I want that much in a 120gal. but I'm also use to my 10gal? Any comments....

[stellinger]

The rock from TBS is quite a bit denser and less porous than typical Indo-Pacific rock so you would need somewhat more by weight. 2 lbs / gal sounds about right. I've got a total of 175 lbs of Fiji and Marshall Is rock in a 135 gal. but it is very light and porous.

[Wazzel]

I have right around 110 lbs in my 110x gal. The rock I have is a mix of Figi and Haiti.

[opihi]

the general guideline is 1-2#/gallon. i believe the tampa bay rock is less porous than pacific LR (fiji, marshall, etc), thus the recommended 2#'s. more porous LR has more surface area for bacteria to cover, and more holes for pods and stuff to live.

i have ~110lbs of marshall and fiji in my 54 corner.

[David Grigor]

All depends on how your going to aquascape and the method you choose to aquascape.

Obvisously if just going to stack it you will need significantly more.

With the Deep sand beds that are pretty common place now and can handle quite a bit of filtration that use to depend exclusively to the LR, the per gallon rule is outdated.

For example: I can stretch a 1/4 of the LR in a tank to equal that of just stacking simply by aquascaping techniques such as PVC structures and drilling rock to use acrylic rods to make structures.....

also combining with base LR, DIY Rock, and or dead rock can make a little go a LONG ways......but there is a balance and I wouldn't go over a 60/40 mixture becuase algae can become a real problem in the early stages if too much alternative rock in the tank.....

[Lilgrasshopper]

Definitely if you go with MI or Fiji, 1pound of rock per 1 gallon of water is perfect. I would even say 0.75lbs of rock per gallon of water. You don't need that much rock if you have at least 3" of sand.

[icebear]

i have a 46 gallon, i think i have about 35-45 pounds in there- it was given to me and never weighed- i guess by heft of each piece and its not porous stuff...

[Mac_1962]

150 lbs in my 100 G...

[Sylock]

20 lbs in my 10 gallon (Figi, 1 piece is 18 lbs)

I'll have about 120 lbs of Figi in my 75 when it goes up this week.

[Kimo]

I have 50 lbs in my 58 and will have about 112 lbs in my 180.

I don't like tanks packed with rock. I prefer a more open look with lots of swimming room and some exposed sand in the middle as well as the front of the tank. I tend to aquascape so that there is sand all around the rock.

Jamie

[DrBCP]

I have 110 lbs of gulf live rock in a 54 corner and it doesn't appear that full.

[stereomandan]

I have 80 pounds of figi LR in my 38 gallon. It's just right for me. I have it built up with a few bridges. It's fairly full. Lot's of places for the fish to swim in and around.

So I guess I would say 2 pounds per gallon of figi is good for me.

Dan

[amonhen]

I had a 55 with 45 lbs of fiji in it and maybe 1" of CC substrate. Nitrates were undetectable. From this, I think that the 1-2 lbs/gal rule is overkill. As another poster noted, especially with DSB filtration, it seems that you can use as much or as little as you want.

I have a 180 with a 4" DSB. I added 50 lbs of dead rock from hawii and just added 100 lbs of TBS rock. I though I might need more TBS because it is reported to be dense, but after seeing it I have no plans to get more. Having said that, I do prefer a more open aquascaping.

--Jeff

[mogurnda]

I have 40 lbs of TBS in my 20. Tank looks about 2/3 full, with lots of big caves. If you get the package, I'd suggest 1-2 inches of southdown under the live sand for a deeper SB.

Wohoo, this is my hundredth post, and the boss still thinks I'm really productive!!!

[stereomandan]

Yeah, I don't really think of the rock filtering anything(even though I know it does a lot of filtration) I mainly look how much I need for my tank to look nice. For me it was about 1.5-2 lbs per gallon. When I had less, the tank looked fairly empty

Dan

[David Grigor]

Originally posted by stereomandan
For me it was about 1.5-2 lbs per gallon. When I had less, the tank looked fairly empty



I would assume this is just using the regular stack the rock method which does take considerably more rock.

You would be surprised not only how much more interesting you could make with different aquascaping techiniques but also use at least half the amount of rock.......

[charvel]

I have 130lbs in my 120gal. Mike.:mixed:

[stereomandan]

I don't have any stacked in piles. I don't have a recent tank pick, but here is a crummy drawing of my system that I was doodling with the other day. It shows how the rock is set up. Keep in mind that it's figi rock, which is more dense than marsall island rock so it takes more pounds to equal the same space. The rock comes up to about 6" from the water surface on the two side bridges. It's not a perfect drawng of the rock layout, but it's close.

I like rock bridges, so I put 4 of them in my 38g.
http://mail.chartermi.net/~stereomandan/pics/tankdrawing.jpg

[edit]
I recalculated how much rock is in the 38g, and it's about 70 lbs. So for me it's about 1.8 lbs/gallon. That's the most I can fit in with my rock setup.

Dan

[ReefLady]

Let's see....

About 250 lbs in the main tank (180g) - but about 100lbs of that is base rock buried under the DSB.

Another 125 lbs or so in the sump (100g).

Maybe 20 lbs in the refugium (70g)

And about 25lbs in the inline frag tank (40g).

So, that's about 420 lbs of rock.
390g system capacity.
Probably ~290g of water.

A little over 1 ppg - measuring by gallons capacity.

About 1.5 ppg ~ actual gallons of water

5" - 7" DSB in display tank.
6" DSB in refugium

[stereomandan]

Anyone know how much lighter the marshall island live rock is than figi?

Dan

[Lilgrasshopper]

I'd say 10-15% lighter. I have both.