How much rock are you using?

[SuperReefer204]

So currently i personally have maybe 400 lbs of rock and a 330 DT with a 220 sump. My current setup has most the rock in the DT but want to move some more to the sump to keep the DT cleaner and more open space for the fish to get around. I have seen some of the build threads utilize some of the big 150+ gallon containers filled with rock on top of the refugium and DT. So this is mostly aimed to them... Do you guys see a noticeable difference with a massive amount of rock compared to just the standard recommendation of 1 : 1?

 

[Hemmdog]

So currently i personally have maybe 400 lbs of rock and a 330 DT with a 220 sump. My current setup has most the rock in the DT but want to move some more to the sump to keep the DT cleaner and more open space for the fish to get around. I have seen some of the build threads utilize some of the big 150+ gallon containers filled with rock on top of the refugium and DT. So this is mostly aimed to them... Do you guys see a noticeable difference with a massive amount of rock compared to just the standard recommendation of 1 : 1?

Is it artificial rock or dead coral skeletons from the ocean. Ocean rock has much more surface area due to its interior being full of cavities to host more beneficial bacteria. You wouldn’t need nearly as much Ocean rock(dead coral skeletons) of to achieve a similar result with artificial/quarried rock. Artificial rock mainly only can form nitrifying bacteria on its surface, the inside is solid like a brick and doesn’t work nearly the same as ocean rock.
I have ocean rock: Tonga branches& Fiji rock. I use 45 lbs in my 90, I don’t carbon dose, my tank is over a year old, and my nitrate is at 2, 0.01 phosphate. If I used artificial I would have used close to 100 pounds of rock to achieve the same level of bio stability. Even then I would need other methods implemented to harbor nitrifying bacteria imo.

 

[SuperReefer204]

Is it artificial rock or dead coral skeletons from the ocean. Ocean rock has much more surface area due to its interior being full of cavities to host more beneficial bacteria. You wouldn’t need nearly as much Ocean rock(dead coral skeletons) of to achieve a similar result with artificial/quarried rock. Artificial rock mainly only can form nitrifying bacteria on its surface, the inside is solid like a brick and doesn’t work nearly the same as ocean rock.
I have ocean rock: Tonga branches& Fiji rock. I use 45 lbs in my 90, I don’t carbon dose, my tank is over a year old, and my nitrate is at 2, 0.01 phosphate. If I used artificial I would have used close to 100 pounds of rock to achieve the same level of bio stability. Even then I would need other methods implemented to harbor nitrifying bacteria imo.

Its all fiji, pukani, tonga and marco rock. Been sitting in the tank over a year now so pretty well established. But was curious how much rock was being used by some others. According to the build threads some use very minimal and just skim/ WC consistently.

 

[X-37B]

60 lbs in a standard 120. 30lbs live rock. 15 from my 2 year old nano. 15 from the lfs and 30 caribsea artificial rock. I have done enough great rock walls but now minimal and plenty of room for stags to dominate.

 

[SuperReefer204]

60 lbs in a standard 120. 30lbs live rock. 15 from my 2 year old nano. 15 from the lfs and 30 caribsea artificial rock. I have done enough great rock walls but now minimal and plenty of room for stags to dominate.

Agreed, at initial start up i kept adding rock and the smaller ugly pieces would hit the sump. But with no coral at the start it was barren so i enjoyed the rock work until things got established correctly but now that i am trying to add some coral its difficult once they start taking off so i want to create 2 or 3 rock structures in the DT tank and the sump cant fit all this rock so was curious the amount of rock some people were running in their tank and sump and if some of these gigantic totes filled with rocks actually helped in any significant way.

 

[User1]

150 lbs dry Pukani in my 210 upgrade. I carried forward about 50 lbs of Fiji rock I had since 2000. If I had to guess it is a bit too much rock and I'll be taking a few pieces out in a couple months when I change sumps. I'm leaning towards something simpler but bigger in a rubbermaid 50 gallon stock tank.

So all in all about 200 lbs give or take.

 

[ReefPiracy]

Do the rockwork how you would like. I've used small amounts and rock in sump works just fine. No formula just go slow.

 

[Aheinz]

For dry rock anymore it seems to almost all be the mined rock from what I can tell. I have reef saver and pukani in my current tank, the upgrade tank I'm planning I'm planning to use the reef saver rock from marco, unless I find some cured live Rock from a lfs, but I enjoy starting with dry rock as I know I'm not going to have hitchhikers

 

[Saintnovakai]

Couldn't he get away with doing the rockscape as minimalist as he wants and add marinepure/Pond matrix to buffer the biological needs?

 

[ca1ore]

I’ve run Reef tanks with as little as 1/3 of a pound of rock per gallon of water ..... and never had insufficient biological filtration. Started my current 450 with around 150 pounds (less coral weight). Keep in mind that most tank builders overestimate the volume of their tanks by using external dimensions. My tank is a 450 by convention, but only actually holds 400 gallons - and that’s before any displacement by rock or sand. Rather makes the old rules of thumb pointless.

 

[ReefPiracy]

I’ve run Reef tanks with as little as 1/3 of a pound of rock per gallon of water ..... and never had insufficient biological filtration. Started my current 450 with around 150 pounds (less coral weight). Keep in mind that most tank builders overestimate the volume of their tanks by using external dimensions. My tank is a 450 by convention, but only actually holds 400 gallons - and that’s before any displacement by rock or sand. Rather makes the old rules of thumb pointless.

Yup most products are so sad. When you design aerospace numbers are everything, in this hobby everything is just a guess. Even products when you calculate them out the numbers are not even close as advertise. Its like who are you fooling?

 

[mfinn]

I'm currently using about 1/2 lb of rock per gallon of water.

 

[kasso187]

40 lbs in my Reefer 170 (43 total gallons)

 

[Derek siskey]

I’m using 43lbs in a 75g but also have 2 bags of matrix in my filter

 

[jda]

This is so hard... a lot of it depends on the porosity of the rock. When you could still get Marshall Island rock, a basketball sized piece might weigh 8-9 pounds whereas a basketball sized piece of Florida/gulf rock would weigh 30-35 pounds.

For the most part, I would gauge the effectiveness in how well it is eliminating nitrate.