rock for new tank

I'm planning on setting up a new 120g tank, and i want to do everything right from the start this type. the retrofits on my 55 gal were so much effort. so I have some question about rock. any help would be appreciated, keeping in mind i want to do it right not save money.

I am planning on roughly 150 lbs of rock is that enough should i get more?

what % of the rock should be live rock to start? and can I just pull it out of my 55gal?

I am looking at florida reef rock for the dry portion of my rock, mostly because reef cleaners sells it and I've had such great experiences with John, is there any downside to this rock vs fiji?

 

rdharris

depends on how porous the rock is - Guitarman has a good rule of thumb and thats your rock should be about 1/3 in volume of you tank
for a Berlin type system where the majority of bio filtration is on and in the holes of the rock , the general advice is 1.5 - 2lb per gallon ( but heavy dense rock might mean thats not enough, light porous rock might mean you have to much - so the 3rd of tank by volume makes sense to me)

you can go all base rock if you want and many would say its better to do so as that way you avoid any nasties like algae, gorilla crabs, pistol shrimps, aiptasia, majano etc

all rock becomes live rock once its been in your system for a while
you can and many do as some pieces of live rock to give the coralline spores needed that will eventually spread to your other rockwork
but you can get those from any later coral additions, hermit and snail shells etc - even tanks that where fully stocked with base rock , will eventually develop coralline once you add your stock to the tank


yes using some of your established rock from the 55 is a good idea IMHO
thats what I do whenever I upgrade or have set up additional tanks- as it helps with the seeding and thus cycle duration


Steve

 

I think what Steve has said is great info, right on.