Confussed about filtration

Hey everybody, Sorry this is going to be sort of long, but you will get the idea and I will try to keep it as short as possible.
Last week I was given a fairly complete 120 gal salt tank (60Lx18Dx24H) including the sand and about 45 gallons of the water that was in it. It also came with a 350 magnum canister and a large wet/dry trickle with bio balls, a really crappy skimmer that runs on air stones, and a regular aquarium fluorescent strip light. I set it up and bought a little live rock for it, about 10# and some feather rock for base. My LFS told me to get rid of the bio balls and to purchase about another 550#s of live rock for my filtration. He told me that the bio balls was going to effect the curing and cycling of the tank. I really only want about 50-60# of LR at the most and I primarily am only going to have fish and maybe a anemone for now. My question is, can I use both the wet/dry w/ bio balls and just some live rock. I really had not planned to put that much money into this tank right now, however, I would like some live rock for looks and possibly some corals down the road. I already know that I need a new skimmer and some T5HO lighting but any info you could give would be appreciated.
Thanks, Joe

 

the anenome, forget about for quite a few months down the road. an established tank is definitely needed. bioballs are nitrate factories, with all the gunk and detrius building up in them. the more live rock the better, but 550 lbs is way too much. lol. a good skimmer would go,along way in pulling the gunk out for sure.

 

I understand what you are saying, so how much/little LR can I get away with and would there be other alternatives for bio filtration, ie: sump/fuge maybe?

 

general rule of thumb is a minimum of 1lb per gallon. the live rock is a good filtration system . you could always get base rock, which is cheaper and have a smaller amount of live rock, which wil lseed the base eventually with coraline.

 

If you were going to put in the live rock in there anyway you should put it in now because that will totally mess with the cycling of the tank. Generally a pound for every gallon is a good measurement but also a sump/fuge would be nice also that way you can have some chaeto or some other algae in there to help with your filtration. Also you could stick your skimmer in there so it doesnt have to be in the main tank.

 

ive always heard at least 1 lbs for every gallon at least, more being better. it would really be ideal to have more rock and to have a sump with good skimmer. most of things could be diy projects to save some money.

 

wow same time

 

Regarding how much live rock you could use vs. how much base rock, I guess it depends on how much of a hurry you are to stock your tank. If you add just a few pieces of live rock, like the 50 lb or so you suggested, and add lots of cheap base rock (like 1-1.5 lb per gallon total rock), the base will become live rock. The bacteria from your live rock will colonize the base rock. But that will take several months to happen. So if you are willing to wait several months for your colonization/cycling, go with lots of base rock and just a little live rock.

Oh, and IMO you should get the best skimmer you can afford - it is the bedrock of your system and if you skimp on it now, you will end up upgrading it later and spending more in total. Just my 2cents

 

I don't go by the lb per gallon on live rock anymore because of the fluctuation in the weight. When I set my 150 gallon up, I stopped at 100 lbs because I liked the look of the system the way it was. I also set it up so there would be uninhibited flow through the rockwork and very few places for poo to build up behind there. By the way, you aren't going to get 550 lbs of rock in that tank and leave room for any type of fish to swim=)