Do I have enough liverock?

So im going with what most everyone on 3reef advises by getting rid of the bioballs in my sump (alittle at a time). Im not quite sure how much live rock I have though in my DT. I have a 40 breeder that has been running for about 2 years now. Im estimating that I have atleast 30 pounds of live rock and another 25 pounds of flat pourous rock, all of which have been running for the last 2 years. Will this provide me with enough biological filtration? I am also running cheato in an Aquaclear 110. What do you all think?

 

Sounds like you have plenty. I like to go by volume vs. lbs. I like to fill about 1/3 of the aquarium with rock.

 

a picture paints 1000 words Hurley
get an image up and it will be easy to assess

Steve

 

Here we go!

 

looks like a good amout of rock in the tank, I would look at something like this to replace the bioballs as you remove them.

15 pound box rubble rock - 15RR

 

thats looking great Hurley IMO
its a decent sized image - I can see one clown fish clearly

whats your current stocking list
fish and corals?

Steve

 

I was planning on replacing with liverock rubble. Some would argue though that LR rubble can trap nitrates just like bioballs do. If I have enough rock in the DT it would be nice to use the space where my bioballs were for a larger skimmer. Would what I have in the DT be sufficient? Hows the tank look too?! Definitly not finished with it yet. Kinda embarrased to post a pic cause its not nearly as EPIC as some of the tanks on 3reef. And Ive had mine going for FOREVER. lol.

 

Your plan sounds ideal to me - thats what I would choose to do if it where my tank
but whatever you do, dont remove them all at the same time as if that is where most of your beneficial bacteria is living at present

you can only have as much bacteria present as there are nutrients to deal with - so currently some of your bacteria live in the rock, and some live in the bioballs
as you remove the bioballs (25% each week for 4 weeks and keep up with the testing for ammonia and nitrite and a bottle of Seachems Prime on had would be ideal ) then the bacteria on the rock will increase to compensate

Steve

 

Stock List

Fish
O. Clownfish (currently hosted by euphyllia;D) had for 2 years

Eibli Tang (dont hate i know its a 40 gallon but hes a little guy) had for 2 years

Niger Trigger (again DONT HATE hes only about an 1 1/2 inches and ill be getting rid of him in a month or so! the GF made me get him because "hes sooooooo cute baby!" I know most of us have been there. lol.

Coral
5 head euphyllia
4 assorted zoa polyps (wamming wmelon, fire/ice, green, pink)
1 rather large red mushroom rock
1 blue ricordia
2 orange ricordia
2 pulsing zenia (in the clear container hopefully attacing to rubble rock soon!)

Forgot to add! Peppermint Shrimp, Sally light foot, 10 large turbo grazers (gonna trade em in for some small nassarius or margerita, they were a quick algae fix!)