How much live rock for this scape (design pics attached)

I have a 210 litre (about 57 gallon) tank that I'm turning into a reef tank. Was just wondering how many kilos of live rock I would have to add to my tank for the aquascape I have designed.

Ok so first pic is obviously from top, second from front.

Rock "A" will be semi buried and I'm thinking of trying to get an anemone to stay there, or a torch coral or a coral with 'arms' if you get what I'm saying.

"B" is like a pilon that I'm planning on attaching plating corals too (I want to make plating corals the focus of my tank like Montipora's).

"C" is basically just the background to the tank, obviously how this part is scaped will probably change by the time I actually come to scaping my tank. Want to involve at least 2 caves, one that goes right through the rock and one that does not.

So yeah, just want an idea of how much live rock in kilo's preferably that I would probably require to create this design! Thank you

 

thats kind of a tough question. LR varies so much. density is different for each rock and where it comes from. if you buy it cultured you're paying for water weight as opposed to buying dry. i would suggest finding a supplier and getting your hands physically on some.

that said my shot in the dark guess would be about 30kg

 

thanks dude! just wanted a point to work from, ill head on down to the LFS in the next couple of weeks and take a look at their LR.

 

i don't know what you have to work with around you or what you can do about ordering some, but i would highly recommend going with dry rock. cycle takes a bit longer but you'll save a done of cash.

 

Fully agreed on using dry rock for many reasons. (more for you money, no hitchhikers etc). I don't like to use a weight rule. I've given this advice to many people and it works pretty well, I go by volume. I would fill the tank with rock until about 1/3 of the tank by volume is rock. You can just visually look at it. This way, you don't have to worry about different weights or rock or types etc. I would buy about 27Kg of rock and see how that looks. If you want more, you can always add more.

 

Also, it's really good that you are thinking about what design you want to do. However, that really depends on the shape of the rock you get. It's going to be really difficult and IMO unsightly to have a column like that in your tank What I would do is buy the rock and make a template of the bottom area of your tank and start to work out a design that way.

 

thanks for all the responses, part of the reason im going with live rock is the hitch hikers (i find that part really exciting) and i want the cycle to last as little as possible. money isnt a problem, if it was i would be going with dry rock straight up!

my local marine fs is about an hour away, so I want to get as much live rock as possible in the first run so I don't have to go back and forth on different days to collect the rock

 

You can use plastic or fiberglass tubes to support your aquascaping. That way you can do stuff that's not normally possible.

 

yeah ive heard of that, I was thinking of drilling holes and putting in acrylic rods to hold the scape together. Or fishing line to tie them all together maybe

 

I like the look of your starting point. definately recommend dry rock as the rest have said. there is a 3rd option - DIY rock, take longer to get into your tank due to curing time, but the pieces can be custom sized and shaped to fit your space. Sollie7 seems to be the local expert on this at the moment, you can also see if Homegrowncorals is still around - he did some great rocks for his double 55 inwall project.