How much LR is too much LR?

As my signature indicated I have a 29G biocube, I'm mote interested in going light with fish and moving into corals.

With that in mind, is there a rule of thumb to the rock to water ratio?

With an eco system this small I know the less water there is the more fluctuation you can get with the parameters.

Most of the rock I have now is fairly light so I don't have as much in weight as I do volume.

As a rough estimate I probably about 20 pounds by weight.

 

There are general rules of thumb
if your running a Berlin style reef system, where majority of biological activity is going to occur on the rock ( no seperate bio filter) then 1.5 - 2lb of rock per gallon is a guideline

but as you stated not all rock has the same weight to mass ratio, so a much easier principle would be about 1/3 of the tank is rockwork

if you are running an external filter and have biological media in that, then you can naturally get away with less rock in the tank

but if your going to focus on corals, the more rock you have, the greater the scope you have for coral placement ( to little rock and you run out of real estate faster than you would prefer)

Steve

 

I've been told 1.5 pounds per gallon.... so is that's where the 1/3 rule comes into play because 1.5 lbs of dry rock is not going to have the same surface area as 1.5 lbs of live rock (with water included) .... so 50 lbs or dry rock would have more surface area then 50 lbs of live rock because of the water weight

 

I don't think I can use that 1.5 - 2.0 lb per gal scale because that 45 - 60 pounds of rock given the volume I have now would mean the Clownfish would have to live with the bioballs

Decided to attach a pic just in case, if you can't tell the design is horse shoe with the low point in front to highest in rear. And I have a fairly loose stack, because I don't want a dead zone in the "cave".

 

so its final then i will use bio balls instead of rock :LolLolLol

 

You could be the first to make a bio-ball reef.


I just put a big bag of bio glass "macaroni" in the back as I understand the porous surface does a better job holding bacteria than the plastic bioballs but I don't want to take them out until I get some new bacteria on the macaroni.

 

I like to build 3 levels

the front small long flat rocks and a behind that bigger rocks and be hind that even bigger rocks. I know its not ment to touch the tank but it looks so much more natural

 

in my 42g i think it has 90 something lbs now

 

mine does touch on the back wall of the tank but all of the glass is sufficiently open.

At this point I don't think I could make it any different if I had to.

 

I have 100# in my 55.