How much live rock is enough?

[scarf_ace1981]

i plan to get a 120 soon and i plan to make it very open w/ just 7 or so large pieces of LR. now this thread has me thinking:scratch:

one thing i can do is put LR in the sump thus allowing for filtration but also letting me have the open space i was looking for in the display. it will have to be a big sump though.

i didn't plan to do that until now. that's why i love MR. so much info and ideas.

 

[jhale]

Since I posted this I have had major problems and unexplained SPS loss. Seems that when I added more fish my problems began. Odd thing is that my water quality always tested within target range.

This makes me think even more that this statement is true.

"In the nitrate thread it was said that corals consume ammonium + nitrate. I am thinking that a high fishload corresponds to increased color because the lack of nitrifying bacteria compared to bioload is leaving trace amounts of ammonia in the water"

The colors of my acros were great as they were dying

Rich, I'm not sure what your saying, trace amounts of ammonia killed the SPS?

I'm curious, when was it that you switched the skimmers? could a drop in skimmer production have accounted for this also?

 

[jackson6745]

The problems occurred around the tanks 6 months mark when I had the beckett skimmer and also when I changed skimmers. That is also around the time I added quite a few more fish.......BUT I also had AEFW's and rusty pumps. So many different possibilities. I'm just trying to make sense of it all.

 

[jhale]

LoL Rich, that's too many things at once.

my money is on the damn worms.

 

[jackson6745]

LoL Rich, that's too many things at once.

my money is on the damn worms.

I wish I could just believe that but I KNOW it was more than that. Even corals not plauged by the worms would die. It was like the tank was unstable or something. The ammonia theory so far makes sense and would explain why the corals were so colorful as they died. I started a thread on RC and so far 2 guys seemed to have the same problems. If you think about it, it makes total sense. The succesful BB tanks that I do see either look kind of sterile with low fishload or they're are plumbed into other tanks and/or have a lot of rock.

 

[jhale]

Rich go back and read post #5 in this thread.

Shaun highlighted the statement you just quoted and said it was wrong.
But I'm not sure how it applys to what your saying about the ammonia.

Just how much rock was in the tank at the time?

 

[jackson6745]

About 90lbs of rock

Where did he say anything was wrong?

 

[spykes]

i dont think the deaths was the cause of your LR. i just think a lack of polyp extention because my theory is that SPS feeds on the tank's normal faunia. If you had a chemical or fluctuation of a nitrogen cycle your fish should also experience some stress signs as well. Let me ask you something rich, why did your deaths slowed down after the starfishes was removed?

 

[jackson6745]

Let me ask you something rich, why did your deaths slowed down after the starfishes was removed?

I don't know:splitspin but they didn't stop 100% Look at all our nice MM colonies

 

[spykes]

only the MM colonies...

 

[jhale]

I forgot about the acro eating starfish :irked:

 

[jackson6745]

I forgot about the acro eating starfish :irked:

:tongue1:

You have to explore every possibility:splitspin I just want to figure out exactly why my acros were dying so I can avoid it in the future. Why do you think my corals died J?

 

[jhale]

rusty screws
AEFW
AES
Skimmer change
Higher nutrient load
Change from CA reactor to Randy's 2 Part
was there anything else?
now sand , lol.

I don't know, we all have similar corals in similar set ups.

I had crazy nitrates and a large bio load with a skimmer that was too small for the load. My corals grew and did not die till I got worms.

I think your tank got hit with too many changes at once.
Anyone of them could have crashed a tank.
I'm not sure what was the straw that broke your corals back.
what did you do to piss off the reef Gods? :joke:

How is the tank now? stable? growing, colors? levels all good?

 

[jackson6745]

How is the tank now? stable? growing, colors? levels all good?

Point taken:splitspin

Yeah its all good now

 

[jhale]

was not really a point, more of an observation

good that our tanks are both stable again.
I thought you were going to have a softy tank forever :dead1:

 

[jackson6745]

Softies:theyareon

 

[jhale]

i plan to get a 120 soon and i plan to make it very open w/ just 7 or so large pieces of LR. now this thread has me thinking:scratch:

one thing i can do is put LR in the sump thus allowing for filtration but also letting me have the open space i was looking for in the display. it will have to be a big sump though.

i didn't plan to do that until now. that's why i love MR. so much info and ideas.

jon if you do this make sure to elevate the rock and leave room to siphon out the junk that will collect under it.
otherwise you will be creating a nitrate trap in the sump.

 

[ShaunW]

Rich, I think you had the "Perfect Storm" of events in your tank, such that they all aided in harming your corals. Kind of like, when it rains it pours.

I would not mess with it, let it stabilze. BTW I added a remote DSB to my sump. I now have a BB main tank with a filter sock between a DSB sump/macroalgae growth site/refugium. I think that it is the best of all worlds for SPS, IMO.

 

[ccr]

In my reading and experience a combination of live rock and good skimming contribute to a reef tank's success. Are you asking the question because you want to avoid using rock?

A larger amount of LR is analogous to greater water volume - they both allow greater tolerance for mistakes. I suspect if you go with a small amount of LR, your success will increase if you are willing to do greater and more frequent water changes.

I have 45 pounds of LR in a 30 gallon breeder tank. Even with that, I have room for corals and a light load of fish.