How much sand and live rock for a 130gal?

[anemonelover]

Hi everyone!

This is my first post here as I just purchased a 130 gallon tank with intentions to make it into a reef tank! I grew up with a 300 gallon tank throughout my childhood, and am now looking into continuing a family tradition

Our family has never had a tank of this size, so I'm a little unsure as to how much black sand and live rock I should buy (yes, I know... not live sand). I'm sort of aiming for about 3-4 inches deep. The tank is a little over 6 feet long and 1.5 feet wide.

The sand is sold in 20 lb increments, so I was thinking maybe 60 or 80 lbs and maybe 50-60 lbs or rock? Does that sound way out of proportion? :lol:

Please help! All comments welcome.

Thank you!
jae

 

[jcpetersen]

Here's an online sand bed calulator I was told about:

http://reefcentral.com/calc/SandBed.php

(I'm new here myself, but I'll help where I can.)

 

[anemonelover]

Oh that's perfect, I'm not sure why I didn't find that! Any thoughts on an average rock weight? I know it depends on what I want to do, but I don't want to order too much.

Thanks again!

jae

 

[Anonymous]

With a 4"+ live sand bed, the amount of rock becomes a nonissue. Put as much or as little as you want depending on what look you are trying to achieve. I would put as much sand in the tank as you can stand to look at, up to 6" or so.

Regards
Jim

 

[anemonelover]

Holy cow, you've got to be kidding. 6 inches?! With black sand that is going to cost me an arm and a loeg, not that 2.5-3 inches worth isn't at least an arm!

Yeah, thinking about it, about 3 inches seems right. I don't think that seems too thin, and I'm not going to have any serious sand diggers so I think that's alright.

Thanks for your help!

 

[ChrisRD]

If you're not going with a deep sand bed and will be relying mostly on the rock for filtration, personally I'd go at least 80-100 pounds for the lighter pacific rocks like Fiji. The Gulf of Mexico (aquacultured) rock is denser so you need more (by weight) to get the equivalent volume.

 

[Anonymous]

Right - if you're not using enough sand to maintain an anaerobic zone in the bed, then you should use more live rock. If the sand bed is too thin, nitrates will not be processed effectively.

Cheers
Jim