How much Live rock?

[caribemob]

wanted to know the minimum amount of live rock do I need for a 300 gal? I wanted To base the tank on a grouper and a couple other fish to compliment. I really don't want to even put live rock in, but everyone says you need live rock even for fish only tank's is this true

 

[Pazzoman]

Your looken at at least 300 pounds of live rock.... this is based on 1 pound per gallon. Usually people recommend from 1.5 pounds to 3 pounds per gallon.

 

[geph]

I never heard of needing live rocks for fish only. What you can do is if you have a wet dry, you can put live rocks I stead of Bio balls

 

[Pazzoman]

Oh wait a fish only tank lol....you can get a sump (bio-balls are little nitrate factories). Your going to need a lot of water flow i your tank....and powerful skimmer if you plan on have predator fish.

 

[Deep Blue Sea]

Im trying to do fish only with a small amount of live rock for my 215g and Im currently using about 90lbs and 45lbs of it is in my sump. I would like to get another 40lbs for the added filtration but thats it. You really dont need any if you have that good of a filter system, now if your looking at a reef setup then you want about 3lbs per gallon of water

 

[Cliff519]

Using 1 lb live rock / gallon of water or more is the best way. Even for a FOWLR tank.

Other have successfully kept SW tanks without live rock tho. Just be aware that using other forms of filtration (sumps or cannisters) can lead to a lot of algae problems. There is extra work required, mostly a good weekly cleaning. If you don't keep up with that, your nirates just might climb high enough for a ton of algae.

 

[caribemob]

So, basically I need maybe 100 lbs of live rock? I want just fish in the set-up. Filtration- I don't have a sump but do have 3 AC110's and 2 Fx5's on the 300gal, would I need protein skimmers and other stuff just to have a Grouper setup with a couple other fish to compliment

 

[Cliff519]

Personally, I would not have even a FOWLR tank without live rock and a good skimmer. IMO without those key features, you could be in for some water quality related issues.

 

[caribemob]

Personally, I would not have even a FOWLR tank without live rock and a good skimmer. IMO without those key features, you could be in for some water quality related issues.

can I get a skimmer and a Uv sterilizer, to cancel out the live rock, the reason why is because Live rock will take up to much swimming space and that stuff is ridiculosly priced around here

 

[jworth]

I would definitely get a skimmer. As far as live rock goes, You could get cheap "base" live rock and smash it up into smaller pieces and put it in the back of your AC110's and other filters. A UV sterilizer couldnt hurt if you want to avoid other algae issues.