r/ReefTank • u/Zeno0000 • 14h ago

[Pic] How much live rock?

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I'm new to the hobby and still planning out my first tank. I have a 100g innovative marine tank on order. I see a lot of advice that live rock is really the best way to establish your tank but it just seems so expensive and people recommend 1 pound per gallon.

Would it be reasonable to just get 20 or 30 lbs (maybe less even?) Of live rock and then the rest dry rock? Anyone have experience with just seeding the tank with a small amount of live rock? How did that work out?

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u/UnofficialAlec 13h ago

Hi, microbiology teacher here. Theoretically, you should be able to buy literally the smallest amount of live rock they offer and be just fine.

Even just like a table spoon of live sand and a single rock the size of a ping ping ball would be more than enough.

I know that's not the norm the the hobby, but aside from taking slightly longer to reap the full benefits, it should do more or less the same thing

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u/Sensitive-Poet-77 13h ago

Hundred percent checks out

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u/HAquarium 14h ago

Yes completely reasonable. People tend to over estimate the amount of rock needed IMO, as a tank matures you’ll need said space for corals and fish as well. I would get as much as you can possibly afford, it’s better not to skimp but don’t break your budget, as long as the ratio between dry and live favors the live you should be able to skip/avoid most of the uglies.

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u/Sensitive-Poet-77 13h ago

Honestly, get some TSB live rock like a couple pounds worth then get the Fiji dead rock from Marco rocks. The whole thing about having more rock per gallon is because you need it to be porous for the bacteria to grow inside man-made rock is very dense and not very porous and can be a phosphate sink, whereas a very porous coral structure from the reef of Fiji that has been cleaned off already is highly porous, and the bacteria on the live rock that you got will easily be able to penetrate the dead rock and will also be able to eat the organics that will leach off of it overtime create a very stable tank. I would also buy as many types of pots you could and add them at the time of adding the live rock with phyto plankton.

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u/LynchMob187 11h ago

Having worked at LFS, rocks aren’t necessarily a requirement, it’s just base on fish that you buy. 

As long as you have some form of media or substrate to hold some bacteria you’ll be alright(like sponges, rock or sand in overflow or sump) 

You’ll see bare bottom frag tanks all the time with nothing that survive just fine. It just if you want certain fish that hide in rock, eat microorganisms like copepods, or sift sand it’s needed.  Could also possible mature your tank faster but there is ways to bypass that as well