Quote:
Originally Posted by spencerC
Sorry if i sound horrible "noobish"
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dont worry about it, we all have to start somewhere right?
the 1-1.5 rule is a very very rough guideline. I know some tanks that have twice as many lbs of rock as they do gallons and they still aren't happy. and vice versa. the only real good judge of how much rock you want is your eyeballs. reason being that almost all of the rock you'll find will be very different. just estimate as you go. with 75gal to play with, it allows your estimations to be off quite a bit.
a few characteristics to look for in live rock (LR) are low density and structure. the more porous (less dense) the better since it takes up more space/lb (costs less) and offers more surface area for beneficial bacteria to grow on. structure of the rock just allows you to stack teh rocks in a pleasing fashion (ledges, caves and overhangs are all good in rockwork)... it's like lego. the key there is to get a bunch of rocks of different shapes and avoid dense uninteresting boulders.
LR is classified according to where it came from. fiji, tonga, marshall, etc etc. they all vary in density and structure so my best advice there is to buy a variety.
as for live sand, if i were to redo my own tank, one thing i would have skipped would be live sand. there's just no point really. just get live rock and the dry sand that comes in a bag. the rock will share its bacteria with the sand and all will be good. make sure you rinse the sand well before introducing it to the tank.
where to buy? well lfs, of course, usually have LR. you can call ahead of time if you want to be sure that they have it and what they have. a very good source of rock imo is buying off local reefers. that way the rock is almost always well cured, often covered in coralline algae or other desirable stuff like coral, and you can know a bit about the rock's history (age in the tank, presence of pests etc). plus it's cheaper than the store. catch is that you have to wait until it becomes available and jump when it is. you can also buy base rock, but i would only use base rock as a portion of my rockwork.