Dipping live rock

[Aquattro]

Originally Posted by don.ald

The rock from the ocean is old but it is treated by Mother Nature and doesn't exist in a glass box in artificial salt water.
IMO

Exactly. Anyone that's ever been swimming around a reef knows the force of flow that the rock gets flushed with. This just doesn't compare to flow in a sump.
I agree that tossing rock out isn't for everyone, and there are things you can do to extend the life of rock. Minimize blockage in rock scaping, allow lots of flow all around the rock. Blast it weekly with a baster or small power head. Make sure you keep nutrients low so that no algae covers the rock, blocking the pores.

As for the OP adding more rock for more coral. Sometimes you just have to accept you have no more room That's exactly how I ended up with a 150g with 250 pounds of rock. Added more rock, got more coral. Repeat. When I tore that down, I was so disgusted with what was under the rock, I swore I'd never build like that again. I have a much nicer tank now than I did then.

[jason604]

My rock work only goes up to half of my tank so I think I need more for higher light demanding sps =). Each water change I stick my turkey blaster in between the base n blast all that junk out. Here's a pic to justify.

Originally Posted by Aquattro

Exactly. Anyone that's ever been swimming around a reef knows the force of flow that the rock gets flushed with. This just doesn't compare to flow in a sump.
I agree that tossing rock out isn't for everyone, and there are things you can do to extend the life of rock. Minimize blockage in rock scaping, allow lots of flow all around the rock. Blast it weekly with a baster or small power head. Make sure you keep nutrients low so that no algae covers the rock, blocking the pores.

As for the OP adding more rock for more coral. Sometimes you just have to accept you have no more room That's exactly how I ended up with a 150g with 250 pounds of rock. Added more rock, got more coral. Repeat. When I tore that down, I was so disgusted with what was under the rock, I swore I'd never build like that again. I have a much nicer tank now than I did then.

[Aquattro]

Originally Posted by jason604

My rock work only goes up to half of my tank so I think I need more for higher light demanding sps =).

No, I'd say your rock is plenty high enough. You need room for the corals to grow.

[jason604]

But they not "growing" haha. Got 10 more sps and I need to put them in place without them touching each other. I guess it's time I take my family's advice on "you have enough corals!"

[Aquattro]

Originally Posted by jason604

But they not "growing" haha.

Too many nutrients from all that rock you tossed in the sump

[don.ald]

Originally Posted by Aquattro

No, I'd say your rock is plenty high enough. You need room for the corals to grow.

Is there a poll on how many lbs of rock per gal?

[Ryanerickson]

The rock Jason is talking about is from my system I have a 55 gallon sump that is hooked up to a reef flow baracuda the flow in the sump is very strong. Also for water changes once a week the sump gets 100% drained and filled back up in less then 3 minutes. Because of the high flow in my sump there is zero debri in it about 50% off the rock is 3/4 to 100% encrusted in sponge. I totally disagree with getting rid of old rock I actually think a lot of my success with sps is because of all the rock in my system and it's only getting better with age. The pieces I gave Jason were a bunch of smaller pieces as he requested I made sure not to give away my sponge though as he wanted pieces for his display. The rock will not hurt your display and I don't see any reason not to ad a bit more up top. Last month I hooked nick (slyguy00) with 30-40 pounds for his new tank it all went in his display his tank is proof alone that it's healthy he had no algae bloom and only pest he found was one little acro crab zero aptasia! Hope you don't waste such nice rock in your sump Jason By the way thanks for the corals.

[Aquattro]

Originally Posted by don.ald

Is there a poll on how many lbs of rock per gal?

Actually, there may have been one

[Ryanerickson]

By the way my system has .5 -1ppm nitrate and unreadable phosphate as of yesterday.

[Aquattro]

Originally Posted by Ryanerickson

The rock Jason is talking about is from my system I have a 55 gallon sump that is hooked up to a reef flow baracuda the flow in the sump is very strong. Also for water changes once a week the sump gets 100% drained and filled back up in less then 3 minutes. Because of the high flow in my sump there is zero debri in it about 50% off the rock is 3/4 to 100% encrusted in sponge. I totally disagree with getting rid of old rock I actually think a lot of my success with sps is because of all the rock in my system and it's only getting better with age. The pieces I gave Jason were a bunch of smaller pieces as he requested I made sure not to give away my sponge though as he wanted pieces for his display. The rock will not hurt your display and I don't see any reason not to ad a bit more up top. Last month I hooked nick (slyguy00) with 30-40 pounds for his new tank it all went in his display his tank is proof alone that it's healthy he had no algae bloom and only pest he found was one little acro crab zero aptasia! Hope you don't waste such nice rock in your sump Jason By the way thanks for the corals.

I'm sure there are a lot of people that agree with you, and sure, tanks are dying all over the place from rock poisoning but, I've done SPS many different ways, and so far the current way has been the most successful. This is of course a YMMV thing, and if what you're doing is working AND you're happy with it, then by all means keep doing it.

My comments are more of an opinion based commentary designed to get people to think about what rock does and does not. I'm not trying to encourage people to throw rock out, but from my experience with SPS reefs, less is more. Fresh and clean is more efficient than old and dirty.

But as always, what works for me and works for you can be totally different and neither needs to be "wrong"