300 gallon FOWLR...how much is enough?

How much live rock is required for proper filtration in a 300 gallon FOWLR tank?

My thinking is to purchase between 300 and 450# of rock and I'm thinking that 100# of it be live rock and the rest of it be base rock. The live rock will seed the base rock. This is a new tank so I don't have to worry about how long it will take to seed the other rock, which is a question in its own....how long would it take?

Thanks all!

 

That will be plenty of LR. It will seed the base rock within hours, however you'll start to see the effects within a few days, use PurpleUp if you like coraline. But it will probably be about 10 weeks before your base rock is completely "live". It takes awhile for anaerobes to show up in the deep recesses of your rock.

 

Really matters how dense the rock is and how much swimming space you want in the display tank. I keep about 100 lbs in my sump so my display tank is not so crowded. I would get one piece of LR (the rest base rock) and about 3 cups of live sand off an established tank and then let mother nature do her thing. The money you will save on rock alone is enough to get a nice skimmer for the system. Let tank cycle for about 12 weeks and you will be fine.

Just my $.02

 

Also agree with Otty.

 

The cycle will take a few weeks to get going, putting in a raw shrimp to get the amonia built up right away could help the cycle start a little faster, but its still going to take a few weeks for your bacteria to build up enough to start adding fish. I would also not put waste your money on purple up, IMO it is not a good product.

 

I've seen Purple Up work great, I had rocks that were started to be cemented together by coraline algae while dosing with PU.

It's personal preference, do you like pink, purple, violet and maroon rocks, or not...

 

Agreed. I love purple up. It's just so easy to use sometimes when your attention is on a ton of other things in the tank.