Live Rock And Powerheads

[penguinpimp1990]

hi im new to saltwaters tanks and have a few questions. first off my tank is 55 us gallons, and i wont be running any filtration besides the liverock. My question is what should be the total gph in powerheads for my tank? Someone told me that your tank's water should be pushed around by powerheads at 10 times your tanks voulme, ie a 60 gallon tanks needs 2 300 gph powerheads. And for liverock, im poor and doubt i can really afford 110 pounds of it. Can i add say 70 pounds of liverock and 40 pounds of base rock. After the tank has been matured (and before fish are added), will the base rock be considered "live rock" and have the bacteria and stuff growing off of it? And another thing im confused about is the little crabs and stuff that grow off of the liverock. will these little organisms grow non stop for as long as my tanks running or do they stop showing up after the liverock is old? (may sound dumb but im not too smart) Im assuming alot of these things will be eaten by my pixy hawkfish anyways (when i get him of course)

 

[Chac]

Personally I prefer a High flow rate around the 30x total Volume & IMO I would say 15x is a minimum

As for the Rock I would say that a mix of LR & Base would be fine

Crabs & stars etc. dont grow from the rock they may be hiding in the rock when you buy it - as for bacteria, that is a different story this will colonize all the rock you add

You will need to add a clean up crew as well

 

[penguinpimp1990]

ohh i thought that when you buy cured live rock it already has the bacteria on it, i didnt know that it was the beneficial ammonia eating bacteria that colonizes in all aquariums. I thought the bacteria on live rocks was a different type of bacteria that somehow colonized these little creatures ) yes i know im a tard

 

[Chac]

Sorry I didnt explain my self properly

Your Cured Live Rock will have loads of colonizing Bacteria (as well as other Micro & Macro Life), when I said the above comment I meant that if you are mixing Cured LR with Dead Base Rock, the base rock will (dependant on the base Rock) colonise with bacteria from your Cured Live Rock

Hopefully this helps

Pm'd