Live Rock, or lack there of Toughts

[DLANDINO]

Just curious if there were any new thoughts on the amount of live rock that you need in your tank. When I started my reef almost 5 years ago I followed the adage of 1 -1.5 lbs per gallon of water. Well, I have a 46 gallon tank and about 62 labs of rock. Needless to say, there is not much room left for coral growth. I have been hemming and hawing for months and months about tearing out rock and creating more swimming rooms, some islands and more sand bed space but is it a scary undertaking for many reason. Mini cycle, sudden changes in chemistry, shock to the inhabitants, the loss of necessary shaded areas for lower light animals and the list continues. Anyway, I am religious in my weekly 10% water change, meticulous in my chemistry and levels and run a deltec MCE 600 skimmer which is rated for 175 gallons of tank water. Is the prospect of ripping out rock and going minimal in that department a possibility without too much change to the filtration of my water? Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

[Misled]

Probably the best way would be to take your time at it. Pull a rock every week or so. Get to where you want to be, then rearrange the same way. It could keep you from having to many problems.

[billdogg]

I started years ago with the traditional "Wall O Rocks". I have thinned it considerably over the years. Do you have space in the sump or perhaps a refugium to stash the extra in? If you can do it that way you will end up with no net loss of filtration capacity.