[GoinSalt]

Well, I finally got some cash to invest in my 100gal tank. I want to add moe LR as well as some more fish. Right now I have five chromis, a flame angel, orchid dottyback, couple of clowns, three shrimp and a couple of SLF crabs.

How much LR can I add at a time without overloading the system? I also wanted to add fish at the same time or should I add one thing at a time?

Thanks,
Nate

[Reefland]

That's a difficult proposition. Your always taking a slight risk when adding new liverock to an established tank, the risk being that there could be some level of die-off on the new rock that your current biological filtration cannot handle, thus ammonia, nitrite and nitrate rises and causes death to your fish and inverts.

If you do add more rock, you need to make sure it is fully cured either from a trusting local supplier or by curing it yourself before you add it to the established tank. If you get it fully cured locally, you might consider transporting it home submersed underwater to prevent anything from dieing during transit if not submersed.

I would hold off on adding any fish or inverts until you have built your reef structure to your desire and ensured there is no ammonia or nitrite spikes from doing so.

[fishgeeksrus]

I have recently taken a chance with this same thing. A couple of months ago i added about 15-20 lbs of uncure lr to my established tank. I already had about 175 lbs of cured lr. Everything went ok. I just added another 15 lbs Sunday. So far so good. I haven't even checked my levels. I do have 30 gallons of water ready for a water change for this weekend. I will probably wait another couple of months before I add anymore. I am looking to add another 100 lbs. We have 4 fish (Sohal, P. Tang, yellow watchman goby and a lawnmower blenny) and sps corals.