Are "dead spots" really a problem?

[bjoiner]

First of all, thanks everybody for their help. I'm getting very excited about getting into this hobby.

Some more questions though.

I've heard it said that you should have just the right amount of live rock in your tank. Too little and the bacteria can't keep up with the bioload, too much and you get "dead spots".

Is this caused by not enough "food" for the bacteria, or because you have rocks piled on rocks with no water flowing in between? I'm a little confused why/how this is actually a problem.

 

[Anonymous]

I think dead spots is refering to places with little to no flow. If this is under your rock then neaten food and fish poop will stay there and rot. The idea if to keep lots (lots is relative) of flow to keep the crap and stuff in suspension so it can be taken out by the skimmer. Good flow also helps bring food and O2 to the corals while taking away waste and CO2.

 

[SnowManSnow]

ya.
dead spots are normally areas with too little flow. too much rock could obviously help create these dead spots by restricting flow around the aquarium.