Im in the process of setting up a 75 gallon reef. My LFS whom I trust alot is having me put fist size coral rock in my sump. Ive heard both good and bad things come from this. Do the Pros outway the Cons?

I've seen amazing 75gl "nano reefs" set up with no sump or protien skimmer, the secrete is using lots of live rock, minimum of 1.5lbs per gal..
Having it anywhere in your system is extremely beneficial. I'm not really sure of any cons that would outway the pro's

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"Buddha in your tank"

I will have plenty of live rock. This isnt live rock it is dead coral. He said it would help control the ph but Ive heard it can leak nitrates at the same time.

"live rock" is dead coral.

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"Buddha in your tank"

Are you saying, dried out, bleached chunks of coral?

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"Buddha in your tank"

This is not true. Live rock does not have to be dead coral at all. It CAN be dead coral, or it can also be porous rock that harbors beneficial bacteria.

The reason you run "rock" or "live rock" or even "dead coral" is so that you increase the amount of beneficial bacteria that you can store in your tank. These bacteria break down harmful ammonia (which comes from food decay, deaths, or waste secretion from fish or inverts). The process of "tank cycling" which you may have heard of is to facilitate the establishment of this bacteria population. There are really no cons to having more live rock, especially in the sump. As long there is adequate flow and the rock is porous, it brings nothing but benefits

Yes yes I know what it is... I'm trying to find out if what he wants to put in his sump is live rock or really non living bleached out coral skeleton...
It sounds like the LFS is just using a another name for "live rock"

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"Buddha in your tank"

If you put dead bleached out coral in a new tank, it will be "re-seeded" and can eventually look like the "live rock" bought. But unlike "live rock" skeleton coral has nothing living in it, thus it cannot convert nitrifying bacteria in the same way, (eventually yes) but it is just the same as putting a bunch of ceramic media/bio balls in your sump.
And there is much debate about this.
Bottom line if you put enough "live rock" in your tank you can create a nano reef, that does not require sump/refugium/protien skimmer. Just lots of flow, lights, temp, and some carbon.

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"Buddha in your tank"

I ran a 75gl tall for 5 years this way, supplying it with growth I collected in the Gulf of Mexico. I moved and gave it all to co-workers.

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"Buddha in your tank"