Advice needed. Rescaping.

tyro · Nov 7, 2021

Hey all I have begun planning a rescape of my 34gal redsea. When I got it used it had two massive very dense rocks probably almost 70lbs together and a few smaller carribsea rocks and two Tonga branches. I have a few ongoing issues that are driving me to want to change it up.
1. I'm not happy with the current look.
2. I don't have room to place the corals I have.
3. Battling hair algae from the previous owner.
4. The large rock is basically falling apart every time I touch it. I've even seen my tail spot digging a hole into it 1 mouthful at a time.

With all that in mind Im basically wanting to remove all or most of the rock currently in the tank with a new scape of dry rock that I have. Some corals I'll end up fragging as they are directly attached and my bta will have to move which I've had no success with in the past. It was very small and closed up I couldn't get it to budge. It is much bigger now so hopefully it will be a little easier. I have a few fish and small clean up crew but I'd like to avoid major swings in parameters or recycling.

So what should I do. Build the scape and cure or cycle it ahead of time? I may add a little more sand but should I scrub or wash what I have when I rescape? Sould I empty my DT completely and clean thoroughly to wipe out the hair algae? And start over essentially with my new scape cycled and my filter media in tact? I know these are questions that have a lot variables too. Heck if there is any examples of rebuilds or anything I should read up on let me know.

maleks.reef · Nov 7, 2021

When rescpaing your tank, you need to keep in mind that ALOT of your good bacteria lives in and on your rocks. So if you swap your old rocks out for new rocks, you are setting yourself up for a huge ammonia spike and then a tank crash.
You mentioned that you can cycle the new rocks on their own, if that's a possibility then that's definitely the best choice here since you want to change out your entire old scape. I suggest you take your time with it and make sure that the new rocks are well colonized by bacteria. I would also recommend two things: 1) Get some dr tims one and only for your new rocks so they can cycle & even get microbacter 7 to use it AFTER you have moved your new rocks in. 2) Get some sort of biomedia (alot preferable to remove some load off of the old rocks) and keep it in the tank so that when you do change your rocks out, that biomedia can help even further just to be safe. You can also add bacteria to your biomedia directly in your sump or back chamber.

Sand has a big portion of the bacteria in a reef tank so keep that in mind as well.

tyro · Nov 7, 2021

Thanks I have about 2 quarts or 1 whole box of marine pure bio filter balls in the back. Most of it is in the in tank rack the just in back chamber in bags. I'm thinking of cycling the new rock possibly with a Dr Tim's bottle back and ammonia with no light probably Rubbermaid container.

I'm not in a rush or anything still planning. I'm even considering a rip clean but either adding more biofiltration ahead of time and letting it build up good bacteria. Or cycling the rocks I'm going to use ahead of time to keep from causing a cycle. Maybe @brandon429 will chime in with some thoughts of how I could make that work.

maleks.reef · Nov 8, 2021

tyro said:
Thanks I have about 2 quarts or 1 whole box of marine pure bio filter balls in the back. Most of it is in the in tank rack the just in back chamber in bags. I'm thinking of cycling the new rock possibly with a Dr Tim's bottle back and ammonia with no light probably Rubbermaid container.

I'm not in a rush or anything still planning. I'm even considering a rip clean but either adding more biofiltration ahead of time and letting it build up good bacteria. Or cycling the rocks I'm going to use ahead of time to keep from causing a cycle. Maybe @brandon429 will chime in with some thoughts of how I could make that work.

Make sure to have a pump and heater in that container. Also, crank the temp up to 27 Celsius and keep your salinity at 18-20 ppt (or 1.015 SG). This will allow the bacteria to reproduce more quickly, according to Dr tim himself. After you're done cycling and you nitrite and ammonia are testing 0, you can start gradually increasing the salinity to 35 ppt and lowering the temperature to whatever your tank is sitting at, after that you can move them to your tank. Also, you dont need to buy ammonia for cycling. I cycled with Dr tims one and only and some flake food. There were no ammonia 2 weeks in but i let it go on for another week (total 3) and then I got my 2 clowns who are alive with me a year later thankfully.

One last thing, if you can, buy a bigger bottle of dr tims one and only and use most of it on your new rocks and then once you move the rocks, add the rest of the bacteria to the tank. Again, just to be safe.