Changing Aquascape in reef

[jaysreefs]

Hey everyone, so I have a 20G system that’s been running for about 8 months now, I have 2 big now live rocks in the tank and a whole bunch of marine pure sherries that have been in the tanks since the beginning. Currently only have 2 clowns and corals in the tank and I wanted to remove one of the big rocks and replace it with new rock that has better coral placement option ]s and that will provide better flow pass through. i was wondering if remove that rock would cause harm to system or cause a crash?

 

[Jekyl]

Hey everyone, so I have a 20G system that’s been running for about 8 months now, I have 2 big now live rocks in the tank and a whole bunch of marine pure sherries that have been in the tanks since the beginning. Currently only have 2 clowns and corals in the tank and I wanted to remove one of the big rocks and replace it with new rock that has better coral placement option ]s and that will provide better flow pass through. i was wondering if remove that rock would cause harm to system or cause a crash?

It will upset things for sure. The new rock will also go through a cycle/maturing just as you did when you started.

 

[HudsonReefer2.0]

Hi. If u are taking out a rock and adding one without increasing the bioload should b ok. The new rock will populate with the tanks bacteria. If it was like old school live rock and not fully cured I’d say it may cause a mini cycle

 

[jaysreefs]

the rock I’m planning to add is dry rock, so not sure if that makes a difference. I know I could always go out, get another bucket, heater and power head and cycle the rock that way out side of my tank but I figured if the rest of my rocks and spheres can handle my current bio load then it would be easier to just put the rock right in the tank. I would also add some bacteria in a bottle to help.

 

[Jekyl]

Bio load probably won't be an issue. Corals may be upset from everything though. You'll lose some of the stability you have now.

 

[HudsonReefer2.0]

Just culture and cure the new rock and add it when it’s ready. Good luck

 

[HudsonReefer2.0]

Dr Tims

 

[flashsmith]

Just my opinion but I don't see how it would cause any issues. I've done a complete re scape at 6 months with no issues on an SR 80 On an older tank it would surely cause problems. Something I did that seemed to work is add a couple of the maxspect or polyp lab ceramic bio blocks. Then you could move things whenever you want without issue. As those will always have good bacteria ready to establish on anything you add. I used established ones to seed my frag tank and I was up and running in less than a week.