Morning everyone...project day with questions....

wasafuzz

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If you've been running a tank with approximately 20 lbs of fake reef rock for 8 months and want to switch over to different fake reef rock, how many days would it take for the new rock to be up to speed biology wise. Note: Would be using same water and sand. Also, I am considering laying a large piece of shelf rock on top of my sand. Would I need to elevate it and leave a space between the rock and sand or can I lay it directly on the sand. It would cover about 70% of sand bottom. Thanks!
 

Ron Reefman

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Your new rock should get live in a few days to a week, IMHO. But it depends on how big your biological load is in the tank.

If you can, I'd have the old piece of shelf rock raised off the sand, but I don't think it's a big deal unless you leave it there for a long time, say 4 weeks or more, and then remove it.
 

Dine

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When you say fake reef rock what material are we talking about? I think you prob just mean rock but the way you say it makes me want to double check it’s not plastic or something.

in terms of time. All your bacteria is in your existing rock. If you remove it and put in new uncycled rock the tanks going to recycle. Not a good idea If you have livestock. You could do it slowly. 1 piece out 1 piece in but if it’s large pieces that might worry me. I’d add the new rock anywhere I could. Sump or display for at least a month then take the old rock out slowly to avoid any problems.

as to shelf rock on the bottom you could support it via short/fat pvc legs to elevate it if you wanted.
 

Fishy212

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Agree with Dine, might be too much too fast for your tank. Your biological filtration Will be messed up and any livestock too. Slow and steady :) good luck !!
 
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wasafuzz

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Thanks. The rock is called "real reef shelf rock" bought through liveaquara. It 's the fake purple stuff. The piece laying on the bottom would be one of the new pieces. So, you don't think the old sand would be sufficient to keep beneficial bacteria running? BTW the tank is fallow due to ick/velvet only soft corals in for the next few weeks.
 

Fishy212

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To the best of my knowledge, there are many more cracks and crevices within the live rock where that beneficial bacteria can live and thrive. I am sure the sand has it too, but not nearly as much or effective. If you are really that concerned with that, I am sure a bottle of bacteria could help :)
 

sharpimage

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Since you are fallow, i would go for it. Put as much of the old rock in the tank somewhere for a week or 2 and then remove it, piece by piece.
 

Dine

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Sand is not sufficient. Since you’re fallow just lay in all you’re new rock. Don’t worry about looks. Crank the flow up to 11. Give it 2-3 weeks. Then remove all the old and reaquascape the new.

consider dosing bottled bacteria just to speed up the colony. Continue to spot feed the corals. The new bacteria will need food to multiply. With no fish the growth will be slow. adding a tiny bit of food will give them something to eat (breakdown) and allow them to multiply into your new rock. Don’t overdo this or you will get algae
 

ddelmonaco

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more time is better on getting things seeded and established. Dr Tim's could be a good idea to help speed things along if you cant wait
 

ectoaesthetics

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I agree with the feedback given above. However, I would like to split hairs a bit so that the information being given to you is the “most correct.” The problem isn’t the fact that your sand doesn’t have enough room to hold the bacteria. In fact it probably has more than enough room to support your tank with a lower bioload. The real issue is that your tank has balanced with what is in there. So the heavy lifting is shared by the bacteria in your rock and sand. Even -minor- shifts will result in a major disruption in that balance. So any rock removal or swaps will cause issues. How severe the issues are will simply be somewhat proportional to how large the disruption is.
 
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