My aquascaping problem. Please Help.

[Juka087]

Hey guys. Hope everyone is well n.n

I have had my nuvo 10 for about 3 months now, and the other night while attempting to mount coral my rocks all fell over. My aquascaping skills are horrible. I decided at that point to comission a aquascape from none other then the man himself jester six. It has not arrived yet. I plan to remove all my old rock once it gets here, and replace it with that piece. I have a large amount of seachem matrix bio media in the back first chamber. So if i just switched out rocks I would not lose cycle. However. I was wondering if I should put the new aquascape in a tote, and cycle it for a few months while adding bacteria. The idea being that when i put it into the tank. I will not have a massive ugly phase. Or will the ugly phase happen no matter what. Just say screw it take out the old rock. Put in the new. Dose microbacter clean, and vibrant. Just hope for the best? The tank also has no fish in it currently only coral. What would you guys do?

Thank you so much for your time n.n

 

[New&no clue]

When I upgraded my tank I cycled my new rocks in a brute for a little over a month before the switch and they still went through the uglies, but I did have an established CUC so it seemed to clear up fairly quickly.

However, I am really interested in that you bought an aquascape from someone, can you give me more information on that?

 

[Rilo]

I'd cycle it in a brute and then put it into my tank once it's cycled. I'd leave the current live rock in the tank for awhile so life from the rock could get on the newly cycled rock.

 

[Txplicit]

Sorry to hear your dilemma. First off, I have to ask if you have any livestock in the tank? Removing the rocks completely may be more detrimental to the bio diversity. So if you have livestock, I wouldn't recommend changing the rocks out completely as you will have to recycle and that may hurt/stress your tank friends.

I recommend doing a rough sketch of the rocks you currently have. Have a vision of how you want it to look. When all that is done, I'd take the rocks out, dab them dry with a clean unused towel, stack them the way you see it. You can break off pieces or cut them with a hack saw.

Make them look the way you want it to look then use reef safe putty to bond them together. The reason for putty/epoxy is because it is only semi permanent. It helps keep the structures from toppling, but it isn't so strong that you can't pull the rocks apart if you want to make changes.

The way i stack my aquascape is to make sure the bottom most rock is flat enough to provide a stable foundation for the rock on top which should provide a support stable for the one on top of it without any adhesives. This way the adhesive just keeps them from rocking when you mount corals.

Once done, shouldn't take more than an hour or 2 of actual stacking and placing putty) place it back in your tank and you shouldn't have to worry too much about damaging the bio filtration and beneficial bacteria on the rocks.

 

[New&no clue]

I'd leave the current live rock in the tank for awhile so life from the rock could get on the newly cycled rock.

Could the OP put some of the original rock into the brute to cycle the new rock, and pass on the beneficial bacteria? Then once cycled take all the old rock out and put the new in which would now be housing the same bacteria

 

[Magellan]

OP: Just go for it, as you said you don’t have any livestock. The surface area on that bio media is vastly greater than the surface area of your rock. Assuming you have a healthy population of bacteria on there, I would just make the switch and call it a day. I wouldn’t even dose anything. Just let your good bacteria seed the new rock and be patient. If possible, leave a piece or 2 of the old rock as well (not permanently, but for a few weeks).

 

[Juka087]

When I upgraded my tank I cycled my new rocks in a brute for a little over a month before the switch and they still went through the uglies, but I did have an established CUC so it seemed to clear up fairly quickly.

However, I am really interested in that you bought an aquascape from someone, can you give me more information on that?

His name is jestersix he does custom aquascapes. If you look his name up on google you will find his facebook. In it is his phone number. It is really great stuff, and the price I was quoted was very affordable.

 

[Juka087]

OP: Just go for it, as you said you don’t have any livestock. The surface area on that bio media is vastly greater than the surface area of your rock. Assuming you have a healthy population of bacteria on there, I would just make the switch and call it a day. I wouldn’t even dose anything. Just let your good bacteria seed the new rock and be patient. If possible, leave a piece or 2 of the old rock as well (not permanently, but for a few weeks).

Yes only coral right now. I have been dosing microbacter clean every week since the begining of the tank.

 

[Magellan]

Yes only coral right now. I have been dosing microbacter clean every week since the begining of the tank.

how long have the corals been in there?

 

[Juka087]

how long have the corals been in there?

2-3 weeks.

 

[Magellan]

ahhh ok. So you recently finished cycling? << my fault, you clarified that in the OP.

 

[Rilo]

Could the OP put some of the original rock into the brute to cycle the new rock, and pass on the beneficial bacteria? Then once cycled take all the old rock out and put the new in which would now be housing the same bacteria

He could, but he mentioned coral in his tank and if it's like mine it will have coral attached to most of the rock. Also he has a small tank so I'm assuming not much rock to begin with.

 

[Magellan]

Since your bio load is so small (as is the tank) any time you add anything or change even the slightest thing, your tank will need to re adjust to the new parameters you give it (ex: new fish, feeding your corals, etc). Put the new scape in there, add a fish and be patient and consistent.

 

[Juka087]

He could, but he mentioned coral in his tank and if it's like mine it will have coral attached to most of the rock. Also he has a small tank so I'm assuming not much rock to begin with.

All the coral is off the rocks thank god.