Reaquascaping Mature Tank

[DKQuinn]

Its that time. I HATE they way I first set up my tank and want to redo the rock scape. I will be rehoming all my corals to another aquarium so there will be no worries there. My question is about breaking down live rock. Will this completely destroy it? I was wanting to reshape everything, re structure everything etc... But if this is going to completely destroy my cycle, are there other routes that I could take but still achieve my goal? I would like to keep my live rock, but if there is no other way to do it i am willing to start it over.

Thank you!

 

[Saltyreef]

You should be fine as the rocks and sand hold tons of bacteria and they wont be destroyed by a few moments out of the water.

You will however want to be very careful about disturbing the sand bed.

I would remove your corals into another tank and rocks to a tote full of your semi clean tank water.
Next remove all the sand into 5 gallon buckets for rinsing with tap water.
Clean whats leftover out of the tank so the tank is clean.
Rinse all your sand REALLY good until the water is clear. Final rinse once in RO water.
Place back in tank and fill up a little new salt water.

Now rescape as needed with your rocks that are still wet and try to keep them wet throughout the process.

 

[DKQuinn]

You should be fine as the rocks and sand hold tons of bacteria and they wont be destroyed by a few moments out of the water.

You will however want to be very careful about disturbing the sand bed.

I would remove your corals into another tank and rocks to a tote full of your semi clean tank water.
Next remove all the sand into 5 gallon buckets for rinsing with tap water.
Clean whats leftover out of the tank so the tank is clean.
Rinse all your sand REALLY good until the water is clear. Final rinse once in RO water.
Place back in tank and fill up a little new salt water.

Now rescape as needed with your rocks that are still wet and try to keep them wet throughout the process.

Interesting. I didn’t even think about the sand bed. Just curious as the the reasoning behind this? And the corals will be moved to another tank forever… as long as they live. But would you say there is any downfall into breaking the love rock? Or would you try to leave as is and work with that I have?

 

[Saltyreef]

Interesting. I didn’t even think about the sand bed. Just curious as the the reasoning behind this? And the corals will be moved to another tank forever… as long as they live. But would you say there is any downfall into breaking the love rock? Or would you try to leave as is and work with that I have?

The reasoning is because if your tank is established and mature, you are going to have a lot of detritus built up in the sand bed and you could potentially release enough nasties from there to crash your tank.

When you move your rocks around it will stir up the sand bed.

And are you just moving the rocks around into a diffent aquascape? or are you wanting to chisel away at them or epoxy together?

 

[DKQuinn]

The reasoning is because if your tank is established and mature, you are going to have a lot of detritus built up in the sand bed and you could potentially release enough nasties from there to crash your tank.

When you move your rocks around it will stir up the sand bed.

And are you just moving the rocks around into a diffent aquascape? or are you wanting to chisel away at them or epoxy together?

I was hoping to chisel and epoxy IF it does not mess anything up. If it will mess with the tank too much then yes, just rearrange them.