Redoing aquascape after big move

Janesreef · Apr 28, 2020

**ATTACHED PICS**

I have a 75gal reef tank with live rock, 3 fish (coral beauty, clown, mandarin goby), 5 coral (three of which are attached to rock) and a clam that is also attached to rock. I did a big move into a new home and because of the pandemic I wasn’t able to hire movers for my tank so I had a couple friends that knew a thing or two about reefing help me. I felt confident in them helping me because they knew a bit, but I’m aware they don’t know all there is to know, so it was a risk from the start. Long story short- we had the tank moved in about 2 1/2 hours from the time of disassembly to completion of reassembly . The problem is I didn’t have the rock go back in the tank they way that I had it in there originally. Now it looks all crazy and I want to rearrange the rock but not sure how stressful this would be to my fish and coral.

So I have three questions:
-Am I able to take the live rock out of the tank and cover the coral and wet paper towel so that I can redo the aquascape outside the tank or should I do it inside the tank? Also, should I use my Fuval Sea epoxy to attach rock together?

-Since my fish are already stressed out from the move, should I put them in a quarantine tank for sometime while this is going on? If so, how do I acclimate them to the quarantine tank if some of the parameters are different?

-Half The sand was left in a bucket at my old house by accident and I wasn’t able to go back to get it for 24 hours. Is that sand going to have any harmful bacteria since it’s been in a bucket with no new oxygen or heat? Not sure if I need to buy new sand to put in the tank or if can retrieve that bucket of sand and put it back in my tank without causing issues.

**The pictures attached are before I moved into the new house and after I moved (it’s chaos now)**

Auquanut · Apr 29, 2020

I personally would try to do the rescape in-tank using your epoxy. Uncap your skimmer as it will probably overflow like crazy for awhile due to the epoxy. As far as the sand goes, tough call. I would probably go with new sand to be on the safe side. If you do use the old sand, I'd give it a good rinse first.

Ron Reefman · Apr 29, 2020

Janesreef said:
**ATTACHED PICS**

I have a 75gal reef tank with live rock, 3 fish (coral beauty, clown, mandarin goby), 5 coral (three of which are attached to rock) and a clam that is also attached to rock. I did a big move into a new home and because of the pandemic I wasn’t able to hire movers for my tank so I had a couple friends that knew a thing or two about reefing help me. I felt confident in them helping me because they knew a bit, but I’m aware they don’t know all there is to know, so it was a risk from the start. Long story short- we had the tank moved in about 2 1/2 hours from the time of disassembly to completion of reassembly . The problem is I didn’t have the rock go back in the tank they way that I had it in there originally. Now it looks all crazy and I want to rearrange the rock but not sure how stressful this would be to my fish and coral.

So I have three questions:
-Am I able to take the live rock out of the tank and cover the coral and wet paper towel so that I can redo the aquascape outside the tank or should I do it inside the tank? Also, should I use my Fuval Sea epoxy to attach rock together?
You can do whatever you want to rearange the rocks. The fish and coral will be fine. Stuff moves around in the ocean too. As for the epoxy, if you can't balance rocks in a stable fashion, rods or epoxy can work. But in 20 years in the hobby and lots of different tanks and re-scapes, I never used anything to hold rocks together. I have used a grinder or a chisel to make rocks fit together better though.

-Since my fish are already stressed out from the move, should I put them in a quarantine tank for sometime while this is going on? If so, how do I acclimate them to the quarantine tank if some of the parameters are different?
IMHO, your fish settle out from stress in a few hours. I wouldn't worry about them too much.

-Half The sand was left in a bucket at my old house by accident and I wasn’t able to go back to get it for 24 hours. Is that sand going to have any harmful bacteria since it’s been in a bucket with no new oxygen or heat? Not sure if I need to buy new sand to put in the tank or if can retrieve that bucket of sand and put it back in my tank without causing issues.
Add some saltwater to the bucket (you don't need much) and stir it up. If the water looks dirty, I'd clean it completely. If the water is fairly clean, add it to the tanks VERY, VERY slowly, maybe in small batches. If it makes your tank water cloudy, do it slower, be ready with a water change, or give it up and clean it properly. Bacteria isn't the issue. It's the detritus that is in the sand getting stirred up and causing issues.

To clean the sand, put it in a bucket. Take the garden hose with no nozzle and shove it down into the sand. Run water until it overflows the bucket. Assuming the water is dirty, move the hose up and down from place to place in the sand. Once the water run fairly clean you can stop the water. Now dump the water out. Try tipping the bucket to a slight incline, like down your sloped driveway. Let the water trickle out until it stops. Then it's clean and ready to put back in the tank. The tiny bit of fresh city water in the sand won't be an issue. I've done this dozens of times with some VERY old and dirty water.

**The pictures attached are before I moved into the new house and after I moved (it’s chaos now)**

The old rockscape looked pretty good!

TriggerFinger · Apr 29, 2020

You can put the fish in a bucket short term with a powerhead and heater while you rescape. Drain tank water so you don’t have to acclimate.
Can’t advise on the epoxy , never used any before.
The sand, you should definitely take this opportunity to rinse it clean before adding it back in. I imagine there was some die off, plus it probably has other nasties. Rinse with tap until the water runs clear. Really stir the sand around in the bucket so it gets a thorough rinse.