Switching aquascaping

[Philbou]

I have a 33-gallon reef tank that is 3 months old, with Marco rock as landscaping. I plan to 100 percent switch my aquascaping with new rocks and a new design. I’m a little nervous about destabilizing the ecosystem, his only 3 months old, but…. and what's the best way to do it?

 

[fishywishy]

Switch it slowly little at a time over a few months. Don’t switch it all at once.

 

[dinosaur_1552]

For me it would depend what livestock I have and whether I have sump.

No livestock - I would swap everything and restart cycling.

Livestock and sump - I would gradually move current rocks into the sump over a week or so, then add new aquascape in DT, then remove rocks from sump gradually 20% per week, while dosing bacteria.

Livestock and no sump - I would probably gradually pile up current aquascpae to one corner, add new aquascape and gradually remove 20% of old every week while dosing bacteria.

If current aquascpae is big I would break it up first at the glue etc gradually over a week or so, only few pieces at a time and rinse them with saltwater at the breakage before putting them back in, then pile them into either sump/corner of DT as above.

Would stop at any sign of ammonia and wait until things do stabilise, keep dosing bacteria, then continue.

Mind you if you put rocks into the sump from DT/change old aquascape around, stuff might die on old rocks, so some ammonia spikes are expected.

OR

If you have sand and a lot of media in sump and you dont want to mess around for weeks, you can also attempt the whole swap at a single go, add bacteria, and hope biofilter in sand and in sump media will hold up.

I would probably go with this latter, I assume in a 3 month old tank you will only have hardy fish/corals, so they will likely survive a mini cycle (have some triage at hand).

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

I've been cycling my new aquascape in a plastic tote with a damsel for 4 months. This weekend I will make my change. After 4 months, the rocks are mature enough to support the bioload (with extra rubble in the sump) and they also won't grow algae.

I would suggest that you either cycle your rocks in a seperate container (or a sump if you have one), or change it out one rock at a time as suggested above. The problem with this is, a brand new dry rock is like an algae magnet, it will start growing algae the moment its added to the tank, IMO better to cycle the rocks in advance. Good luck

 

[dinosaur_1552]

I've been cycling my new aquascape in a plastic tote with a damsel for 4 months. This weekend I will make my change. After 4 months, the rocks are mature enough to support the bioload (with extra rubble in the sump) and they also won't grow algae.

I would suggest that you either cycle your rocks in a seperate container (or a sump if you have one), or change it out one rock at a time as suggested above. The problem with this is, a brand new dry rock is like an algae magnet, it will start growing algae the moment its added to the tank, IMO better to cycle the rocks in advance. Good luck

Thats actually a much better solution than mine, cycle new aquascape separately and then just swap it. I didnt even think about it as I am fighting for every cm2 space in my place.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

I have a 33-gallon reef tank that is 3 months old, with Marco rock as landscaping. I plan to 100 percent switch my aquascaping with new rocks and a new design. I’m a little nervous about destabilizing the ecosystem, his only 3 months old, but…. and what's the best way to do it?

What kind of rocks are you wanting to swap too?

 

[Philbou]

I've been cycling my new aquascape in a plastic tote with a damsel for 4 months. This weekend I will make my change. After 4 months, the rocks are mature enough to support the bioload (with extra rubble in the sump) and they also won't grow algae.

I would suggest that you either cycle your rocks in a seperate container (or a sump if you have one), or change it out one rock at a time as suggested above. The problem with this is, a brand new dry rock is like an algae magnet, it will start growing algae the moment its added to the tank, IMO better to cycle the rocks in advance. Good luck

Thats actually a much better solution than mine, cycle new aquascape separately and then just swap it. I didnt even think about it as I am fighting for every cm2 space in my place.

Did you do regulate water changes during the new cycling process in your tot with the new rock? Did you add backteria ?

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

Did you do regulate water changes during the new cycling process in your tot with the new rock? Did you add backteria ?

I cycled the rocks with fish flakes and rubble from my 3 tanks, I cycled the rocks then added the damsel 3 after 3 weeks. I should have done regular water changes but bad on me I didn’t for the whole 4 months. The fish is fine , it’s grown on me and I’ve decided to keep it.