Going bare bottom

[russell_wiley]

Should I buy new live rock, or just "cook" my old rock? What should I do with my corals/fish in the meantime? Can I just keep them in my tank after I get the sand out & the starboard in? Any help would be great!

Thanks,

Russ

[phisigs79]

I put all my rock and corals in a tub and drained the water. Took sand out and put everything back in the tank. The rock shed for a few weeks so I siphoned off the sludge every other day. no loses

[droyal1110]

IMO it all depends on your livestock, tank size, money constraints. If you have a few easy fish like chromis and clownfish and you have a decent sized QT tank, you could put them in there with some liverock while you get your other tank squared away. I assume you're going to restart the tank they are currently in and I do not recommend leaving the livestock in the tank while you are removing the sand.

 

Again if money wasn't an issue I would do this:

 

If you have a sump, just flood the sump so the water level is over the baffles, stick a heater in it, and give it good water flow (essentially treat it like a display.)

 

Do a whole bunch of water changes and keep the water you took from the current tank in a brute can that is aerated, good water flow, and heated. Once you get a enough water in the can I would go ahead and move the livestock and the rock over, trying to keep the rock exposure to air at a minimum (have the can right next to the tank.) Once all the livestock and rock is moved over, go ahead and either drain the tank (dispose this water, all the rock moving around will stir up a ton of junk) and remove the sand or remove the sand while there is still water inside. I would utilize this time to make any major modifications that you always wanted to (if you wanted to upgrade your sump but couldn't remove the sump due to it only being able to come out of the opening at the top or whatever the case is, new plumbing, etc.) Once the tank is cleaned to your liking, do a water change with the brute can, this way you are getting the water teeming with bacteria back in the tank all while keeping things happy in the brute can, keep doing this until your full, don't move the livestock over just yet. Move almost all of the rock over (I'd leave a little in the brute can for the sake of having beneficial bacteria in there.) I'd wait overnight, check params of the tank (pumps on everything flowing.) If everything checks out, move over everything else and monitor your params over the next few days closely. Also buy more pumps or redirect pumps towards the glass bottom to keep it cleaner.

 

 

Now I have never done this but this is what I would do, essentially just like a prolonged tank swap. You could probably do this over the course of half a day but if it takes longer no biggie, just make sure the brute can is aerated and the lights are on over it. Hope this helps.

[Der ABT]

I just made the swap to a bare bottom but had a seperate tank so i had the luxury of waiting for one to set up and put the live stock in

 

I just put my rock on the glass as i didnt feel like finding any starboard but i may end up putting some in later down the road, but we shall see.

 

Im very happy with the set up so far, definately need alot of flow for it though, what i though was too much at first with a tunze 6080 in a 90g seems like its just barely not enough now and i plan to put a few small pumps hidden in the back to blow some of the dead spaces under the rock.

 

Good luck, post some pics of the progress

 

definately put air, heater and movement where you keep you fish,

and be careful with the type of trash can you buy, the cheaper crappy ones sometime leach color into saltwater, i had a black bin that turned some water and rock black a while back but just a heads up. i think the brutes are pretty good, i may even have a rubbermade 100 or 150g tub you could borrow if needs be

[basser9]

SAVE YOURSELF the problems and keep the sand.

ADD that ozone as the only pitfall with deep sand can be low orp so add the ozone and keep the sand.

[russell_wiley]

First of all, thanks! You all have been very helpful! I only have a Solana. So, I don't have a lot of rock. I am still planning this whole switch out, so I do it right. I will be getting one of the Warner Marine HOB skimmers & will probably start after that. Is there a place to get acrylic rods cheap? I want to aquascape better. For the corals such as montis & the like, should I dremel them off the rock, or just break some off for after I replace the rock?

Thanks,

Russ

[droyal1110]

If you're going to be replacing the rock you could either try to break the epoxy or frag plug the corals are attached to the rock with or just chisel the rock and extract a piece you need.

 

No idea on acrylic.

 

If you're going totally new rock you're pretty much going to have to cycle. You could go buy live rock and put it in your tank for about a month to make sure its nice and seeded. You'll need to transport the live rock in water to minimize die off because you don't want to cycle your tank again. If you get dry rock just rinse it really well and let it cure in your tank for a month or two, get some color and bacteria on it.