Let's Get Ready to Re-Scape

[tgee]

This is probably a dumb question. I want to do some major re-aquascaping in my 90g. I don’t really like the rock-wall effect that I ended up with, so want to open it up. I only have a handful of corals, so I can move them to a section of my sump temporarily. I have just three fish (Coral Beauty, Six-line, Foxface). Not that I think it would be easy, but should I remove the fish from the tank first?? Wouldn't that be more stressful for them (and me)?

Thanks,
Tom

 

[calaxa]

You don't necessarily have to move them to redo aquascaping. Just be mindful of where they are so you do not crush them. Be careful when you build not to create any rockslides either. If you stir up too much sand/substrate, you could cause a nitrate or ammonia spike, depending on how deep it is and how long you've had the sand.

 

[qwik]

Like Calaxa said try not to disturb the sandbed . I just had to redo my rock work while trying to catch some fish and tried to keep as many of the bottom rocks where they were. I filled a couple of five gallon buckets with tank water and placed some of the rocks in so there was more room to work .
Doing it this way gives you more time to get it right . The fish will stay out of the way. Just make sure if any of them like to hide in the holes you don't cover the entrance/exit. Post a picture,before and after if possible . Have fun !

 

[tgee]

Thanks for the replies, folks. I actually tried to post a crappy before shot, but I had trouble uploading it. I'll try again.

 

[REEFLECTIONS]

my girlfriend hates when i do rock scaping..... buckets full of rocks and 4 hours of cursing and yelling and stressing out before i finally achieve something i like.... getting ready to upgrade to a 125 myself, so..... here we go again..... good luck with yours

 

[onefish2fish]

i hate re-scaping, but i cant complain when it come out better then before.

i dont know if you have a tank thread, but can you post a full tank shot as of now, and then a FTS after you re-scape?

 

[tgee]

Oh, you had to mention your 125 upgrade, huh? You don't know how badly I want to do that! Maybe someday. Here's what my 90 currently looks like. Honestly, I can't imagine this will ever look as good as a lot of tanks I see here. I want to open this up and let it breathe so it doesn't just look like a pile of rocks. I want to get better flow, and create more swimming space as well as more interesting spots to place corals. That may be asking too much with my (lack of) talent!

Tom

 

[JRWOHLER]

Don't sell yourself short that looks pretty nice. 90G is nice size tank.

 

[Hawkeye]

I would sell maybe 30# of LR to help clear out space. You've got a nice Deep Sand Bed - and there's plenty of LR in there I think to help manage ammonia/nitrite and to a degree nitrates. The removal of some LR will help in that it will allow more flow and reduce the amount of detritus trapped in the wall...and to your point - the "rock-wall".

If you prefer to keep the LR and you have room in your sump - you could place smaller pieces in the sump to act as a "break-wall" for where the return is. Or placed in another section of the sump - it could act as a pod home.

 

[calaxa]

I have the rock wall in my 90 just like you do. What's great about it is, you actually can have huge possibilities that other tanks your size can't do. Multiple angelfish is achievable because of the many escape routes. You have huge biofilter and can support tons of pods for multiple mandarins (so long as both are not male). What sucks is having something fall behind the wall and only way to get it out is tank breakdown. Also spotting those stupid aiptasia that you can't reach without taking apart 6 or 7 rocks. I think your tank looks good.

 

[tgee]

Thanks for the comments, folks. It was a tough decision for me to change the layout. Sometimes I loved the way it looked, then other times I hated it. Whenever I came home with some new coral, I seemed to have trouble finding a decent place to attach it. Also, I know I was getting a lot of junk trapped on the bottom between the rocks.

I made huge changes today. What a mess! I have more to do tomorrow and I will post pics when I'm happy with it. It looks totally different. One great suprise was when I discovered a peppermint shrimp that I hadn't seen in months. I thought it was long gone, but it's alive and seemingly well. It actually scared me to death because I wasn't expecting it to be there. I picked up a rock and it scurried right across my hand.

I plan on keeping the extra rock in my sump, but I may end up with too much, since I already had some in the sump.

Tom

 

[tgee]

So this is what I came up with… for now. It’s such a different look with so much less rock, but I think I like it. It’s definitely opened up, and I was able to incorporate more horizontal space for easier coral placement. The fish don’t like me very much right now, but I think they’ll get used to it.

 

[Edwardw771]

Here is what I'm doing with my 90 gallon. Inspired by the Merv- concept3 and this thread on reef central. We used clothes hangers, wire ties and a product called water plug to hold everyting together.

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=11540863#post11540863

ummm, so what goes on next?!?!

someone needs to shave!

ta da! We like playing in the dirt!

[/quote]

 

[ReeferNets]

Do clothes hangers rust or anything? Or leech any chems.

Also Merv got some naysayers on RC when he started his post but i think more people are starting to fall into line. It def looks natural when you do it like this ed. Its looks great.

 

[calaxa]

Clothes hangers do rust. They will leech trace amounts once that happens.

 

[redfishbluefish]

Do clothes hangers rust or anything? Or leech any chems.

I thought the stuff Ed and Merv were doing at the meeting was pretty cool. I was impressed and plan on getting some “dead rock” and playing around with this myself.

To answer your query ReeferNet, the hangers are not the metal kind. The ones Merv and Ed used are the plastic kind. My concern; were the hangers made in China. I worked for a major pharmaceutical company with responsibility of a joint venture with a company in China. With plastic parts, the majority of stuff would end up being rejected because of heavy metal contamination…typically lead or cadmium. Realize this was for medical devices. It was near impossible to get them to supply “clean” plastic. You’ve heard the stories of children’s toys coming out of China. I could only imagine what would be found in hangers. I would try to stick to hangers made in a country other than China.

 

[Edwardw771]

As for leeching or rusting or what ever from platic that are covered by rock and water plug concrete I'm not worried. If it did happen i'm sure it would be such a small amount that if wouldn't matter. Kind of the same as using egg crate in your frag tank or any of the those Maxijet mods. And if your really worried about it use these http://www.marcorocks.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWCATS&Category=40

Which I used in my 265 and have a few extras.

 

[tgee]

Ed, That arch looks great!

 

[redfishbluefish]

As for leeching or rusting or what ever from platic that are covered by rock and water plug concrete I'm not worried. If it did happen i'm sure it would be such a small amount that if wouldn't matter. 

The impact of heavy metals on reef viability has been extensively studied.  Amounts of some heavy metals in the ppb range (that’s a b for billion, or mg/l), have caused growth problems and death to corals.

Would you throw a penny into your tank.  I hope not, because we all know that at very low levels, it acts as an algaecide, including the symbiotic algal dinoflagellates found in many (most?) corals.  Copper is a heavy metal and others, cadmium and lead included, also have a negative impact on coral growth. 

I don’t know the answer, but I just don’t want to take the chance…peace of mind….non-China made hangers for me.

As a scientist (currently unemployed), I find this matter very intriguing.  What impact do the heavy metals have on reef aquariums?  What portion might be contributed by leaching plastics?  How about those metals found in the tap water?  And contributions from plumbing from older houses that potentially could have lead pipe/lead solder?  This is stuff for study at some University, but fascinating stuff I’d love to pursue.

Just one more thought.  We all know of tanks that crash with no know cause.  All measured parameters are right on the money, yet the tank heads south and everything bites the bullet.  Could it be heavy metal contamination due to bioaccumulation?  If only I still had access to a lab with X-ray fluorescence…able to measure down to ppb.

I shall step off the soapbox now and stop the highjack.

 

[JohnS_323]

I like the new aquascaping a lot better than the solid wall but IMO it's a little too far in the other direction. It would be cool if you could add an arch or a shelf or something to put a little more "meat" in it. Otherwise, it's a big improvement.

Are the inhabitants getting used to it?