Re-Aquascaping an established tank.

[iTzJu]

Im thinking about re-aquascaping my already established 90 gallon. I will not be adding any new rock or removing, I just want to move things around. I feel like the rock work can be better. Is there anything I should look out for? I went through a mini-cycle a couple weeks back when I changed my sump and I really do not want to go through that again. What would be the best way to do it?

 

[ClownAquatics]

Im thinking about re-aquascaping my already established 90 gallon. I will not be adding any new rock or removing, I just want to move things around. I feel like the rock work can be better. Is there anything I should look out for? I went through a mini-cycle a couple weeks back when I changed my sump and I really do not want to go through that again. What would be the best way to do it?

Prepare water for a water change, drain some of the water from the display and place it in a bucket/rubber maid. Move the rocks into the rubbermaid container w/ a heater and powerhead.

Also you can rescape without removing the rocks that is fine too. After you're done redoing the scape do a water change after to remove anything that may have been stirred up and you should be fine.

 

[Classklown90]

This is speaking from my experience but I have done this many many times and I didn't do anything to prepare. Just try not to stir too much up. But if you can have a large amount of water.available, then thatd be good

 

[malulu]

Prepare water for a water change, drain some of the water from the display and place it in a bucket/rubber maid. Move the rocks into the rubbermaid container w/ a heater and powerhead.

Also you can rescape without removing the rocks that is fine too. After you're done redoing the scape do a water change after to remove anything that may have been stirred up and you should be fine.

+1

 

[NikkiT]

I tend to play with my rockwork about once every 3-6 months. With the big tank, I used epoxy, but this is the first time I have ever done that.
I have a couple of suggestions.

First, try to get any gunk off of the rock before you start, whether it is by spraying the rock with a baster or by blasting it with a powerhead, if you don't do this already.

Second, make yourself an extra 15-20g of saltwater. As Clown Aquatics said, the easiest way to re-aquascape is to remove the rock from the big glass box, look at it, and then put it back together differently. This also lets you get to the really nasty "dead" spots with a syphon, removing accumulated detritus. I use a syphon. I also end up doing a "big" water change almost every time I do this, using more water than I planned almost every time, hence the suggestion that you make some extra water.

Good luck! Looking forward to seeing the new aquascape!

 

[iTzJu]

Thanks for all the replies guys, i will make a batch of new water and try out a new aquascape within this month. I will probably make a tale of the tank afterwards.

 

[TanksNStuff]

Yes, having extra salt-water made up in reserve is always a good idea.

My suggestion would be to do this in conjunction with a large water change (say 25-30%) so have enough water made up to replace that much, plus an extra 5 or 10 gallons (just in case)... and do the following:

1. Make sure your ATO is turned off (trivial, but when you take a bunch of saltwater out, you don't want to pump in an equal amount of fresh). In fact, you may want to turn off your return pump and possibly powerheads too. This will limit water movement and scattering detritis and debris around in the water column which may cause a mini-cycle.

2. Have your new (water change water) near the tank with a heater and powerhead. A Brute can or a stock tank will be best for this because you will want to have a temp storage area for the rocks you remove to relocate, and being able to see more than one at a time will help you select the best piece for the new spot. Therefore, check temp and pH and make sure they match what your tank is currently at.

3. Siphon out a 5g bucket or two from your tank and keep it nearby also. DO NOT fill them up to the top, stop at around 1/2 to 3/4 full. These will be used to shake off any loose stuff from the rocks you remove to relocate.

4. Remove the rocks you plan to relocate, and 1 at a time dip them in a bucket and shake them to remove any major junk. Then dip in the 2nd (rinse) bucket. If necessary, use a toothbrush or something to clean any algae or other critters you don't want (asterinas, astrids, aiptasia, etc... whatever pests you might find) but do this back in the first bucket to try to keep the rinse bucket cleaner throughout the process. Rinse again in bucket 2 after any extra cleanings on a particular rock.

5. After inspecting and cleaning thoroughly, place the rock into the new SW you made up until you're ready to place them all back into the tank.

6. After all the rocks you want to move are in the makeup water, you can now combine the 2 buckets of mucky water into one bucket (so you know about how much was removed from the tank so far) and then discard the full one. You may still have some leftover in the 2nd bucket but it should be fairly empty. Now you have 2 buckets to use for the next phase of the big water change. (Just remember that 1 full bucket has been removed so far!)

7. Now is the opportunity to clean the nooks and crannies that were covered by those rocks before. Start your siphon up and use a small powerhead or hook a toothbrush onto the end of the siphon tube as some people do. Loosen up all the loose stuff from the base rocks and siphon them out to the buckets as you go. Stop whenever you have removed the amount of water you were planning on replacing in the water change. If you need to stop to dump out a bucket or two, then do so until you get the total amount you plan to replace. Don't forget to count the 1 you already dumped before you started this phase!

8. OK, now you will have removed roughly 25-30% of your tank water so the water level should be fairly low. This will make it easier to see exactly where you want to place the rocks you removed/cleaned and just make the overall re-scape easier. So, start placing/epoxying the rocks back as you want them.

9. Now that you're done scaping, use the salt water that the rocks were sitting in to fill the tank back up. Since they were cleaned well and rinsed before you put them in, the water should be pretty clean. If there's a little bit of sand on the bottom, try not to put it back in the tank.

9a. If after you're done re-scaping (before you refill the tank with clean saltwater) you see some cloudy debris floating around... and only if you have extra saltwater ready to go... then you can siphon out another 5g bucket or so to suck out that stuff before refilling it all. Just add an extra 5g (or however much extra you needed to take out to clean the water column) back in too.

10. Start all your pumps back up and you're back in business!

Sorry for the long-winded list, but I thought the extra details would be helpful and informative on the "why" aspect of my suggestions.

 

[iTzJu]

George, thanks for that detailed reply! I was imagining everything as I was reading! lol do you guys have any suggestions on epoxy?? my current rock work is like hilling wall, with various caves. I want to go for a more abstract two island look.

 

[TanksNStuff]

No prob Judeo. Glad it will help.

As for epoxy, you can pick up the epoxy "sticks" made specifically for aquariums at most LFS or online at the major retailers. But, I prefer to just stop at HD or Lowes and pick up JB Water Weld. It's the same thing and cheaper, although the aquarium specific one's will come in larger size sticks.

I also just found This one from PC Products. I've never tried that brand but it says it's NSF safe for potable water and it's a larger (4 oz. ) stick which is cheaper than 2 of the JB sticks at Lowes.

They sell both of these products at HD also, but it looks like the 2nd one is around $1 more at HD than at Lowes.

Also, as a side note, if you plan on doing any sort of arches or caves with the new scape... it might help if you drill thru the rock and use some acrylic rods or plastic coat hangers to help support the structure. I'm sure you can find tons of examples and vids on how to do this with a google search.