Rearranging Live Rock

[chrislmorse]

Hi,

I have a 50 gallon, 4 month old tank with 2 Clarkii Clowns, 1 Royal Gramma, and assorted cleaners...20 lbs Fiji Rock, 30 lbs base, no coral yet.

I would like to rearrange my rocks and am wondering how I should approach this, and what I need to be concerned with...

Thanks in advance.

-Chris

 

[DragonForce]

Rearranging rock is a really bad idea. It can stress the fish out and cause them to die. If you must rearrange it, do as little as possible. You have room in that tank for 20 more lbs of LR if you want to add that and put that all nice, it would be a better idea.

 

[JamesR]

i have re-arranged rock before. Just have an idea where you want the rock to go first and move it VERY SLOWLY. This keeps the sediment from moving around too much. Also, turn off your PH, as they will just blow the sediment around. Once done, you're tank will clear up in a few hours. It does stress the fish a bit, but if you do it slowly and not often, no big deal............just don't do it if you've just added a new fish that is already stressed. If they've been in their a while, you'll be fine, IMO.

Jim

 

[austinsdad]

I agree with both - kinda. I think you can move the rock like JamesR described. I alo think that as you add coral, you'll be adding more rock anyway like Dragonforce described.

Thing is, you've got an opportunity to re-arrange with your coral in mind when you get it. Check out some of the coral at your LFS and the rocks they're typically on. Now, look at your own aquascape and see if you've got ledges, or crevices, or otherwise space to put coral. So, as you re-do the rock, you can make space for new rock/coral.

 

[Genix]

i don't think moving rock around is a big deal. i've spent a fair amount of time doing it in my little tank and half the time my fish swim around my hand as my cleaner shrimp cleans it. just do as little as possible and go veeerrry slowly. it's easy for a coral to go tumbling or a structure to collapse. you might wanna unplug your heater as well.

 

[MarineFlake]

I re arranged the rock in my 29G and the female perc clown became very aggressive toward her mate. Basically banning him to the opposite side of the tank at night. Other then that I only have CBS and now a snail in there. I don't think they cared 1 way or another.

GL!