Rearranging Rockwork

[scooter31707]

Hello All,

I am not new at all to the hobby, but this would be the first time rearranging the rockwork in an established tank. The tank has been up for about an year and a half now with a moderate bio-load. I have to catch a Coral Beauty because he is just too aggressive to fish equal or smaller to him in size. So, I figured this would be a good time to change the aquascape. My concern is when I set the tank up, I put rock down first then sand, so I am worried about moving them and stirring up the sandbed. Should I take out all the fish so they won't get stressed out or leave them in there and will my parameters become out of whack? Thanks for the advise.

 

[username in use]

How deep is the sand?

If it is less than 2" I wouldn't worry too much. Have a lot of water on hand and plan on doing a massive water change. This is the best time to really get everything clean when you pull all the rocks out.

Put the rocks in a large tub and vacuum everything you can out into the tub to keep the rocks wet. Catch what you need to. Then put your rocks back, swishing them well to get all the crap out of them in the tub first. Then refill with new water.

On a 120g tank, I would have 60g on hand of new salt water for this endeavor.

 

[scooter31707]

Ok. My sand bed is probably right at 2" or little bit over. Never really measure it, but I know I have 80lbs of sand. So should I take all the fish out during this process or let them stay in there?

 

[username in use]

Fish are probably fine. I've done nearly 100% water changes at times when needed and left the fish in a few inches of water for 20 minutes or so while I got things cleaned. As long as you are getting things done quickly and can get some new water in there soon you should be fine. If it's going to take you an hour, drop a powerhead down there to keep the circulation and aeration going.

 

[scooter31707]

Got it. Thanks a lot.