changing the rockscape

[danny zubot]

How often does everyone re-arrange their rockscapes? Do you do major changing or just minor shuffles?

Causes and effects please?

I've changed mine three times in this tank since May (that includes the initial setup) Had to catch all the fish for q-tank treatment. Didn't like the way the tank ended up after rebuilding it post q-tank. Changed it again on Wednesday.

Fish don't care, they chase each other around the same. I think I've got all of corals in their optinmal locations for growth now.

Am I crazy? :lol:

[Invigor]

I did it often before I had a lot of rock. Now it's a pain in the ass and there are only so many ways I can arrange the rocks in a way I like..so I just leave it as long as rocks don't fall over

[Beverly]

I rearrange the rock in my tanks whenever I have a good reason. Don't really like to rearrange the rock in my tanks because I like the way they look right now. However........

The 120g has some valonia I need to remove, so that tank will soon come down soon. Will also search each rock for crabs while I'm at it :2gunfire:

The 67g has way too much crud for the bioload I added to the tank, so I'm thinking of tearing that one down to do some serious crab hunting :2gunfire: Saw two crabs a couple of weeks ago, and there are probably more hiding out :evil:

The 37g has no bioload except for four or five snails and it's got too much crud in it for that small a bioload, so I'll probably take that one down, too, for crab hunting.

[danny zubot]

Why don't you like crabs Bev?

[Beverly]

Danny,

The longer I've kept reefs, the longer I've had to conclude that crabs are destructive:

- first tank we had was a 75g, back in the late 90s when I didn't know anything about anything if truth be told. So ignorant about reefing that I didn't even know there were such things as hitchhiker crabs, so crabs weren't really on my radar screen yet. However, bought a package clean up crew from J&L for that tank. It included blue legged crabs and a generous amount of extra shells for when the crabs outgrew their own shells. A few months after getting the hermits, began to notice there were lots of shells around, yet the stupid crabs would fight each other for the other guys' shells. Didn't get any more hermits after that.

- moved a few times, upgraded then downgraded tanks between moves. Ended up with a 7g bowfront nano for awhile because I couldn't go cold turkey. Bought a royal gramma and a sally light foot crab for the 7g. The gramma slept in the rockwork, until I found it in the clutches of the sally one morning. Thought the fish had to be sick/dead and the sally was just cleaning up. Bought a second gramma shortly afterward. Within a few days, the sally got that one too. Two grammas gone with one sally was too much of a coincidence and began researching sallies - known to be predators. Sally went back to the lfs and eventually upgraded tanks. Store-bought crabs definitely on my radar screen from then on.

- while researching sallies, found some material about hitchhiker crabs. Not all of them good. Hitchhiker crabs now on radar screeen. Started looking in my reefs for crabs at night with the flashlight. Found lots. Was able to trap a few, but others would not go near mysis bait. Just left them there as I didn't think they were much of a problem.

- had a valonia problem in my old 42g hex that got waaaaay out of control. Bought an emerald crab to take care of it. Crab ate a bit of valonia, but then began to eat my cherished red macroalgae as well as lots of coralline. Crab began to live in my galaxy coral and started eating it. Trapped it and took it back to the lfs.

- Went BB in our upgraded again tanks. Couldn't understand where all the detritus was coming from in all three low bioload tanks. Also couldn't understand why some rock was beautifully covered in coralline when patches of rock were bare and ornamental macroalgae was disappearing. Had to be the crabs that wouldn't go near the mysis bait. Hitchhiker crabs very high up on the radar screen again.

So, I went from not knowing hitchhiker crabs were in my tanks to having store-bought crabs destroying each other/fish/good algae to wanting to get every last freaking crab out of my tanks to reduce bioloads in our skimmerless, sumpless, fugless tanks.

Man, am I crabby after typing all that. Makes me want to tear those tanks down right now and get every last crab :2gunfire: :snipersm:

[Funky_Fish14]

Whenever I see a crab in my tanks, that I know is carnivorous, I quash them, but I also found a porcelain crab in my 75 which was a sweet bonus! Dont quash em all!

Changing rocks, well, I do it every once in awhile because I dont like the rock structure. Nothing ever happens when I do it to the fish or corals, the only time I ever had a problem was my elegance coral died on me but for the past 2 years the ones comming in havent been fairing so well in captivity.

Chris

[Gizmo]

I like keeping my rocks the same, so there is no new fight for territory. BUT alas, there are times (like trying to get a strawberry pseudochromis out for Ed) that destroy the aquascape and I rebuild. Now I can readd my tang :D

[psuedo]

The rockwork depends on my place. When I change things around in the house I change the tank soon after. I am crazy though. Spring cleaning happens at least 4 or 5 times a year in my place. sometimes I like bridges in my tanks, other times I like vertical walls with a large space in the middle. Depends on my mood mostly :biggrin:

[Cap'n]

I like to do minor changes that cause a landslide which then requires a major rebuild. :mrgreen:

IMO, aquascaping is the best and worst part of having an ocean scene in a tank. I'm never totally satisfied but the quest for perfection is enjoyable.

[Funky_Fish14]

I like to do minor changes that cause a landslide which then requires a major rebuild. :mrgreen:


That is exactly what I do........sometimes, lol. I go to make a small change or move something that fell, and then half the rocks in the tank come chrashing down! But occasionally I'll just want to "rebuild".


IMO, aquascaping is the best and worst part of having an ocean scene in a tank. I'm never totally satisfied but the quest for perfection is enjoyable.

I agree! However sometimes the quest for perfection leads to colorful language aswell when things just arent working, like tonight! Then I finally decided I would live with the way the rocks would stay, lol.

------------------------------

In response to earlier about the fish, I decided to pay attention to the fish after aquascaping tonight(wanted to do it for 2 weeks now) and I noticed that obviously all the fish get quite worked up and then scared at the end(even with food in the tank they are still nervous), and they leave each other alone for a little while after that. I will continue my 'evaluations' as the night goes on.

Chris

[christyf5]

Bev, I was just wondering: Whats the longest you've ever left your tanks alone for? It seems like you are tearing your tanks down every couple of months or so.

Christy :)

[Snappy]

I was told that you should change it a bit at a time as moving the rocks makes the tank have to cycle again

[Funky_Fish14]

IMO thats a pile, the rocks are still in the tank and nothing is dying, the conditions are the same, etc... I dont think the factors of an aquascape change are great enough to cause a cycle, and in my experience have not.

Chris

[EmilyB]

I occasionally change some of the top rock structure in the big tank, just because my yellow tang enjoys new caves so much. :mrgreen:

[Beverly]

Bev, I was just wondering: Whats the longest you've ever left your tanks alone for? It seems like you are tearing your tanks down every couple of months or so.

Good question, Christy. Probably six or eight months might be the longest time I've had a tank without finding some reason to tear down and requascape it.

It's really not my favourite thing to do. Depending on the size of the tank, it can take a day and a half to tear down, look for crabs/remove valonia/remove a destructive fish/or whatever, then get it back together.

Reaquascaping is the toughest part, because I don't just throw the rock back in hoping it won't topple. I'm always looking for ways to improve tunnel systems for the buttterfly in the 120g, for example. Plus, I dislike the "wall of rock" look, so I'm always looking for ways to provide lots of water flow through the rock structure as well as give each tank a unique look.

I find the work to be terribly back breaking, even with dear husband Chris helping. Our current tanks are all shoulder high, so that means standing on a chair for much of the work.

[danny zubot]

I was told that you should change it a bit at a time as moving the rocks makes the tank have to cycle again
I think if there is a lot of detritus released when moving the rocks, it could cause a NH3 or nitrate spike. Thats why I always do a water change shortly after changing stuff.

[Beverly]

I think if there is a lot of detritus released when moving the rocks, it could cause a NH3 or nitrate spike. Thats why I always do a water change shortly after changing stuff.

The detritus that is stirred up while reaquascaping has been there for a long time. I don't think it will cause any spikes of any kind.

Whenever we reaquascape, we have a pail of tankwater to swish the rock in. This removes detritus build up from rock crevices. When the water gets dirty, we dump the water and get fresh stuff from the tank.

Plus we have lots of new saltwater made to make up for the water used for swishing, siphoning the BB clean once all the rock is out, and for some of the water that the corals and rock are stored in during the tear down.

[Snappy]

It seems that everytime I stick my hand in to do something I end up breaking off a piece of coral somewhere or topple part of my "house of cards" rock work. I can never get it back to how it was so for me it's an ongoing process. I can see why Bev hates crabs as they(hermits) are the cause of a lot of the re-aquascaping I do. They rearrange stuff all the time or dig out a coral thought to be locked into a hole in the rock, etc. So then I go to put the piece back and break something else or topple rocks and so goes the cycle. :rolleyes:

[Pegasus]

Danny

Over the past 10 years or so I can only remember once when I rearranged the rocks in each of my tanks. And that was only because I figured I had packed them to close together and wanted to make caverns and runways. The only way that your tank is going to recycle is if your rock has excess die off and/or you replace more than approx 50 per cent of the water. In other words, you cause it to happen. If you are running mechanical filtration then any detrius that is stirred up will be trapped and you simply replace the medium. Personnaly, I wouldn't be rearranging the rock unless it was for circulation. Of course, a few pieces here or there in order to accomodate a new piece of coral will not hurt. IMO

Larry

[danny zubot]

Over the past 10 years or so I can only remember once when I rearranged the rocks in each of my tanks.

Wow! Your tank must look really mature then, any pics?