re aquascaping
 

i am going to be re aquascaping a matured tank. first time doing this and have concerns about the stress to the inverts and fish. have a firefish, false clown, a molted scarlet hermit and two turbos. 29 gal tall. what is the best way to move them from the display to a holding area for about 30 minutes?

thanks

Sorry, just saw this.

I have re-aquascaped quite a few times. Sometimes I just re-aquascaped with the inhabitants in the tank. I really don't suggest this if it is a complete overhaul, as opposed to moving a few rocks around. I have had to take inhabitants out because I was adding a large amount of dry rock and I did not want to crush any of the inhabitants, but it was stressful on me trying to catch them all. Would you be disturbing the sand bed at all or just kind of moving all the rock around?

take a look at my aquarium picture in this post under the user id. as you will see i have a small reef formation. i purchased about 25 pounds of dry rock, that i will get today. PASFUR informed with more rock=more fish. so the main theme is adding the rock which is a large over haul. the only fish is a false clown and firefish i feel i could catch with no issue. so i plan on moving the coliseum to the center and putting the rock around the sides. like almost a pyramid. the sand bed is crushed coral and will be distrubed, any issues there?


http://www.tropicalfishkeeping.com/a...a-100_8038.jpg

You might feel its no issue to catch these, but...lol.

If you can get some tank water into another holding tank I don't think it will be a problem. This way there is the least stress when transferring. They should be fine for a half an hour or so...

If you are real careful, you could probably do it without transferring the fish. I am not a huge fan of back and forth between tanks for fish. Seems stressful...

i may just move the inverts to a small holding area with tank water. i think the fish will be okay, stressed but okay. you had mentioned about messing with the sand bed. any concerns i should be aware of ?

I have just noticed that you use crushed coral. I have always been advised against this, because it is large in particulate and has a tendency to trap detritus, resulting in Nitrate and Phosphate spikes. I was assuming that your tank had a 4-6" sand bed (got it mixed up with another tank, sorry) and you really shouldn't disturb a Deep Sand Bed too much for kind of the same reason. I am going to shoot Pasfur a PM and ask him to join this thread, I want his opinion on crushed coral.

I agree that I would not disturb the substrate if possible. I also agree that a 4'' to 6'' aragonite bed is far superior, but for the purpose of this tank and what the goals are I wouldn't be concerned. That being said, if you plan to add more substrate to the bottom, do NOT add more crushed coral.

In terms of adding more rock, there is no reason at all that you would need to remove these fish. But given that the firefish is prone to jumping, you could consider moving it temporarily. Just make sure the holding container is covered. I see no reason to move the Clown and it would probably just cause more stress than do good. Move the inverts if you are concerned, but I wouldn't bother.

Finally, just to be clear.... "more live rock = more fish" is not the name of the game. But in your case, it is true that more live rock will break up the territory in this tank and make it easier to reach the maximum stocking level for this tank, which you have yet to do. I just want to clarify for the reader who might not read the entire discussion. ;-)

new aquascape
 

huge difference 25 pounds of dry rock makes. Marco rock products are packaged extremely well. i will definitely reuse them. here are the new pics.

Looking Good!

Now you have a tank that can support some fish! Great job. Be sure to test for ammonia and nitrite tomorrow morning just to be safe.