Change of rock - Be my devils advocate

[reefaboo]

So im planning on swapping rock in my tank. the new rock is a lot of tonga + little of fiji ..
right now i have it curing in a bucket of rodi water and my thought process is like this.

1. wait till it stops leaching phos and nitrate.
2. bag all the corals and float it in a different tank ( yes a second tank i have running )
3. take out about 50% of the old rock and put the new ured but not cycled Rock in.
4. Make up for the remaining water ( or just chnage water about 30-40% water change)
5. add a bottle of Dr.tims one and only just in case.
6. acclimate back all the corals and glue in place on the new rock.

My thinking is like some of the old rock that's left in the tank and the Siporax media i have in the sump should actually take care of the Ammonia or anything and in a short time the new rock becomes live with out having to go thru cycle process.


be my devils advocate .tell me where i am being too optimistic ?


EDIT - This is a sps heavy system.

 

[Shep]

So my first question is why do you want to change out the rock? Even with a lot of prep work, there is a good chance things could go off the rails

 

[reefaboo]

So my first question is why do you want to change out the rock? Even with a lot of prep work, there is a good chance things could go off the rails

so after a long vacation and a bunch of algae, but the main problem being the rock over taken by softies with no space left to sps ..
i changed from this

to this - Cerameco rock : and absolutely hate it as im out of rock space already ..

so built a new rock scape with lots of coral mounting space and concentrating mostly on sps ..

 

[sbash]

Either way, both pictures look good... However, I understand how you feel; before my SPS got too big (and encrusted on all the rocks) I went through a huge rock makeover.

I would set up a second tank (or tub) in tandem to do this, esseintially pre-stabalizing the 50% rock system. Although, I do not understand your distinction "new cured but not cycled rock". If you are removing rock, you definitely want the replacement rock to be cycled or things will likey go funky on you.

Also, Shep is right, even with the right conditions, the tank could take a turn for the worse. What is your fallback plan? Do you have a frag tank to hold the corals while you stabalize the new rock layout?

 

[Snuggs]

My Lfs sold me dense useless rock when I set up my tank, bought reefsaver dry and pukani mix in October, and started curing it. Early Jan I began to change out pieces, once a week. Small diatom outbreak, but definite decrease in nitrates. Also added mb7 and started no3pox

 

[reefaboo]

My Lfs sold me dense useless rock when I set up my tank, bought reefsaver dry and pukani mix in October, and started curing it. Early Jan I began to change out pieces, once a week. Small diatom outbreak, but definite decrease in nitrates. Also added mb7 and started no3pox

Dense rock as in tonga ?