So I’m thinking about switching out the rock in my aquascape and replacing it with new rock. Is this safe? I know there’s a lot of good bacteria that lives in the rocks and I just don’t want to cause my 10 parameters to go out of control
Changing aquascape
- Thread starter Aaron88
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There are a lot of reasons why someone would want to change out their rockwork. Especially with all of the much more aesthetically appealing options available now rather than plain old chunks of rock. Whatever the reason, if you were able to add the new rock you want to use to the tank or sump for a few weeks and then remove some of the old rock slowly the new rock should be seeded enough to handle the conversion. Or if you pick up some bio blocks or bio balls and give them a few weeks to seed you could replace the rock work with the new and then slowly start removing the bio media over time. I think there may be some misconceptions around about the necessity of keeping things that can be replaced. Bacteria will grow on all available surfaces and populate to handle the bioload available. As long as you don't make drastic changes and allow for bacteria to grow into new equivalent sources before removing their current source you should be fine.
But answering it can give a person a basis of understanding and how to proceed.
Tank size? amount of rock? amount of livestock? Corals on rock?
If you swap all your rock out at once your tank WILL go nuts. If you do one piece at a time you WILL get diatom blooms. It's really a no win solution. If you feel you need to replace your rock and your tank is already well established I would do one section at a time. And that's exactly what I am doing right now. Accept I am only replacing 1 section and yes, my tank isn't happy at the moment.
