Changing tanks?

[spamvicious]

Ok so I’ve been running a 135Litre tank for three months now. I have two clowns, a shrimp and some hermits. I also have a sea urchin but may need to rehome if I can’t get him to eat.

So the issues I have is that when I got rock for the tank I wasn’t advised to break up pieces etc so I have four large pieces resting on each other. I used superglue but they are still pretty unstable. So trying to put any frags on them is difficult as well as planning for future corals. It’s also running a canister filter which is wedged into the cabinet after the previous owner modified it.

So my question is if I wanted to buy a new tank and put different rock into it etc how would
I go about cycling it as it would be impossible to have two tanks running at the same time. I’d need to empty and sell the first tank and have somewhere to house current inhabitants to then transfer them to a new tank.

Any suggestions?.

 

[Rmckoy]

Ok so I’ve been running a 135Litre tank for three months now. I have two clowns, a shrimp and some hermits. I also have a sea urchin but may need to rehome if I can’t get him to eat.

So the issues I have is that when I got rock for the tank I wasn’t advised to break up pieces etc so I have four large pieces resting on each other. I used superglue but they are still pretty unstable. So trying to put any frags on them is difficult as well as planning for future corals. It’s also running a canister filter which is wedged into the cabinet after the previous owner modified it.

So my question is if I wanted to buy a new tank and put different rock into it etc how would
I go about cycling it as it would be impossible to have two tanks running at the same time. I’d need to empty and sell the first time and have somewhere to house current inhabitants to then transfer them to a new tank.

Any suggestions?.

If it’s possible it would be easier to have the new tank setup and running and use the live rocks from the old to cycle the new .

 

[Jubei2006]

Brute trashcan, powerhead, and heater for rock while you sell old tank and set up new tank?

 

[spamvicious]

ok so does that mean the rock from the current tank has to go into the new tank or can it go in the sump or something to cycle the new one?. As the current rocks would need to be smaller pieces or new rock etc

 

[PatW]

You could put old rock in the sump and new rock in the display. It should work.

You could also just put the new rock into a container like a brute trash can with a powerhead and cycle it like you would in an aquarium.

Or you could put all your old rock in the display. You could add new rock over time and slowly remove the old rock until it is all replaced.

 

[spamvicious]

Current idea is to change the rocks in the tank. If I took one out at a time and made it into much smaller pieces would that kill the bacteria etc?

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

Current idea is to change the rocks in the tank. If I took one out at a time and made it into much smaller pieces would that kill the bacteria etc?

you mean you want to pull a rock from your tank, smash it up, then return the smaller pieces to the tank. will it kill the bacteria? No, it wont, just do it quickly, it shouldn't take longer than a few minutes.

If you want to pull a rock and replace with brand new smaller pieces of rock, then the new rock will have no bacteria and will have to 'cycle' to grow the bacteria. If this is your plan, then do it very slowly, one rock at a time.

 

[spamvicious]

you mean you want to pull a rock from your tank, smash it up, then return the smaller pieces to the tank. will it kill the bacteria? No, it wont, just do it quickly, it shouldn't take longer than a few minutes.

If you want to pull a rock and replace with brand new smaller pieces of rock, then the new rock will have no bacteria and will have to 'cycle' to grow the bacteria. If this is your plan, then do it very slowly, one rock at a time.

Yes the rocks that are already in my tank. Take them out, make them into smaller pieces and put them back in the tank. Maybe give a quick spray with ro water to get rid of any dust residue.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

I wouldnt spray them with anything, they are full of life, dont wash it off. Just take one out, bring it to your backyard or porch, use a hammer and smash. Be carful of your eyes, pieces of shrapnel will go flying around. I usually loosely wrap in a small blanket or something for safety. Then add them back into your tank, and do the next one.

 

[djs4him]

Yes the rocks that are already in my tank. Take them out, make them into smaller pieces and put them back in the tank. Maybe give a quick spray with ro water to get rid of any dust residue.

I did this with my 180 gallon tank. I didn't know about breaking rocks until after I had added them to my tank and cycled everything. So I pulled one rock out and placed it into a bucket with tank water inside. This allowed me to take the bucket with the rock over to my kitchen table and sit down comfortably. Then I removed the rock from the bucket, smashed it, and placed the pieces back into the bucket. Whenever I finished working on a piece, it went right back into the bucket of tank water. This kept my rocks constantly wet and my beneficial bacteria alive. After adding everything back into my display tank, I had no changes to my water parameters.

 

[spamvicious]

I wouldnt spray them with anything, they are full of life, dont wash it off. Just take one out, bring it to your backyard or porch, use a hammer and smash. Be carful of your eyes, pieces of shrapnel will go flying around. I usually loosely wrap in a small blanket or something for safety. Then add them back into your tank, and do the next one.

Ha ok was just considering the residue coming off the rocks into the water but thanks will do that.

 

[spamvicious]

I did this with my 180 gallon tank. I didn't know about breaking rocks until after I had added them to my tank and cycled everything. So I pulled one rock out and placed it into a bucket with tank water inside. This allowed me to take the bucket with the rock over to my kitchen table and sit down comfortably. Then I removed the rock from the bucket, smashed it, and placed the pieces back into the bucket. Whenever I finished working on a piece, it went right back into the bucket of tank water. This kept my rocks constantly wet and my beneficial bacteria alive. After adding everything back into my display tank, I had no changes to my water parameters.

Great tip thanks. I might have to look into doing a bit of aquascaping too.

 

[Dburr1014]

Yes the rocks that are already in my tank. Take them out, make them into smaller pieces and put them back in the tank. Maybe give a quick spray with ro water to get rid of any dust residue.

As lord said, one at a time, don't rinse with RO.
You can put them back together with super glue and sand or the dust you create also.
Getting rock to dry on the inside will take days to weeks. Don't worry about killing bacteria in a couple hours.

 

[spamvicious]

As lord said, one at a time, don't rinse with RO.
You can put them back together with super glue and sand or the dust you create also.
Getting rock to dry on the inside will take days to weeks. Don't worry about killing bacteria in a couple hours.

I tried superglue with the rocks I already have in the tank but might work better with smaller pieces.

 

[Dburr1014]

I did this with my 180 gallon tank. I didn't know about breaking rocks until after I had added them to my tank and cycled everything. So I pulled one rock out and placed it into a bucket with tank water inside. This allowed me to take the bucket with the rock over to my kitchen table and sit down comfortably. Then I removed the rock from the bucket, smashed it, and placed the pieces back into the bucket. Whenever I finished working on a piece, it went right back into the bucket of tank water. This kept my rocks constantly wet and my beneficial bacteria alive. After adding everything back into my display tank, I had no changes to my water parameters.

This is a great plan

 

[Dburr1014]

I tried superglue with the rocks I already have in the tank but might work better with smaller pieces.

Did you do it with super glue and sand? It makes a super strong bond that's really hard to break

 

[Dburr1014]

Watch this video!

 

[spamvicious]

Another question (thanks for your patience). Can I take one of the pieces of rock out completely and make the rest of them smaller and re add them?. I have five boulder type pieces of rock so would be hard to break them down and find space for it all.

 

[Dburr1014]

Another question (thanks for your patience). Can I take one of the pieces of rock out completely and make the rest of them smaller and re add them?. I have five boulder type pieces of rock so would be hard to break them down and find space for it all.

I can't see why not