Is it possible to rescape?

[laezur]

Is it even possible to rescape your tank almost 2 years into it running?

That rock is so dense with life now, I can’t imagine smashing it into pieces to rescape rather than having these big boulder rocks I have now.

I’d kill so much, little starfish, sponges, god knows what else.

Is it possible to get dry rock, or live rock, make a scape outside of the tank and then somehow slowly swap over the scape with what I have now?

I’m unsure, what would be the best way to do it?

 

[Spare time]

I have done a rescape before, and I would rarely recommend it. If you do so, you need to be aware of several things, such as:

-Hydrogen sulfide deposits
-rocks structures that may come tumbling down if you don't remove them in the order they were placed
-caves collapsing (such as those made by gobies) which can crush the inhabitants
-accidentally fragging sps

I would be very careful if you do this, and prepare to possibly do a decent water change afterwards as well as run some quality carbon. If you want to smash the rocks, you could take them out and do so in a very quick manner.

 

[bushdoc]

Is it even possible to rescape your tank almost 2 years into it running?

That rock is so dense with life now, I can’t imagine smashing it into pieces to rescape rather than having these big boulder rocks I have now.

I’d kill so much, little starfish, sponges, god knows what else.

Is it possible to get dry rock, or live rock, make a scape outside of the tank and then somehow slowly swap over the scape with what I have now?

I’m unsure, what would be the best way to do it?

How big is your tank? Can you show us some pics?
I rescaped 200 G tank twice, once when I decided to ged rid of sand, second time when I decided to get rid of closed loop. It is doable, but I would do it reluctantly for aesthetics, so if you have a good reason then you can do it.
I would cry if I had to throw away my old live rock with all critters there.

 

[laezur]

How big is your tank? Can you show us some pics?
I rescaped 200 G tank twice, once when I decided to ged rid of sand, second time when I decided to get rid of closed loop. It is doable, but I would do it reluctantly for aesthetics, so if you have a good reason then you can do it.
I would cry if I had to throw away my old live rock with all critters there.

Literally just for aesthetics which is why I’m hesitant.

I’m thinking about upgrading the tank in the future, I suppose I could use that as a time to rescape but again the rock I have is so valuable to the tank I’d hate to mess it up.

Tank is 170 litres, Red Sea reefer.