Prepping new Aquascape for an established tank

[seastar]

I have a tank that 7 months old and the rock wall with bridges look isn't cutting it for me anymore.

My questions are more about the actual process of building the reef from an established one.

• I have a large CUC.
• I have a few shrimp.
• I have corals glued all over the current aquascape.
• I have a stocked tank of fish including some rather shy ones that I don't want to stress too much

What does one do? I don't really want to do it in tank because I really want to play around with it, and I don't want to bash anyone in the process

Should I setup a 20gal for the coral and CUC + shrimp? I am not sure how long this is going to take me but I'd imagine a full day.

For the actual day, I have a bunch of reef putty coming and I am going to use plastic coat hangars that are chopped up to help.


Note: I've read the sticky for layouts a few dozen times.

This is the before for what it's worth.

 

[Wilsoni]

I can't imagine it would be too difficult. I've seen several established tanks, stocked heavier, undergo multiple aquascape changes. Fortunately your rocks aren't encrusted with coral so that should help a bit. I would only worry about crushing your CUC as they're slow movers

 

[seastar]

OK, cool. So do you think there is no need to setup another 20gal while I move stuff around? I am on the fence if that would end up being more stressful then leaving them in the tank. I'm starting to think leaving them in is going to be better.

 

[Wilsoni]

Transferring them to into a new tank while you rearrange the rocks would probably be a lot more stressful on them. I would personally leave them, especially if your parameters are different. Shrimp and CUC's are pretty hardy