Redoing rocks...need info...

Fishnbirds · Mar 13, 2016

We are going to redo our rocks...removing some to open up more sand bed area and open area above rocks for fish to be able to swim over them. How long can corals stay out of the water? We want to break the large rock on the back right side into 2 or 3 pieces and also want to drill holes in some of the others to hold frag plugs. The way it is we don't have many good places to put corals and the higher rocks are too high, the light is to strong for anything we have tried to keep up there and we have to many dead spots.

john.m.cole3 · Mar 13, 2016

soft corals IME 5 - 10 minutes depending on how hardy they are. LPS no more than 5. I've never kept SPS. Why not a different approach... Move corals to a bucket or piece of Tupperware w/ tank water in it. Use a hammer and chisel to form rocks. 3/8 masonry bit to drill frag plug holes (no deeper than 5/8). If removing a large amount of rock, add Marine pure spheres, plate, or block to enhance denitrification. Please post upfates.

Brian Kim · Mar 13, 2016

By the way....Welcome to R2R

Why not just keep them inside your tank? You are going to detach from the rock before breaking into smaller pieces right?

Fishnbirds · Mar 13, 2016

There are 2 small patches of green star polyps, a mini maxi anemone, about 20 palys and a toadstool attached to the rock we want to break...those are the only ones that would be taken out of the water, the rest will either stay in the tank or more likely go in a bucket. I dont know how to detach them, i have tried to get the anemone off before and i couldnt get it off and im a little afraid to mess with the palys because of the toxin they can release. Im sure im being too gentle cause i dont want to hurt them. I really dont want to break that rock at all but its to big to keep and do what we want to do with the rock scaping and i dont want to lose whats on them. Im going to attach a couple pics of what we want to do and i just dont know how we could incorporate that rock into it. Really want to get a circular flow going, there are two small return pipes that are behind those rocks that really are not able to contribute to the flow like we have things now. Credit to whoevers tanks these pics are from, i have no idea whose they are got them from google images when looking for ideas...

Brian Kim · Mar 13, 2016

You can use a turkey baster to detach your anemone. You should be fine with the palys since it will not take that long for you to break that rock into smaller pieces

Fishnbirds · Mar 13, 2016

Brian Kim said:
You can use a turkey baster to detach your anemone. You should be fine with the palys since it will not take that long for you to break that rock into smaller pieces

How do i use the turkey baster to detach it?