What a fantastic job that will be. True reef tank surgery live time.
Preps-
Why change it? That's a pic of a maturing reef tank the corals aren't bad at all nothing can be blamed on high aluminum
There's tuning methods that would benefit that reef as-is. That being said, if you want to switch it we can that'll be sick tank surgery for example threads. It'll look brand new with the remaining corals cut out from current mounts and repositioned on live rock in the new setup
The whole thing done as a skip cycle substrate transfer. Sick job. We can do it
By focusing on feed quality in the new tank vs light intensity you can guide up the new system and focus on corals and control those side algae outbreaks better.
*being different with the new tank, for different results after the new investment: make the rocks accessible as an aquascsape for occasional removal for dental detailing, externally.
Don't make the system have to be fixed of algae by never removing the rocks and doing all algae control through water details... that's slow
The new way is occasionally lift out a rock with bad algae, use a knife to score off algae in detail, dot in peroxide. Rinse off, put back the clean reef tooth.
Do that until you don't have to, the whole thing will be covered in coralline and coral flesh and those two repel algae so you aren't cleaning so much
Your current system would benefit from bluer less intense light I'm positive. That's the big contributor to green- tinted growths on surfaces in the pics
Done differently in the new arrangement should be light spectrum, bluer, and less overall white or none at all is an option too.
Focus on quality food spot feeding and water changes after the new assembly.
Hey have you thought of removing all sand and going bare
We can do neat things with those since they don't store up waste
we want to verify that your make water is pure ro di 0/0 tds for the new setup as well. if it is, then a low waste storage, high current, muted lighting, higher feed quality and export setup is bound to get different results. aluminum levels factored none in the design, we could do the same approach with your current rock. you'd rip clean it all once, we'd start clean.
in some ways your current rock is a benefit for your long haul reefing approach. if that rock has never been detailed externally as listed, that's fastastic control for years long self running. it just needed some occasional dentistry...so will your new rock which is why that was mentioned in core design...you'd be externally cleaning rocks from now on, for a while, so that nothing gets out of balance in the new display having done all this work.
we downplayed things that grow green plants in the new approach and we played up things that help corals grow faster, so their own mass becomes an algae excluder on the rocks. systems that are covered in coral flesh rarely have algae issues because algae doesn't attach to the bubble flesh of a plyrogyra, for example. coral flesh is powerfully algae-excluding for the zones they make up, we emphasize that in the final arrangement whether using your current rocks or new ones.
your current rocks did not import nor cure nor select for dinos, that's a big deal. your challenge is mainly light driven algae, easily tuned down.
switching rocks carries a small dinos risk and in my opinion that's the scourge of reefing, some strains not currently beatable. there are pros and cons with switching, aluminum levels factor 0% in my opinion in the choice to switch
a positive reason to switch it might be if you want a nice, clean aquascape to start from and don't want to rip clean all that rock
I rate your dinos risk low with that specific type of ocean rock because it was grown in such a diverse environment. that imported rock will have a much better coral food web that's for sure...a pro aspect of changing the scape for ocean rock, hand-cured. they bring in some algae that can take over tanks, the ocean is a really diverse serving plate for live rock that's why you hand cure with a knife, surgically, the lions share of topical growths from the rock that are likely to just slough off over time anyway. what you want to import is high surface area live rock with coralline plus the microbes that the oceans provide. knife detailing preserves these things by being precise in the scoring mode, like a reef dentist doing tooth cleaning surgery.
if you set in very clean rocks into a new glass tank you can add your water and animals not long after it all settles. when the new tank assembly is high current, and totally clean water, you can add the animals and the new scape system will skip cycle/carry all the current life instantly, total ammonia control vs any mini cycle. the new rock must be pre trimmed, cured ten days with strong circulation and a few big water changes, you don't have to run the holding containers full just keep the water they're in exchanged well for the ten days, after knife cleaning. that w get base rock ready fast, and controlled on time.
