cooking rocks/ bare bottom

well iv'e been researching this cooking rock idea and i like it. My rock is about 8 years old and has been in a dsb for years and now a shallow bed for about the last 2. now i want to convert to a bare bottom, but im assuming my rock is full of nutrients.... the rock has hair algea in some spots and some aptasia. my goal would be to cook the rock and after drill and insert acrylic pegs to keep rock suspended off bottom for easy gunk removal. Now here's the big question: what do i do with all the livestock while the rock cooks? i was reading about coral racks that people have used until the rock is put back in, but with no live rock for 2- 3 months. Would my skimmer (swc 160) in a 90 g be enough to handle their needs in that time? Confused and excited, any info or thoughts would be sooo helpful...... thank you

 

anyone?

 

Why? Nothing you mention indicates anything other than the fact that you have algae and aiptasia.

Jeff

 

You are going to lose a large part of your biological filter if you remove all of your rock at once. If it were me I would do it slowly.

 

yeah, it's just a guess because these rocks have been through alot over the years. however, in the last couple years i've really created the reef i want and am happy with the overall health of the system. cooking the rocks sounds like it would be great before starting a new set up but i don't think i'll chance it with my established one...

what i will do is take the rock out, shake the $$%%^% out of it in fresh seawater, drill and insert acrylic legs , then aquascape my bare bottom tank! then siphon and siphon and siphon until the rocks stop shedding. sound right to you bare bottom guys out there?