cutting live rock?

I have a huge piece of live rock in my mantis tank, that I am not happy with. It is an 8lbs rock in a 10gal tank, so you see how its too big.

Well I am trying to tackle a cyano problem so I am going to take out my rocks and scrub the bacteria off, while I am doing a water change. Well this rock doesn't particularly have a whole lot of good algae growing on it, so I would be ok with killing it all.

Anyway I want to cut the rock into smaller pieces so I can shape it. Does anyone see any problem with chipping it apart with a chisel? And doing some cutting with a reciprocating saw (concrete blade of course)?

 

Just smack it with a hammer! Keep in mind that if it is out of the tank for a longer period of time, the bacteria on it will die and you will need to re-cycle the tank. As long as the rock remains damp you should be fine.

 

Yep. Hammer and a chisel

 

your forgetting your safety glasses, make sure you use what is called a cold chisel it is different from a wood chisel

 

I am leaving 4 pounds in the tank. The four pounds that I am leaving in has the majority of the coralline algae and macro algaes.

 

Hammer Time! good luck man

 

Thanks I will be sure to take pictures and let you guys know how it goes.

 

i used a hatchet! just close ur eyes or safety glasses and dont wear nice clothes haha it goes everywere

 

You can't see the bacteria that will die. I would suspect most of it is on (in) the bigger rock. The coralline and macro algae doesn't have a great deal to do with the cycle.

If the rock you take out dries up and you put it in your tank again, you will have another cycle because of the die-off.

When I broke mine up, I just kept a bucket of water change water handy and just kept dipping the piece I was working on and leaving the rest in the bucket.

You want separate buckets to rinse it off with as there will be a great deal of dust, etc. you probably won't want stirred up in your tank.

 

Thanks for the tips. I am doing a water change the same day (tomorrow), so I will have plenty of water to keep it wet with.