Rearranging The Tank

I know obiviously, that rearranging the rockwork will stress the fish out somewhat but i haven't done it yet in my 90.

has anyone done it and lost fish due to stress?

Any tips on how to go about doing it?

 

Just try not to stir up the sand too much and you should be alright. I had to do rearrange everything when i moved. Sand probably got stirred up some from carrying the tank with sand in it and i never had problems

 

I'm a firm believer in "the less you mess with a reef system the better off it will be".
But if I had to rearrange I'd want to take every precaution I could.. and I sure would mess with the sand bed at all.
First I'd plan out what changes I want to make and how to fit the rocks together to do it. I'd make notes.
Then when the time came I'd have totes or buckets ready to fill with water from my DT. The fish, inverts and corals would go in these. Of course they'd be aeriated to.
I'd also have another tote of water that's been aeriated for at least 24 hours ready to do a w/c when finished.
I'd get all my livestock out and into the totes, take the rocks out and check for hangers on like crabs and snails and set them on a clean surface. When enough rock was out to work, I'd rearrange (using the notes cuz I'm old and forget easy) and re-add the rock I had to remove. Then I'd put my corals and livestock back in with the old water.
Just to be safe I'd then do at least a 25% w/c and run carbon. I'd test for ammonia and nitrites for a few days and always have water on hand in case I needed it.
That's how I'd do it if it were me but I'm anal like that and have to much invested to chance loosing anything. ;D

 

I have done a few very large re-aquascapes in my tank, no issues came up. As everyone before has mentioned, try not to stir up the sandbed as best you can. Turn off all powerheads, and any other means of making more mess while you do it. Make sure you're aware of where your fish/inverts are as you're doing it. My gf was my snail/hermit/fish spotter when I did it, without her I would have prob lost a bunch inverts

Lastly, we would like before and after picts, of course!

 

It's really not a big deal. I've found that having an extra tank around filled with salt water is very convenient b/c you can put rocks and corals in it to get them out of the way. I have always left the fish in the tank, no need to take them, that would just stress them out more IMO. As long as you don't have a DSB, then stirring it up won't really affect the tank, I routinely stir my sand up.

 

Ditto!

I am constantly playing "Live Rock Tetris" with the top layer of LR in my tank. I can never seem to get it right. My tank is big enough that I can just move the corals around a bit.

Chasing the fish around with nets, and moving them would be way more stressful than just leaving them in the tank.

 

If all your fish have been in the tank for a month or so I wouldn't worry about it personally, although with those gobies in there are you going to be pulling rock up off the bottom below the sand? It might be tricky to get the rock well seated back on the bottom after pulling it back up. If you don't have it on the bottom it's at risk of getting destablized by the digging. Also only do that if you don't have a DSB like was mentioned.

Also watch out for fish diving into holes in the rocks when you start moving things around, especially that firefish which I'm guessing will make a hasty retreat somewhere. You don't want to trap a fish in newly arranged rockwork or have a fish stuck in a rock out of water for a while.

I would agree that leaving things alone is ideal but if you really need to do this just make sure you get it right this time so you can leave it alone after this. ;D

 

thanks!

Right now it looks kind of like a pile of rocks... its all fiji and they are boulders mainly. but all the fish right now seem to have their "spots" so maybe i should leave it.

the pic is about 3-4 months old and from my phone.. but as you can see uuuugly.

@screwtape... for sure the gobies have moved and lowered my rock work ...my suggestion never buy sleeper gobies cool to watch but a huge PIA!

 

All done! i think its much better now!

 

IMO, the biggest "danger" next to disturbing the sand bed that you face by rearranging rock work is exposing anaerobic bacteria to oxygen.