Swiping out my existing rock work

[menac]

Hello all,

I have been contemplating changing out my existing pukani rock with some nice flat 12-14 inch shelves along with tonga branches. Trying to keep the look of the scape clean and plus that was my original plan for this tank. I am very picky when it comes to the details of the rockscape.
I am going in the direction of purchasing from BRS. Although there is a ton of information out there about how to go about transferring your new rock to a already established tank. I was wondering if anyone had some suggestions or if they have actually made a major change like this before because this is a first for me.

This is dry live rock that I am going to purchase, so I know I would need to cure it first.

This is what I plan on doing: Scrub and cure the rock in RO/saltwater until its ready. Prefferablly change out water from my system. Once the rock is cured,remove it and start introducing it into my main tank every other week so that bacteria could build on the rock.
I would slowly start removing my existing rocks.

At least these are my draft plans not sure if I missed anything. Hopefully I will not have a major crash.

 

[Chefjpaul]

Good plan.
Suggestions;
I would do a light acid wash on the dry rock first.

cycle it in the tub, maybe use a bottle bacteria, test it for po4 as you go.

If you current rocks have anything on them you don't want, you may introduce it to the new rock this way.

Another thought is what I did a while back- If you have a sump, large enough, after you cycle the dry rock, toss your current rock into the sump for a few months (even if you need to break it up), if your concerned about bacteria stability .

 

[menac]

Thanks for the suggestion. I am going to do that since my sump can hold several pieces.i just ordered my rocks so can't wait to kick start this project.

 

[Nandez13]

Personally, I would swap a portion of the established rock with the dry rock from the beginning if you're using BRS dry rock (Shouldn't be leaching anything). As long as it's not that large of a percentage of rock you're switching, it should have a minimal impact on the system's bacteria population. The established rock you remove from the display tank can be placed in the bin that is curing the dry rock. This will accelerate the curing process. I'd be more concerned about how fast the established rock is removed from the tank than how fast the new rock is introduced. I agree with storing some of the established rock in your sump long term if you have the room for it

 

[menac]

Personally, I would swap a portion of the established rock with the dry rock from the beginning if you're using BRS dry rock (Shouldn't be leaching anything). As long as it's not that large of a percentage of rock you're switching, it should have a minimal impact on the system's bacteria population. The established rock you remove from the display tank can be placed in the bin that is curing the dry rock. This will accelerate the curing process. I'd be more concerned about how fast the established rock is removed from the tank than how fast the new rock is introduced. I agree with storing some of the established rock in your sump long term if you have the room for it

Thank for the suggestion Nandez, that is actually a good tip, to add some established rock to the dry rock in the container to speed up the process.
I finally received my order. BRS got it right this time. By the looks of it the transition of the rocks including scaping and holding the rocks in place with an acrylic rod/glue would take about 1 month and 2 weeks.
I want to try and post the progress as I transition the rock over using the tips you guys gave me. Here are few shots of the rocks and current rock scape in the cube.