This is my plan to re-do my tank. Opinions?

[Anonymous]

This is my plan to re-do my tank.

Remove all LR from tank.
Chip off the corals from the LR.
Build a temporary shelf out of eggcrate to put the corals on in the tank.
Run the tank with that water and just the heater, lights, flow and skimmer.
Order new LR from someplace.
Cure the new LR in a rubbermaid for 2 months (I guess)
Once the LR is cured remove the shelf in the tank and all the water.
Put the cured LR and water from the LR tub in the tank.
Add additional mixed salt water
Acclimate the corals to the tank

How does this sound?
What should I do different?

Is there a way to keep the smell of the curing LR down since it will be in my living room?

Will the corals in the tank without any LR be ok for 2-3 months?

Tropic Marin salt ok?

Anything else?
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[Anonymous]

Will the new rock fit in the tank with the old rock after you chip off the corals? I've never tried it but I would imaging that the new rock will cure extremely fast in a tank with a lot of pre-cured rock and a lot of water flow.

To cut down on any odor do a 20% water change whenever ammonia exceeds 0.5ppm. This will remove some of the offending sulfites and keep more life alive so there's less to rot & stink up the water.

Seek out and remove any sponge you can find. They actually have a better chance of growing back if you remove them in my experience. I think it's because the tiny bits left behind won't be smothered by rotting sponge.

I'm unsure about the corals in the holding tank. As a guess I would think they will be fine with a lot of water flow and similar lighting to what they are used to.

Keep in touch, this sounds interesting.

 

[Anonymous]

Sounds good so far. Will you have a skimmer on the curing vat? That might help you quite a bit with the smell (keep the skimmmated cup cleaned out)

Make sure you take pics!

B

 

[Anonymous]

The curing vat will not have a skimmer. I do not have a spare.
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[Anonymous]

How many lbs of LR would I really need?

58G - 36x18x21.
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[brer]

why do you want to remove all the existing LR? Removing all the frags sounds like work, and they won't reap thge benefits of all the organisms you currently have in your rock. I've been able to cure new LR in 4 -5 weeks with aggresive sponge cleaning on arrival and then lots of circulation, skimming and water changes til the cycle is complete.

 

[Anonymous]

I believe the existing LR is loaded with something that is causing the algae. Now that I have lost all my fish in one day this is another thing to make me start over.
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[brer]

I had a similar fish wipeout a few years ago in a FOWLR tank. I rinsed off the rock and let it sit outside for a month, then put it in my sump and used some in a reef tank. It has since been repopulated and saved me from having to buy as much new rock.