Rearrangement

First let me give a little background to my situation. My 55 Ga tank has been setup since December. I have 8 fish in it and I'm guessing 80# of coraline covered rock along with dozens of corals.
Ultimately I want to upgrade to a 5' 120 gallon tank.
As many of you may know, it can be difficult to Aquascape a 55 because it really lacks good front to back depth. I feel like my tank is a wall of rocks. It does resemble a reef shelf with plenty of holes and hiding places but I would really rather more islands and arches.

Here are my questions to you all:
1- Any suggestions how I should hold the rocks and corals temporarily while I pull everything out to rearrange? Was thinking to use a few plastic storage bins with a power head. Should I try to only do half the tank at a time?

2- How long will epoxy take to set on the rocks?
2.2- what is the best way to break rocks? Hammer? Hammer&chisel? Score it first?
2.3- is 80# too much rock for a 55?

3- I saw a you tube video where they use a base rock and epoxied a rod to it and then drilled holes in the other rocks to slide them into the rod to create shelves and an island. Have any if you tried this? Suggestions?

4- Is there any other maintenance I should consider doing while I have it tore apart?

5- Do you guys have some photos for ideas of other 55s you have had?

Please keep in mind that I am an impatient person. I have probably already over stocked my tank too quickly. :/

and remember just cause u have 8th St of rock does not mean you have to use all of it. Just use what works and looks best.

The Reef Tour is always an excellent opportunity to see a lot of tanks and to get dozens of inspiring ideas for aquascaping and everything. It's less than a month away. The grouping of tanks north of SLC, which includes ReefdUp, should be a good place to start the day.

Aloha,
Mark

Just a thought for you . A 5 ft long 120g tank if I remember is only 18" wide (front to back) where a 120g that is 4ft long has a front to back dimension of 24" . It is easier with that extra 6" in my experience. Also mortar to hook rocks together works great . I just moved a rather large rock from a 78g to a 90g that I used mortar to hook together. Bet it weighed 50+ lbs and it never broke. 

For sure.

Aquascaping is an art form. It takes an artistic eye and for me took years of practice. The tripod method (click here) of setting rocks in place works very well for most structures including stand alone coral heads. Utah rock is quite porous and jagged so it hooks together very well when placed together or in combination with mature LR. Tall, wide arches definitely require some sort of rod and cement structural helps. A raised or suspended reef is awesome whether it's on hidden plastic or LR stilts(see the links in this post).

Sometimes one of the biggest difficulties in aquascaping is created by us as we try to stuff every cool rock we have into the tank and/or try to fill every hole in the aquascaping with another rock.
The answer?
Use less rock rather than more. Place what we already have into our upgraded larger tank in creative ways using some smaller pieces of Utah Rock or LR as base pieces and supporting pieces. Using small and large pieces, make shelves and overhangs. Then stop and stand back for a few days to see if it doesn't look more like a natural reef with plenty of open space for fish to swim.

As long as the tank is not overfilled with rock, we can always shift things around and turn things over. Sometimes a very beautiful, sponge encrusted, underside of LR is exposed when it is flipped over and repositioned.

Aloha,
Mark

P.S.
Here are some examples of my aquascaping over the years. http://utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=37523
This is my entry in the Mountain West Reef Fest aquascaping contest from years ago, shortly after the movie Avatar came out. The floating Pandora Mountains were custom made for me by our local Vida Rock manufacturer and suspended on fishing line from a bar across the top. The red rocks (which work quite well in a reef tank) were So. Utah sandstone. The event judge, standing on the right, told me later that I had filled the tank too full of rock. He was a freshwater hobbyist so what did he know about reef tanks.




Edited by Mark Peterson - March 18 2014 at 8:10am

My comments on OP question #2
Epoxy takes hours to fully set.
A hammer and blade screwdriver work best to break rocks apart Several partial punches in a line help the LR break on that line
Having seen it, I'd say the 80 lbs of LR in your 55, along with some pieces of base Utah rock, could be just right for the new 90 gal tank (both are 4' long) and it could be made to look awesome without rods of epoxy. I would be happy to help.

Answer to OP question #4
Clean some of the sand and consider using a 1/2-1" base of Utah Oolitic sand for it's excellent ability to harbor much more nitrifying bacteria. There is a very good discussion about moving/changing tanks in the Reefkeeping Tips link below.

love2skiutah made a very nice looking structure, but I ask - Could something similar have been mostly done by strategic rock placement? I believe so. The reason I mention this is because I know of an 850 gal $30,000 tank from the ~1998 Reef Tour that was aquascaped with acrylic rods and cement. When asked, both the [former] owner and the tank maintenance people would be quick to complain about the major disadvantage with this set up. When it's found that the aquascaping needs to be changed, the connected rock work is set and immovable.  Why would such a well thought out structure need changing?
- water flow characteristics around the structure developed into areas of detritus build up and nuisance algae problems;
- coral placement and viewing had to be accommodated around the immovable rock structure; and
- the owner became bored with how it looked but change was too difficult and involved.

That's my 2 cents.

Aloha,
Mark

love2skiutah wrote: I disagree.  There is no way you could have made what we made by just stacking the rocks.  I knew I was getting large Triggers as well, so making sure they were secure was a must.  When they go in those caves and lock up, the last thing you want is it tumbling down. We put a lot of thought into rock placement with flow and dead spots.  Everything is away from the walls and only about 60% of it is secure.  The core skeleton of the structure is permanent, but I can still move the rocks around a little bit, which I have several times already because of the strong WP60's (Which I hate and will be selling).   Stacking the rocks is fine for some people, but you can't make all these cool arches very easily by doing it that way.  One last note. If you use Epoxy, it's VERY easy to just grab the rock and pull it apart.  The epoxy will keep it in place, but if you reach in and try to pick the rock up or twist it, it will come apart with very little effort. Rods are even easier to take apart, cause you just slide the rock up and off the rod.  So I would not hesitate at all using the epoxy or the rods.  You have to remember that Mark's way is usually the cheapest way possible.  There is nothing wrong with his way, all I'm saying is that spending $20 on an epoxy stick or $5 on an acrylic rod to secure some of the base pieces is a good way to do it. It's not as difficult as he's saying. Now if it's cement.. that's a different story.ÂÂ

I haven't changed my aqua scape for four years. Plan for the future when scaping and you can avoid that. I have a 90 gallon and can give you so awesome ideas. Here is my current tank

My point of view.  Do what works for you and your tank.  They are all different.  That 90 gallon tank works.  My tank works.  If the fish don't complain (by showing aggression, etc) why should you? 

Heck even this 250 gallon tank works.

http://www.wetwebmedia.com/ca/volume_4/v4i3/angelfish/angelfish.htm
"That makes a grand total of 66 reef fish in this spectacular community tank, many of which are rare, highly prized specimens that are difficult to obtain.  Yup, you're correct -- that is indeed an incredible amount of marine fish to keep in any conventional marine aquarium.  But Travis is not a conventional aquarist and this is not a traditional aquarium.  In this article, we will discuss the factors that make this unorthodox community tank so successful, and as you will see, there is method to his madness."


Edited by DMower - March 18 2014 at 4:40pm

I like being able to move my rock work as I get bored with the way it looks. I can be completely happy with it for awhile but at some point I always change it only because it gives it a new look.
I agree with do what you want to do it's your tank:)